Can anyone tell me about Belfast?

[starwalker]

Originally Posted by Elcarim

Well, that makes sense. Here you pay a one-time $5 fee to get a library card and then it's free unless you build up late fees. I thought all public libraries were free.

These days most are, thanks in good part to Andrew Carnegie, who donated money for the building of many libraries in the 19th and early 20th centuries.. the town I grew up in had a Carnegie library. For a history of the public library -- subscription and free -- check this out

[Acadianlion]

Originally Posted by SantaFeSisters

Thanks all, any info is greatly appreciated. We will only be making one trip to Maine before we move and that will be to buy a house. We are not any of us good travelers.

YOu must be very brave. Making only one trip to Maine and that is to buy a house to move into and live makes a whole lot of assumptions. Belfast is a nice enough small town. But if "shopping" is something that is important to you, you will find that Belfast will run out of shopping options pretty quickly, if you are used to shopping as it exists in most places outside of Maine. Belfast has NO mall of any size, and has steadfastly refused to permit any sort of "big box" store. The result is that shopping in Belfast is limited.

Belfast is the country seat of Waldo County. Waldo County remains one of the poorer counties in Maine despite its great charm. My parents have lived in Belfast for all of their retired years (forty of them!), and I grew up knowing relatives in Belfast. To me, Belfast is much the same as it always was: a nice small towns with all the limitations of that smallness.

It is quite a long way to Bangor, and not the easiest of drives in the winter especially. Bangor is the largest city in this part of Maine. Rockland is another small city further west on the coast. Ellsworth is east on the coast and is a bigger shopping center than Belfast.

It appears that you are planning to move here from a large state. Expect Maine to be as large as where you are, only the weather will be far worse in the winter, and travel between most points is on two lane, well maintained roads, but we don't have freeways here.

Pick your new destination carefully, as Maine is a large state with much distance between most towns. Good luck on your trip. I hope that you will be looking around for three months or so, before buying that house.

[anninmaine]

Good advice!
Belfast could be so much more.
Dont believe that about the RealEstate being lower.
I guess price is relative to what you can afford.
Folks from California would consider housing here a bargain.
Real Estate is still outrageous compared to Old Town, Waterville, Skowhegan to name a few. The paying jobs aren't here and the taxes are high. AcadiaLion summed it up pretty well. Proceed with caution....