How Route 9 came to be known as the ‘Airline’

There are plenty of half-truths and made-up stories to contend with when Mainers explain to folks from away why Route 9 between Brewer and Calais is called the Airline.

Which is a bit of a shame, because the real reason the road got that nickname is a lot more interesting than any myth about planes from Dow Air Force Base in Bangor. The truth involves tales of hungry wolves, stagecoach robbers and bushwhacking through thick forest to connect Down East communities with the rest of Maine.

It all started in the early 1800s, when the only major road between most Down East towns and the rest of the state was what is now U.S. Route 1 — a winding coastal road then called the shore route, which could take quite a long time to traverse if you were going as far as Calais.

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