Did You Know Part of the Maine Turnpike is Named After a Famous Maine 5th Grader?

If it wasn't for my GPS, I would never have known the name of this stretch of road.

Sometimes, even if I know the route, I will have my GPS telling me to turn here and turn there. Sometimes I do it to see how long it will take me to get to my final destination. Often I have it on just to see if I can shave a couple of minutes off the time. That was the case recently when I was heading to I-295 from the turnpike near the Mall. There are a lot of options off of Exit 45. I was whipping around to head to the Scarborough Walmart. That's when my GPS told me to take the Samantha Smith Way. The what?

Who is Samantha Smith?

This incredible girl from Manchester, Maine, was just 10 years old when she became world-famous in 1982 as a young peace activist. According to the Portland Press Herald, she wrote a letter to the leader of the Soviet Union at that time, Yuri Andropov, asking him to prevent a nuclear war with the United States. He invited her to visit his country, and in 1983, she went with her parents. Her arrival was incredible.

READ MORE: 16 Famous People You Probably Didn’t Realize Were Born in Maine

But it was just in 2023 that a portion of the Maine Turnpike Authority approach road was named after her. Veterans for Peace also works hard to steer us to world peace, and they wanted to dedicate a road to Samantha. Samantha died in a plane crash just two years after her famous trip to Russia. She was only 13 years old. The first Monday in June is Samantha Smith Day in Maine.

Where exactly is Samantha Smith Way?

You may know the road as the Maine Turnpike Authority Approach Road. But a 1.91-mile road in South Portland that connects U.S. Route 1 and State Route 9 to the Maine Turnpike, I-295, and The Maine Mall is now officially called the Samantha Smith Way. I was happy to learn this, as her inspiration is needed now more than ever.