Yes, everybody, there are Black people in Maine

A note for locals: this article is intended to connect with people in the Black community who are considering a move or visit to Maine. We would love to hear your suggestions for things to do and organizations to connect with. Email info@lametrochamber.com
When Lisa Jones moved to Maine from Long Island, New York, she found a personal refuge. While going through a difficult divorce, she landed in Waterville to COVID quarantine with a friend. When she arrived, Jones was “blown away. I really was,” she said. “By how beautiful Maine was, how friendly the people were, but then I started going to the beach and doing things everywhere, and I didn’t see people of color on vacation. And I thought, ‘Why is that?’ I had been in the travel business for 20-plus years at that point, and I never knew that Maine was Vacationland.”

Jones is now a full-time resident and the owner of Black Travel Maine, where she organizes group tours across the state, including activities like farm-to-table dinners at Replenova Farm in Durham, summer sailing charters out of Camden, or ski trips to Sunday River in Newry on Martin Luther King Jr. weekend.
Jones sees a simple answer to the lack of Black tourism, and subsequent small population of Black people, in Maine: a feedback loop of stereotypes. When she first started posting social media pictures in her new home, her network in the Black community commented that they didn’t see Maine as a welcoming place. At the same time, she experienced ignorance about Black people’s interests from the white majority—for example, there is a misguided assumption that Black people don’t like the outdoors, so why would they come here?
However, like everywhere else in the U.S., Black people have been in Maine for centuries, and it’s okay to be discovering this side of the state for the first time. A concerted effort to teach Maine’s Black history, as well as invite Black tourism, investment or residency has not been around for very long. “Maine’s Visible Black History: The First Chronicle of Its People” (2006) is an excellent resource for learning about the generations of families, innovators, politicians and laborers who have shaped the state into what it is today. Plus, Maine has a unique, Black immigrant history, as recent residents from Somalia, Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and other African countries have been part of the culture for two and three generations now.
Adilah Muhammad takes a selfie during the 2024 Maine Outdoor Economy Summit in Newry. Courtesy Adilah Muhammad/The Third Place
“The brand of ‘Maine’ itself is a stereotype,” said Adilah Muhammad, a strategic planner and consultant who founded The Third Place. The Third Place is a cross-sector network that connects Maine’s Black professionals, students and entrepreneurs to social, career and economic opportunities. They have a statewide membership of over 1,200 individuals inclusive of all backgrounds, and offices in Lewiston in Portland, the two largest cities in the state.
Muhammad grew up in Decatur, Georgia. She has lived in Maine for almost 25 years. She remembers first hearing about Maine as a kid, watching “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous”, but now sees how cliché, coastal images erase every day, middle-class life, along with other geographic and cultural diversity in the state. When her family and friends have visited, Muhammad says they’ve been surprised, with exception to the weather, how similar central Maine and Georgia are than not.
“I like being in a large, small town,” Muhammad said, explaining her love for Lewiston, where she lives now. “It was more of community than I was used to. I can walk into town, run into someone at the post office and just feel like I can be a part of the change.”

Creating The Third Place is one way Muhammad has become part of the change in Maine, joining a growing number of organizations that support a stronger continuum of multiracial life in the area.
After seeing people with good jobs leaving after one or two years, “we started asking people, ‘What do you want [to keep you in state]?’,” Muhammad said, “and they just wanted to meet people.” She and her team started holding networking events across the state and eventually invested in brick-and-mortar for shared offices and work spaces. “The sweet spot for us was recognizing people as contributors to Maine’s economy,” she said, “so they were joining a professional organization that connected them with other professionals, rather than being separated by background or immigrant status.”
Leonard Kimble grew up in Chicago, graduated from M.I.T., then met his Auburn-born wife in the Boston area. They moved to the Lewiston Auburn region when she got a job in her line of work. By day, Kimble is an IT
Leonard Kimble performs with the Comedy Soup Improv team at the Great Falls Comedy Club in Auburn. Daniel Marino/Courtesy Great Falls Comedy Club
director and youth soccer coach with his kids’ teams. By night, he’s the co-owner of the Great Falls Comedy Club, which he opened in 2018 with local stand-up Nick Gordon. Located in downtown Auburn, they have live shows twice a week—Saturday headliners and a Wednesday open mic—and organize an annual comedy festival in November, The Wicked Funny Laugh Off.
“It’s weird,” Kimble said. “Yes, I’m a black owner of a comedy club, but it’s not like you’ll ever walk in and think, ‘this is a black comedy club.’ We are an extreme minority in the area—though not to the point I would advise someone against moving here.” Kimble loves his club because of how many different performers and audiences it attracts, and how it contributes to the larger comedy ecosystem in the state.
“We have a ton of local comedians that are really talented,” Leonard said. “There’s Empire in Portland, The Comedy Mill in Biddeford. For some people it’s a hobby, but they take it seriously and they’re openers or hosts for shows with professionals.” He was also effusive about arts programming in central Maine, saying if more residents or tourists knew about the creativity in the area, they’d make the effort to go off the beaten path.
Lisa Jones is excited about the future of Black tourism in Maine and spoke frankly that, as a business owner, she felt she had discovered “a gold mine.” Her clients will spend upwards of $5,000 to $7,000 on their vacations and she feels other local businesses can tap into that spending by specifically marketing to Black people. “We like to go where we’re invited,” she said with a laugh. This summer, her tour will include a stop in Ogunquit to visit the historic Hideaway Inn, which was an unofficial “Green Book” stop in the 1930s.
“I think Maine is still kind of coming into its own with modernization,” Adilah Muhammad said, noting the overall slower pace of life here. In the future, she would like to see herself out of business, in a way, so that Chamber events, arts exhibitions, and other aspects of civil life “are not organized to be inclusive, they just are inclusive.”

Looking to try something new in Maine? You’re invited to the Androscoggin Region to meet creative people, eat delicious food and explore by foot, bike, kayak or ATV. Discover LA Maine to see how great life in Maine can be.

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