Our spectacular lakes & mountains location in Maine combines the perfect mix of the active outdoor lifestyle with the arts and smarts of a small college town.

Something you’ll notice quickly: the town of Farmington and the UMF campus are very closely knit. There are no walls or gates here. We love our neighbors and we know them well. We get along great.

The town of Farmington (pop. 7,500) is world famous as the birthplace of Chester Greenwood, inventor of the earmuff; and of two-time Olympic Gold Medalist snowboarder, Seth Wescott. Seth grew up in a home on the edge of campus and he learned to shred at Farmington’s Titcomb Mountain. His mom taught Dance at UMF for years.

The campus is located in downtown Farmington. It’s actually a part of the downtown — just a short walk away from a good number of coffee shops, funky stores, restaurants, banks, bookstores, a multi-screen (amazingly great) movie theater and a whole lot more.

Want to take a quiet walk downtown at night for dinner and a movie? Go out for some Italian? Mexican? A pizza? A veggie wrap? Hot fudge sundae? Amazing soup? Reny’s department store? A large mochaccino and a ginormous breakfast bagel? It’s all a very short walk downtown.

And yes, Farmington also has a Walmart, Hannaford supermarket, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell / KFC, McDonald’s, BK, Subway, Dunkin Donuts, Olympia Sports, and other names you recognize. And UMF runs a regular shuttle.

Get Your Outdoors On

If you’re into the active outdoor lifestyle, this is the perfect place to be. Clip on your student discount lift ticket, toss your twin-tips on the roof rack and head up to Sugarloaf or Sunday River for the day. Or head over to Farmington’s own ski area, Titcomb Mountain, which has daytime and under-the-lights nighttime Alpine skiing, snowboarding, Nordic skiing, mountain biking and trail running trails — just 10 minutes from campus. (You can see the skiers from the top-floor windows of Scott Hall residence hall.)

And speaking of Titcomb … thanks to a generous donation from Sunday River and Sugarloaf, all full-time UMF students get a FREE season pass to Titcomb Mountain. Never skied before? You also get FREE learn-to-ski-and-ride lessons at Titcomb, taught by your fellow UMF students in our Alpine Operations Certificate program or our Outdoor Rec Business Admin program.

So go hike Bigelow Mountain or nearby Mount Blue State Park. Mountain bike miles of nearby trails. Paddle nearby Clearwater Lake and Wilson Lake. Fly-fish the Farmington’s Sandy River, which runs alongside our Athletics fields. Camp out at the top of nearby Tumbledown Mountain and look up at so many stars you can nearly reach out and touch them.

And to help introduce you to all this outdoorsy activity, we offer a backpack full of epic adventures through our Mainely Outdoors active adventure program.

We Heart Art

The campus and greater Farmington community love the arts. In fact, the Farmington area is considered the cultural center of the region.

With an active local and campus community of artists, musicians, poets, actors, writers, filmmakers, improv comics and more, there’s always something artsy and cool going on.

The University has hosted performances by nationally and internationally known musicians, dance troupes, and comedians; exhibits by renowned artists; readings by Pulitzer Prize-winning poets and renowned authors; and thought-provoking dramas, comedies, and musicals.

The arts are always well-attended and enthusiastically supported by the local community as well as the campus community.

Maine is renowned for its outstanding Quality of Life and we wholeheartedly agree. We love it here. You will, too.

Maine is a state of breathtaking beauty: unspoiled lakes and spectacular mountains to the west, rugged rocky coastline to the east. Farmington is located smack-dab among those unspoiled lakes and spectacular mountains. If you like the active outdoors lifestyle, you’ll love it here.

A relatively small state population-wise (1.23 million people), Maine is New England’s largest state: about the size of the rest of New England combined (33,215 sq. miles). Maine has 3,500 miles of coastline, 6,000 lakes and ponds, and 17 million acres of forest. To take advantage of all those trees, lakes and ponds, Maine has 436,064 acres of state and national parks.

Maine’s largest city is Portland, about an hour and a half from Farmington, and the state capital is Augusta, about 40 minutes from Farmington. Maine was once part of Massachusetts and is the only state in the U.S. that borders just one other state. Remember that when you’re on Jeopardy.

The state bird is the chickadee (not the blackfly, contrary to popular belief) and the state motto is “Dirigo,” which means “I Lead.” We like that. Our license plates appropriately say “Vacationland.” We like that, too.

Maine’s Beautiful Lakes & Mountains Region (aka Ski Country)

Farmington is located in beautiful Franklin County, which stretches from the Quebec border to central Maine. Our part of Maine is called “the western mountains,” “the lakes & mountains region,” “Maine’s High Peaks” or “ski country.” It looks like an L.L. Bean commercial here. It really does.

Western Maine is a place of spectacular beauty: unspoiled lakes and rivers, beautiful mountains, abundant wildlife: moose, deer, bald eagles, skunks, trout, bass, blackflies and yes … beavers.  (Our beloved school mascot is the Beaver.)

This region has long been a destination spot for visitors from across the globe, who come here to ski and snowboard, to fly-fish and whitewater raft, to hike and camp, to snowmobile and mountain bike … and of course, to go to college.