Moving to Aroostook County but working in Madawaska, where to live??? (Brunswick: day care, houses)

[CapeBretoner]

Hi everyone, I am a Nova Scotian currently living in Chicago. I am married with 2 kids, another on the way, and I am transferring to the beautiful state of Maine. We are very excited as we love the outdoors and we will be closer to home.

I was there last week and looked at a number of houses in the area. I will be working in Madawaska and I am interested in living within an hour drive. Presque Isle is great, but it may be a little far to drive every day. Caribou might be a nice compromise. I also looked at the Fort Kent, Madawaska area, and looked at a place in Wallagrass, overlooking Soldier Pond.

I am having a difficult time deciding where to live. With land fairly inexpensive, I would love to have a few acres in a country setting, close to a center (ideally PI or something similar).

Where would you recommend the best places to live considering we have 2 young kids (ages 3 and 1) and we would like to be within 20 minutes of a good day care or pre-school, playground and pools, good doctors, playgroups for kids, activities, etc. We also like to dine out once in a while, catch a movie, or shop. Where would you recommend to have a baby, as my wife is due in July?

Do you think living close to PI is the best option, or are there other areas (Long Lake?) that are beautiful that I should consider?

Any info or help would be appreciated! Thanks!

[Audry524]

Hopefully others can help you more (with dr's & hospitals) but I just wanted to point out that Presque Isle to Madawaska is an extremely long drive. Not very commutable in my opinion. There are no major highways in northern Maine so you would either be driving route 1 or back roads and it would take you conservatively 1 1/2 hours to get from Presque Isle to Madawaska. Caribou would only take you about 20 minutes less time then Presque Isle in good weather. Because of the absence of highways I would try to stay under 20 miles away from Madawaska if you want your commute under an hour.

From what you've mentioned, it sounds like you may like Madawaka. You can always cross over into Edmunston, New Brunswick in Canada for movies and restaurants. It's a hopping little area (with all things being relative to hopping + northern Maine) and has some of the things you are looking for.

Best of luck to you! It's a beautiful area!

[Mark S.]

Presque Isle and Caribou are certainly farther than I would want to commute everyday to Madawaska.

I've only been to Fort Kent once, but I thought it was a very nice little town.

[Coaster]

As a native Canadian, have you thought about living across the border in Canada? Many folks up that way work in one country and live in the other.

[Mainer61]

How far is Eagle Lake from Madawaska? Van Buren?

[CapeBretoner]

Would Grand Falls, NB be a better place to live than Edmundston if we are English? And how far a drive is that to Madawaska? Commutable every day? The Trans Canada is a nice highway but i dont know how long the drive would be.

That's disappointing that PI is so long a drive from Madawaska... i thought it was more like an hour, and Caribou to Madawaska was like 40 minutes.

Isn't Caribou to Van Buren 20 mins, then another 20- 30 mins from Van Buren to Madawaska?

[Audry524]

Caribou to Van Buren is about 20 minutes. Van Buren to Madawaska however is about 45 minutes, give or take a few minutes. It might be just as quick to live in Grand Falls and take the highway but I've never driven that so I can't speak on it.

[Coaster]

One point to keep in mind about driving in northern Maine is that the drive that takes you 20 minutes in July may take an hour in January. I've driven Caribou to Madawaska, and it's no fun in the dark with billows of snow blowing across a snow-packed highway. You really want to stay within 20 miles of Madawaska on whichever side of the border you choose. That lets out Grand Falls and Caribou and other places.

Not to pry, but is there a particular reason you're ruling out living in Madawaska or Edmunston?

[Bydand]

I live in the Caribou area and will tell you, the road between Caribou/ Preaque Isle and Madawaska is NASTY in the winter. Plus it is a LONG drive. While it may be 46 miles between Caribou and Madtown, it will take you a good hour in the Summer. Winter may not even be safe some days. I would live right in Madawaska if on the US side and in Edmundston if on the Canadian side. Both are large enough to have some shopping. There is no way I would work in Madawaska and live in PI or Caribou. Everything else up that direction is VERY small.

[Bydand]

Originally Posted by CapeBretoner

Would Grand Falls, NB be a better place to live than Edmundston if we are English? And how far a drive is that to Madawaska? Commutable every day? The Trans Canada is a nice highway but i dont know how long the drive would be.

That's disappointing that PI is so long a drive from Madawaska... i thought it was more like an hour, and Caribou to Madawaska was like 40 minutes.

Isn't Caribou to Van Buren 20 mins, then another 20- 30 mins from Van Buren to Madawaska?

It doesn't really matter where you live if it is in that part of a Canada. It is all French; Grand Falls, Edmundston, anyplace within a few hours is all French. No biggie really, it is fairly easy to pick up enough to get by and 90% of the people and stores are bilingual anyway. As for your distances and times you are thinking 60 MPH and decent roads all the time. Speed limit for most of the distance from PI/Caribou to Madtown is 50 MPH and during the winter you better plan on an average of 35-40 MPH.

The Trans-Canada is a very nice road, but I don't know about winter travel. Grand Falls is a beautiful little town with a very impressive gorge running through it.

What is bringing you to Madawaska? The hospital is a nice LITTLE facility, The Mill is kind of shaky right now.