What Was the Strongest Earthquake Ever Recorded in Maine?

Even though we think of earthquakes as being more of a California thing, we do have the occasional quake here in New England.

In fact, we typically have one or two per year.  Between the 1760s and 2020s, we have had over 450 quakes.

Most of our recent earthquakes, though, have been very minor.  Generally, they are somewhere around 2.0 on the Richter scale.  These are so minor that unless you are close to the epicenter, you wouldn't even feel such a minor quake.  In some cases, the only reason we even know there was a quake was because it was picked up by seismographs.

That being said, there have been a few instances in the past when Maine got shaken by some fairly powerful quakes.

What was the strongest earthquake ever felt in Maine?

According to the Northeast States Emergency Consortium website, the most powerful quake to ever shake Maine happened on March 21, 1904.  That quake, which measured 5.9 on the Richter scale, was centered somewhere in Downeast Maine.  The website says the epicenter was somewhere between Bar Harbor and Passamaquoddy Bay.

While the website makes no mention of injuries or deaths, it sounds like it did do some serious damage to homes near the epicenter.  Additionally, the earthquake was strong enough to be felt as far away as Nova Scotia and Connecticut.

Other notable earthquakes

In July of 1905, a quake measuring 4.5 on the Richter scale was felt across Central Maine.

In August of 1918, a 4.5 magnitude quake rattled much of western Maine.  It is believed that earthquake was centered near Norway or Bridgton.

And, in 1928, a swarm of earthquakes shook the Dover-Foxcroft area.