Do You Know About Maine's Ice Cream Trail?

One of the many great things about the State of Maine is the food. Whatever you are into, we have it - often with our own New England take on it. From roadside stands selling fresh seafood, to chef's table restaurants, to Japanese, to Mexican, and more.

Desserts are no exception to that rule. In addition to whoopie pies and the best blueberry pies you'll ever taste, Maine is loaded with ice cream shops. In fact, spread out from Kittery to Madawaska, there are over 300 ice cream shops.

There are so many ice cream shops in the state, that Maine has its own "ice cream trail".

Yep, the Maine Ice Cream Trail website is the definitive guide to the state's ice cream shops. Their interactive map has seasonal stands, Raymond's frozen custard stand (so good!), restaurants that have extensive ice cream counters, chains (like Dairy Queen), and everything in between.

As you can see, working your way through the Ice Cream Trail is going to take you awhile.

Ice Cream Trail (Google Maps)

You can search the shops by region or through the interactive map.

Have you made the trip to Bar Harbor to try lobster ice cream?

According to the site, some form of ice cream has been around for a lot longer than most of us thought. Roman emperor Nero Claudius Caesar, in power from 54 AD to 86 AD, frequently had people run to the mountains to retrieve snow. That snow would be mixed with fruit and juices.

More recently, within the last 1,000 years, Marco Polo returned to Italy from a trip to Asia with a recipe that closely resembles sherbet. Around the 1500s, that recipe evolved into ice cream.

The first mention of ice cream in the United States was in 1744 (before we were the United States). It was in a letter from a person who had been a guest of Maryland Governor William Bladen. The first advertisement for ice cream was in May of 1777. It was an ad in the New York Gazette advertising that a candy make had ice cream available.

What's your favorite ice cream flavor? What's your favorite ice cream stand? Message us through our app.