Plan to build the world’s tallest flagpole with a huge American flag dividing the small town of Maine

A small town in Maine is divided by 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.

The Worcester family business, Worcester Wreaths, cultivates thousands of acres of balsam groves used to make wreaths for Christmas. He has also donated wreaths for the graves of American veterans since 1992 and in 2007 the charity Wreaths Across America was founded.

Worcester came up with 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 coast of Acadia National Park.

The city is known for its blueberries, lobster fishing, and is one of the last pristine wildernesses on the East Coast.

But last year, Worcester unveiled its plan to build a 1,461-foot-tall flagpole, rising 1,776 feet above sea level, complete with an elevator to take people to the top.

The flagpole would be taller than the Empire State Building and provide views as far as Canada.

The $1 billion plan includes historic museums that tell the story of the country through the eyes of veterans, plus a 4,000-seat auditorium, restaurants and monumental walls bearing the name of every deceased Revolution veteran — 24 million names.

Worcester has dubbed the project the Flagpole of Freedom Park and aims to create a patriotic theme park, replete with gondolas to transport visitors around.

It will require paving over forests for parking lots and the construction of housing for hundreds, perhaps thousands of workers – potentially transforming this oasis into a proliferation of souvenir shops, fast food outlets and shopping malls.

At the time of the announcement, Worcester proclaimed, “We want to bring Americans together, remind them of the centuries of sacrifices made to protect our freedom, and unite a divided America.”

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 clams or collecting balm tips for making wreaths.

The county’s residents are among the oldest in the state and are experiencing rampant opioid abuse.

But the project has divided the city.

“This is the last wilderness on the East Coast,” says Marie Emerson, whose husband, Dell, is a longtime blueberry grower and manager of a university research company. The pair are against the plan.

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 from my vision. I hunt and fish in the area. I don’t like the crowds. It’s a little selfish, but that’s how I feel.’

Jeff Greene, a contractor and one of three members of the city’s Select Board, said the scale of the project surprised 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 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 liked the idea.

He said he objected to a resident telling a town meeting that she didn’t like waking up every morning and looking out her window to see a giant flagpole.

“That didn’t sit well with me,” Doak said.

“To say that the flagpole with the American flag on it is an eyesore, I don’t like that. But they don’t mind looking out the window at cell phone masts or the windmills.’

He added, “Maybe one day we’ll wake up to the hammer and sickle flying up there.”

Doak, an army veteran, knows Morrill Worcester as a humble but determined man.

And while Worcester never served in the military, no one doubts his patriotism.

Each week, Worcester is on US 1 waving flags next to a group of residents, even in snow storms and rain.

Doak describes his friend as a visionary.

He pointed out that people thought Walt Disney World, built in a Florida swamp, was a crazy idea and that Mount Rushmore was bizarre. Both are now cherished.

“I’m going to tell you now that he’s going to build that flagpole,” Doak said.

“So why wouldn’t it be Columbia Falls?”