Mainers- advice please!!

[B.Annie 290]

Calling anyone from Maine!!! I am looking for some good honest advice about living in Maine. Towns of interest listed below.

My husband and I have been called to the east coast and I have specifically had a longing for Maine since I was 8 years old (no reason why). I have researched Maine for many years and understand a lot of the slang, the weather, the geography, history, state "bird", state cat, political highs/lows, so on and so on.

My husband and I are looking at towns AROUND Portland or Norridgewock. We would be buying a home on property cash and be employed with both a large company over there and self employed (no mooching off the government from us "from away". lol).

We have 3 children so schools and low crime is important to us. Due to all of that, here are the towns we are further researching:

Bowdoin, bowdoinham, kennebunkport, Poland, Baldwin, sebago, casco, limington, buxton, waterboro, Cumberland, Solon, starks, new Portland, cornville, Athens, palmyra, Canaan, anson, hartland, Pittsfield, burnham, Belgrade, Clinton, vassalboro, Sidney, Vienna, Albion

We are looking for kind and hospitable people as that's who we are. We were raised in small communities where there would be Sunday dinners with neighbors and large gatherings of town folk who all knew each other. Unfortunately our small town has overgrown and been overrun by outsiders who are changing it to fit their lifestyle and it is time for us to go.

ANY bit of advice or experience in Maine - specifically those towns listed above - is much appreciated. Thank you!!

HW: 328 (02/17/17)

SW: 271 (05/24/17)

CW: 253

[Joann454 1,329]

I lived in Readfield ME for a couple of years. It's very close to Belgrade. The towns you're listing are so very different. Clinton is in the "willywacks" as Mainers call it.
In general Maine folks mind their own business and aren't known for being overly friendly but will lend a hand if needed. I enjoyed Maine but what I did not enjoy were the mosquitoes! They were brutal! Vassalboro, Sidney, Belgrade, Readfield are all convenient to Augusta which is great for shopping and since it's the capital, any business you need to tend to is close by. It's a tough economy and an expensive place to live (even though housing is inexpensive). Good luck!

[RedOrangeSunrise 53]

Life-long Maine-iac here. I agree with all of the above. We don't know some of our neighbor's names, and we're good with that, but we'd dig them out of a snowbank if needed. I wouldn't live anywhere else, but I tend to enjoy having more trees than people around. Lots of beautiful nature to be enjoyed. We also have way more than four seasons. For example, there's mud season, then what most people would consider spring, followed by construction season and summer. Oh, and prior to mud season, there's a battle of epic proportions between winter weather and warmer temperatures. Most Mainers will wear a T-shirt when it gets above 30-degrees (this is how you can tell state kids from out of state kids on any UMaine campus). You'll want a vehicle with decent tires. I've always liked a Subaru, myself. Books: there's no shortage of used book stores. We have loooong winters. Take Vitamin D! I do 5,000 units a day, year round (my doctor said if I didn't, she'd order an expensive blood test to prove I was Vitamin D deficient, I believed her). Maine people are sort of like horses in that you don't want to come on too strong or change anything too quickly, we're generally suspicious of it and of anyone we don't know (people "from away"). Shared work is something Mainers are pretty good at, that and bon-fires. We do like to burn huge piles of brush as this and bean suppers are the basis for most social gatherings around here. Oh, and we can drive on three inches of glare ice, but often struggle with turn signals and multiple lanes of traffic, be patient and for goodness sake, don't tailgate (the vast majority of Mainers take this as a personal affront, really). Best of luck to you and your family on the big move!

[B.Annie 290]

Thank you so much for the response. I have heard wonderful things about Madison and norridgewock. We've decided to keep our search 35 minutes from norridgewock and remove Portland + suburbs from the options. It seems that for what we are looking for specifically ( land, community, low crime, better schools, low population, family friendly, etc), norridgewock had more opportunities to hit most if not all of those.

If you dont mind me asking, are there any other cities listed below that you would NOT want to live in? Is there a county that you would prefer over the other (summerset or kennebeck)?


Cornville

Starks*

Solon

New Portland

Palmyra

Canaan

Lexington twp*

pittsfield

Hartland

Vienna

Albion

Vaddalboro

Sidney

Belgrade

Clinton

Madison*

Norridgewock

Cornville

Anson

HW: 328 (02/21/17)
SW: 271 (05/24/17)
CW: 248 (06/24/17)

[RedOrangeSunrise 53]

I don't have much experience with this area of the state (I'm farther north, closer to Bangor). We did have friends who lived in Madison, but did not care for it for various reasons (they couldn't seem to find their place there, weren't able to make good friends). For me, the motivation to live where I am boils down to family and community, we know a lot of people here and feel good about the schools for our kids. It's also a reasonable commute to work for me.

That's another thing, most people have a significant commute as everything's very spread out. I drive about 36-minutes one way to get to work (with very little, if any, traffic) and that's not at all unusual.

It might not be a bad idea to find some places you'd be interested in visiting regularly and find a home within a reasonable distance of those things. If you're religious, you might look into churches of your preferred denomination, sort of a built in community there.

[Joann454 1,329]

We used to joke that everything was two hours away!
Also, Mainiacs call their front yard a "door yard" and every street name gets the word "the" before it. Plains Rd would be called "the plains rd". I got a kick out of it.
They're also not very fond of people from MA. They call us Massholes. [emoji23]

[RedOrangeSunrise 53]

Oh yeah, and directions are not at all reliable. Many of our landmarks are based on where things used to be. As in: go up the plains road and make a left past where the old school house used to be.

Sorry about that Massholes thing. It applies mostly to aggressive drivers and snooty tourists. If it's any consolation, there's an even worse name for people from Connecticut. Haha

[Joann454 1,329]

Oh yeah, and directions are not at all reliable. Many of our landmarks are based on where things used to be. As in: go up the plains road and make a left past where the old school house used to be.
Sorry about that Massholes thing. It applies mostly to aggressive drivers and snooty tourists. If it's any consolation, there's an even worse name for people from Connecticut. Haha [emoji4]

Hysterical! I know where the CT name is going.
I got a Maine license plate as soon as I moved there. I didn't want them seeing my MA plate.
And YES on the directions! My realtor was notorious for that. "No, I actually don't know where Bob that sold mowers USED to live". She also used miles for distance instead of time (or "as the crow flies"). Not helpful!
Maine is an absolutely gorgeous state with lovely genuine people. I enjoyed living there very much.

[Apostolic VSG Chic 10]

Heeeey what about CT? Born and raised here. I hate Mass!!! Lol worst drivers EVER

[B.Annie 290]

On 6/27/2017 at 4:08 PM, RedOrangeSunrise said:

I don't have much experience with this area of the state (I'm farther north, closer to Bangor). We did have friends who lived in Madison, but did not care for it for various reasons (they couldn't seem to find their place there, weren't able to make good friends). For me, the motivation to live where I am boils down to family and community, we know a lot of people here and feel good about the schools for our kids. It's also a reasonable commute to work for me.

That's another thing, most people have a significant commute as everything's very spread out. I drive about 36-minutes one way to get to work (with very little, if any, traffic) and that's not at all unusual.

It might not be a bad idea to find some places you'd be interested in visiting regularly and find a home within a reasonable distance of those things. If you're religious, you might look into churches of your preferred denomination, sort of a built in community there.

You say you live close to Bangor and we're actually considering a place in Winterport. Do you know much about Winterport?

[Joann454 1,329]

You say you live close to Bangor and we're actually considering a place in Winterport. Do you know much about Winterport?

Have you checked out city-data's website? Lots of info there.

[RedOrangeSunrise 53]

You say you live close to Bangor and we're actually considering a place in Winterport. Do you know much about Winterport?

Sure! We love Winterport. It's close to Bangor, but less crowded. There isn't much of a "village" area, though they do have an elementary school and library. We have friends who've lived there for years and are very happy.

[tuckersmom 42]

Hubby and I are originally from Dover-Foxcroft! Unfortunately we moved away many years ago to Michigan for employment. But we return every year to visit our families. We’ve talked of moving back but now that kids are grown with their own families and one living in FL, retirement in Maine is off the table. Maine will always be home to us. Maybe in southern Maine the folks might keep to themselves but that’s not the case everywhere. We literally have family and friends spread thru the entire state and I have never known Mainers to be stand-offish. Maine is Gods country and the best place to raise a family. [emoji173]️