Year end is always a time for reflection on the year just past, so here at aroundmaine.com we decided to look back at the twenty or so most popular features of 2002, based on how many times folks clicked on them. To see a more comprehensive list of features for the last five years, click on the archives link above.

20: Scott Baker trains his lens on one of Portland's most important new bands in the video-based piece, Meet Rocktopus.

19: A last look inside the historic Maine State Prison in Thomaston, with video and IPIX.

18: The history of Portland Harbor's World War II shipyards including a photo gallery on the construction of the Liberty Ships

17: On the occasion of its 25th anniversary, Dave Rossignol assembled this piece on The Cumberland County Civic Center - From the Ground Up.

16: In March, Northeast Historic Film featured this piece from the 1930 silent film "The Silent Enemy" in conjunction with their Northwoods Dramas exhibit.

15: We faced the technical challenge of trying to keep a video camera steady on a moving roller coaster while creating September's piece on Maine's Largest Roller Coaster.

14: We had help from the Old Orchard Beach Historical Society when we explored the catastrophic 1907 fire in Old Orchard Beach in The Night Old Orchard Died.

13: Northeast Historic Film lands another in the top twenty with this 1940s video of Tuna Fishing off Portland Harbor.

12: Fascinating pictures of Portland 1909 with some interesting interactive aspects courtesy of Macromedia Flash.

11: Portland Magazine provided this piece about a cheesy quest; a Three Day Pizza Odyssey to find Portland's best pie.

10: We timed this one pretty well. Shortly after we ran this David Tyler piece, All Lost, on the Steamship Portland disaster, the wreck was located at the bottom of the sea.

9: IPIX always get attention and our piece On Stage at Merrill Auditorium also contained some great images deep inside the massive Kotzschmar Organ.

8: Pretty much everyone who looks at aroundmaine is using a computer, and according to our statistics, 95% of them are using some form of Windows. So maybe we shouldn't be surprised that our October piece on Windows Keyboard Shortcuts made the top ten.

7: With all the snow outside, it's kind of fun to look at Scott's photo gallery from midsummer's Old Port Fest.

6: The Klez Virus and its many variants are still causing as many problems on the 'Net as they were in September, when I wrote this story.

5: David Rossignol wrote this tribute to a co-worker killed by a drunk driver on his way home from his retirement party. It was just a year ago and we're all still Remembering John Gerry.

4: When the TLC program "Trading Spaces" opened its new season, the first shows were shot locally. We interviewed some of the victims in TLC Visits Maine.

3: Before we did the Portland 1909 pictures (#12), we showed a couple of images from Old Orchard Beach 1909, taken the same day by the same man, again with some special Flash enhancements.

2: The speed of downloads is one thing that makes a broadband connection to the Internet so useful. We highlighted some of the most useful bits of software available to download in our guide to Ten Essential Downloads.

1. Judging from the success of the train to Boston, everybody who looked at our IPIX and flat image galleries of The Downeaster subsequently went out and bought a ticket!

These 20 stories represent the ones you showed you were most interested in by clicking on them a whole bunch. I predict you may see some of them again on the front page in the year ahead. Meanwhile we'll be working to try and duplicate the success of these and bring you more interesting and engaging pieces on our local area.

If you have comments on these stories or suggestions for new ones, you're always welcome to write us at content@maine.rr.com

Chad Gilley
Manager of Online Content
aroundmaine.com

December 31, 2002