Tourists visit Downeast for the scenery and the serenity; they likely do not understand the region’s importance to the nation’s history or to the people who had lived or traveled through it for thousands of years before. The value of the Downeast Heritage Center, begun with shovels this week what had begun with planning and fundraising six years before, is that it offers a new level of appreciation for a part of Maine that does not receive enough of it.

The heritage center is a $6.2 million educational facility in the old Calais Press Building, on the bank of the St. Croix River. The long history of the Passamaquoddy Tribe will be told there, as will the 1604 settlement of the French on St. Croix Island. The fishing industry and lumber, shipbuilding and quarrying – the natural resources of a new nation – will be represented. But there is more than that because the heritage center is just that, a center from which visitors can look out on Washington County’s beauty at the Moosehorn National Wildlife Refuge, its coastal parks or the many miles of quiet roads and trails. And no one associated with the project has been shy about pointing out that the center is also an economic-development attraction.

Jean Flahive, the center’s project developer, knows more about its potential than anyone does, but at the groundbreaking ceremony Monday she described what was behind the center’s beginning. “Our plan for tourism development is based on a philosophy of respect for the region-its unique history, its abundant natural resources and its diverse peoples; a philosophy deeply rooted in the long history of the first stewards of this land, the Passamaquoddy.” She also highlighted the many people locally, in Augusta and in Congress whose support was crucial. For instance, of Gov. King, she said, “by his actions, the heritage center bill became a legislative priority, literally leapfrogging over hundreds of bills seeking financial support. Make no mistake, Governor King delivered for Washington County.”

Ms. Flahive’s partner in this effort since 1997 has been Sen. Susan Collins, who secured about half the needed money for the center through some well-placed funding earmarks and through persistence. On Monday, Sen. Collins said she helped win over her Senate colleagues by telling them of a settlement older than Jamestown. “I told them how a French nobleman had come to Maine, accompanied by a courageous group of adventurers that included Samuel de Champlain, landed on St. Croix Island and, quickly set about to construct a settlement. It’s a story that more Americans should know.” They will think of Sen. Collins when they learn about it at the center because the St. Croix Economic Alliance surprised and honored her by naming the planned visitor theater after her.

Moving the center from being a good idea to its construction took many people and many years of advocacy. Washington County proved it could do it and will benefit from its hard work. But the project also will give all of Maine a better understanding of the region and a better sense of the great things that have begun there.