French Canadian influence in New England today

[GraniteStater]

Originally Posted by eschaton

There are basically two kinds of French-Canadian communities in New England.

First, there are the communities which moved south to work in the mills. These made it as far south as Rhode Island and Connecticut. Their decedents are still there, but they are completely assimilated into Anglo culture.

However, in rural areas in northern New England near the Canadian border, French culture survives. It's notable in small parts of Vermont and New Hampshire, but is strongest in Maine - most notably in Aroostock County, where 18% of the population speaks French at home. There are a few communities up there where the majority of the population speaks French, like Madawaska, Fort Kent, Van Buren, and Frenchville.

True, other areas I can think of that have French Canadian influences would be the former mill towns in northern, NH (Coos County). Berlin and Groveton (village) and sizable French speaking populations at one time, now the numbers are smaller due to the collapse of the paper mills combined with out-migration. Other locations would be in western Maine (Rumford, Mexico) areas in Oxford County due to the paper mill there. The NEK of VT has a bit of French Canadian influence if I remember correctly, but it did not seem to be that strong.

[slowlane3]

The current Governor of Maine http://en.wikipedia.org.wiki/Paul_LePage , grew up in the 1950s in Lewiston, Maine, one of 18 children born in an ethnic French ghetto by the railroad tracks. He suffered a terrible, abusive upbringing. And even though his parents were both born in Maine, the family spoke French at home. To get into college on a scholarship in the 1960s, he had to have the entrance exam translated into French first.