Have You Been? Famous Maine Sign Between the Equator & North Pole

Have you heard of Elmer "Doc" Grant?

According to Daily Bull Dog, Doc is best known for a sign that he created that sits in Rangeley, Maine and famously states to all onlookers, "The Former Home of Doc Grants Restaurant, Halfway Between the Equator and the North Pole."

Before Doc created this sign and established his iconic restaurant, he had an adventurous history of parachute dives and left an indelible mark on his community.

The site goes onto say that Doc jumped out of an airplane and parachuted into the Farmington area in the 1920s. He had a few close calls too but he survived it all.

He then opened a restaurant in Rangeley and was always searching for ways to bring more tourism to the town. His brother, an Air Force pilot, once mentioned to him that Rangeley was near the 45th Parallel, which is stated to be halfway between the Equator and the North Pole. So Doc took advantage of that exciting news and put up a large sign pointing to the Equator and North Pole outside the restaurant in 1957.

According to Minnesota Museum of the Mississippi, the restaurant had mural inside which showed both tropical and Arctic scenes and brought a lot of tourism.

However, the town wasn't EXACTLY at the 45th Parallel.

But here's the catch, throughout all of the years of the sign stating that discrepancy, no one really cared. Visitors still come and enjoy the sign and personally, I think it's the historic value that it signifies.

The intriguing story behind this sign is pretty cool but unfortunately, the restaurant closed around 2000, but it certainly has left a lasting mark on the community.

If you want to see the sign, it was very hard for me to narrow down the exact location of his former restaurant. But what I did find was the coordinates to the spot from Waymarking.

Gives it a spooky twist doesn't it? Have you seen it?

Gallery Credit: Megan