page_title: Portland, Maine
section_title: Culture
hierarchical_section_title: Portland, Maine / Culture
caption_attribution_description: English: Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad Museum Diesel locomotive. Photo by William J. Grimes
context_page_description: Portland is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maine and the seat of Cumberland County. Portland's population was 66,215 as of 2019. The Greater Portland metropolitan area is home to over half a million people, the 105th-largest metropolitan area in the United States. Portland's economy relies mostly on the service sector and tourism. The Old Port district is known for its 19th-century architecture and nightlife. Marine industry still plays an important role in the city's economy, with an active waterfront that supports fishing and commercial shipping. The Port of Portland is the largest tonnage seaport in New England.
  The city seal depicts a phoenix rising from ashes, a reference to recovery from four devastating fires. Portland was named after the English Isle of Portland, Dorset. In turn, the city of Portland, Oregon was named after Portland, Maine. Portland itself comes from the Old English word Portlanda, which means "land surrounding a harbor".
context_section_description: Portland has a long history of prominence in the arts, peaking the first time in the early nineteenth century, when the city was "a rival, and not a satellite of either Boston or New York." In that period, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow got his start as a young poet and John Neal held a central position in leading American literature toward its great renaissance. Other notable literary or artistic figures who got their start or were at their prime in that period include Grenville Mellen, Nathaniel Parker Willis, Seba Smith, Elizabeth Oakes Smith, Benjamin Paul Akers, Charles Codman, Franklin Simmons, John Rollin Tilton, and Harrison Bird Brown. Portland has enjoyed an arts-related revitalization since the late twentieth century.
caption: Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad
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