America's First Mile Monument
West Main Street at Route 1
Fort Kent, ME
The zero point of a highway that runs 2,369 miles to Key West, marked by a modest sign at the top of the country where Route 1 begins.
America's First Mile is the northern terminus of US Route 1, the storied highway that threads the entire Atlantic seaboard from the top of Maine to the bottom of Florida. In Fort Kent, a monument marks mile zero, the point where the road begins and heads south through more than a dozen states to its famous end in Key West.
For travelers, it is a bookend. The Key West terminus is a swarm of selfies at the edge of the tropics. This end, quiet and far north in the Acadian St. John Valley, is its opposite in every way except the road that connects them. Reaching it means you have driven, or at least stood at, the very top of one of the country's great highways.
What Guests Love
- Standing at the exact spot where US Route 1 begins its run down the entire East Coast
- The bookend appeal for anyone who has been to the Key West end of the same road
- A genuine edge-of-the-country feeling at the top of Maine
- The Acadian St. John Valley setting, with Canada a bridge away
Worth Knowing
- The monument is a roadside marker, a quick stop rather than a long visit
- Route 1 runs from here to Key West, Florida, a distance of roughly 2,369 miles
- Fort Kent is remote; the nearest interstate is hours away
- Bring a passport if you plan to cross the bridge into Canada
Details
Fort Kent, ME
Learn about America's First Mile Monument
The road that starts here
US Route 1 was created in 1926 as part of the first national system of numbered highways. It runs the length of the East Coast, passing through Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Washington, and Miami before leaping across the Florida Keys to Key West.
Its northern end is here in Fort Kent, at the corner where West Main Street meets the highway near the international bridge. The First Mile monument marks the spot and gives the road a proper starting line at the top of the country.
Because the southern end in Key West draws a constant crowd, the Fort Kent end has become a quiet pilgrimage for road-trippers who want to say they have stood at both.
Fort Kent and the St. John Valley
Fort Kent grew up at the meeting of the Fish and St. John Rivers, a strategic spot that gave it a military fort during the boundary dispute of the 1830s. That original blockhouse still stands a short walk away.
The town anchors the upper St. John Valley, one of the most strongly French-speaking regions in the United States, where Acadian families settled after their expulsion from the Maritimes and where Valley French is still spoken today.
Across the international bridge lies Clair, New Brunswick, and the flow of family and commerce between the two sides has long made the border feel more like a line on a map than a real division.
An edge-of-the-country destination
There is a particular pleasure in reaching a place that is the end, or the beginning, of something. Fort Kent offers that: the top of Route 1, close to the northeasternmost point of the United States, in a valley most Americans never see.
The town is also the northern terminus of the Interstate 95 corridor's spirit if not the road itself, and a hub for the surrounding potato country, forests, and the Allagash and North Maine Woods beyond.
Winter turns Fort Kent into a serious snow-sports town, home to a biathlon center that has hosted World Cup competition, a reminder that this is a place shaped by long, deep northern winters.
Season by season
Summer is short and green, the easiest time to make the long drive north and to pair the monument with the valley's Acadian sites and river scenery.
Fall comes early this far north, with the river hills turning color while much of the rest of the country is still warm.
Winter is the valley's defining season, snowy and cold, when Fort Kent's ski and biathlon trails come alive and the town shows the toughness that comes with living at the top of Maine.
Closest Boutels
The closest Boutel™ stays, so you can turn this stop into an overnight. Each is an independently owned, editorially selected place to stay.
Things to Do Near Fort Kent
Fort Kent Blockhouse
About 1 mile
A restored log blockhouse from the bloodless Aroostook War of the 1830s, standing at the confluence of the Fish and St. John Rivers.
Acadian Village, Van Buren
About 40 miles, a 50 minute drive
A collection of restored St. John Valley buildings telling the living story of the Acadian people.
Allagash Wilderness Waterway
Access south and west of town
A famous 92-mile ribbon of remote lakes and rivers through the North Maine Woods, prized by canoeists.