Morrill Worcester sits for a portrait at his wreath-making company in Columbia, Maine, on Dec. In Columbia Falls, population 485, the place closest to the patch of land where the pole would rise, the debate has laid bare community and cultural flashpoints.ĭoes the quiet area want the visitors it would bring? Would the massive undertaking scar the landscape? How do you balance development and environmentalism? How do traditional industries fare alongside service-economy jobs?Īnd perhaps most significant of all: How does an American town demonstrate its love of country in an era when even the Stars and Stripes themselves have been politicized? So far, the project - called the Flagpole of Freedom Park - has done precisely the opposite. Here's how Morrill Worcester, founder of Worcester Wreath, tells it: 'We want to bring Americans together, remind them of the centuries of sacrifice made to protect our freedom, and unite a divided America.' To promoters, the $1 billion project, funded in part by donations, would unite people of all political stripes and remind them of shared values in an era of national polarization. And atop it? A massive American flag bigger than a football field, visible from miles away on a clear day. Which makes it a striking backdrop to one family's bold vision for the region: a flagpole jutting upward from the woodlands toward spacious skies - the tallest one ever, reaching higher than the Empire State Building. state's soil each day, where the vast wilderness and ocean meet in one of the last places on the East Coast unspoiled by development. Maine's Down East region is where the sunlight first kisses a U.S.

Farmers tend expanses of wild blueberries. COLUMBIA FALLS (AP) - Lobster boat engines rumble to life in quiet coves.

The woodlands township board