A small town in Maine has been divided over a plan to build the world’s tallest flagpole with an American flag the size of a football field and an accompanying museum and theme park.
The plan is the brainchild of a local businessman, Morrill Worcester.
Worcester’s family business, Worcester Wreaths, manages thousands of acres of balsam forest used to make Christmas wreaths. Since 1992 he has also donated wreaths for American veterans’ graves and in 2007 the charity Wreaths Across America was founded.
Worcester had the plan for a giant patriotic gesture in his home state, in the town of Columbia Falls — home to 485 people 50 miles northeast along the shore of Acadia National Park.
The town is known for blueberries, lobster fishing and for being one of the last pristine wilderness areas on the east coast.
But last year Worcester unveiled its plan to build a flagpole 1,461 feet tall and 1,776 feet above sea level, complete with an elevator to take people to the top.
Morrill Worcester, a Maine businessman who is behind the veterans’ charity Wreaths Across America, last year announced a plan to build the world’s tallest flagpole near the tiny town of Columbia Falls. Pictured is an artist’s rendering of the flagpole – part of a $1 billion program
The Flagpole of Freedom Park would include a museum and an elevator to the top of the flagpole
Worcester wants visitors to be able to climb to the top of the flagpole and enjoy the view of Canada and the flag the size of a football field
The flagpole would be higher than the Empire State Building and would allow a view as far as Canada.
The $1 billion program would include history museums that tell the country’s history through the eyes of veterans, a 4,000-seat auditorium, restaurants and memorial walls with the names of all the deceased Revolution-era veterans – 24 million names.
Worcester has dubbed the project the Flagpole of Freedom Park and wants to create a patriotic theme park crammed with gondolas to ferry visitors around.
That would require paving forests for parking lots and building homes for hundreds, maybe thousands, of workers—potentially turning this oasis into a cluster of souvenir shops, fast-food joints, and malls.
Worcester proclaimed at the time of the announcement, “We want to bring Americans together, remind them of the centuries of sacrifice made to protect our freedom, and unite a divided America.”
Morrill Worcester, owner of Worcester Wreaths, announced its flagpole plan last year
Worcester (right) has donated wreaths to veterans’ graves since 1992. In 2007, the charity Wreaths Across America was founded. He is seen in Arlington, Virginia in 2008 with Secretary of Veterans Affairs James B. Peake
The region is struggling economically, with unemployment and poverty rates among the highest in the state.
Logging, blueberry picking, and lobstering don’t always provide year-round employment; Resourceful residents supplement their income by digging for shells or gathering balsam tips for wreath-making.
The county’s residents are among the oldest in the state, and it struggles with rampant opioid abuse.
But the project has divided the city.
“This is the last wilderness on the East Coast,” said Marie Emerson, whose husband Dell is a longtime blueberry grower and manager of a university research farm. The two are against the plan.
A representation of the museum to match the Flagpole of Freedom Park
Charlie Robbins, another local, told the AP he opposed the plan.
“It’s like putting the Eiffel Tower in the Maine wilderness,” he said.
“It’s just different than my vision.” I hunt and fish in the area. I don’t like the crowds. It’s kind of selfish, but that’s how I feel.”
Jeff Greene, a contractor and one of the three members of the city committee, said the scale of the project has stunned people.
“Most people were, shall we say, shocked when they saw it was so big,” he said.
In March, residents overwhelmingly approved a six-month moratorium on major construction projects to give the city time to develop the necessary rules and regulations.
Worcester itself has not commented on the controversy.
But Peter Doak said he thinks it’s a good idea.
He said he objected to a local resident saying at a town meeting that she didn’t like the idea of waking up every morning and looking out the window and seeing a giant flagpole.
“I didn’t like that very much,” Doak said.
“I don’t like saying that the flagpole with the United States flag on it is a thorn in my side.” But they don’t mind looking out the window at cell phone towers or windmills.”
He added, “Maybe one day we’ll wake up to the hammer and sickle flying up there.”
Columbia Falls residents are deeply divided over the project
Columbia Falls is known for its blueberry harvest
Doak, an Army veteran, knows Morrill Worcester as a humble but determined man.
And while Worcester has never served in the military, no one questions his patriotism.
Each week, Worcester stands next to US 1 and waves flags with a group of residents, even through snowstorms and rain.
Doak describes his friend as a visionary.
He pointed out that people thought Walt Disney World, which was built in a Florida swamp, was a crazy idea and thought Mount Rushmore was off the wall. Both are now appreciated.
“I’ll tell you right now, he’s going to build that flagpole,” Doak said.
“So why shouldn’t it be Columbia Falls?”