The 45th Parallel is way older than America, but it wasn't until July 4, 1899, that Americans erected a monument to acknowledge its existence. The monument is hunk of pink granite, now worn and stained with age, surrounded by picnic tables in a small rest area on US 1, north of the town of Perry, Maine. This is about as far east as it's possible to get in America. Engraved on it are the words, "This stone marks latitude 45 degrees north, halfway from the equator to the pole." The monument cost a reported $8.00, and in fact it sat in a barn for three years before someone remembered to put it up.
In 2008, at considerably more expense than $8.00, the state of Maine spruced up the rest area and erected an interpretive sign next to the granite hunk -- part of a renewed recognition of the lure of the 45th Parallel.
