Utopia in Maine? (Portland, Bangor, Brunswick: condos, homes, refrigerator)

[AustinB]

Your house is about the size of our camp. I like that size though, it's easy to heat. Last weekend when I got to camp, it was 22 degrees. Two hours later I had it up to 63. Love the warmth.

[Shuffler]

I view my 1937 house as a 'time capsule', built on the heels of the Great Depression...it's interesting to look at how big houses have become nowadays, and typically being inhabited by fewer people. There's a direct correlation here to the availability of cheap energy, but that's an entirely separate topic.

[dramamama6685]

Originally Posted by flycessna

Thats a great question. I often hear people complain that the real breakdown in family today is you now have both parent's working...compared with having a stay at home parent which was the norm 30+ years ago. And I hear people say...well...you have to have 2 parents working in order to get by...and there may be some truth with that...especially if you consider it a necessity to own a 3000 sq foot home compared with a clean 3br 2ba 900 sq ft home.

My devils advocate says this though........those neighborhoods with 900-1200 sf homes that used to house white collar professionals are now considered to be more blue collar and begginer homes. And ultimately people want to feel like they are living with their own kind......keeping up with the jones. So they strap themselves with 2 parents working.

On another note.....at least for me.....living here in Maine..your winters are long and you do tend to spend a lot of time inside..having a bigger home sure would help reduce my cabin feaver.

Though I have a little sister who feels she needs to be the joneses.. I have never felt the need to keep up. Like the good Mainah I hope to become someday, I march to the beat of a different drummer. As for the cabin fever, I'm aiming for a house on the water with lots of windows.

[forest beekeeper]

Originally Posted by dramamama6685

Though I have a little sister who feels she needs to be the joneses.. I have never felt the need to keep up. Like the good Mainah I hope to become someday, I march to the beat of a different drummer. As for the cabin fever, I'm aiming for a house on the water with lots of windows.

Oooh yes.

Three sides of our house are windows.

We are alternating big wide picture windows with square sash windows. Six foot wide triple-pane low-e picture windows alternating with three foot sash windows. Eleven picture windows and ten sash windows.

Forest on both opposite sides and overlooking a marsh in the middle.

We found the hook-up for large picture windows too. $125 each.

I forget the entire specs to comply with building codes, but part of it was one layer of hardened glass to withstand hurricanes throwing trees against the windows.

[senior citizen]

Maine is a beautiful state, both inland and coastal. Over the past 15 years or more we have explored the entire coast from south to north, up and down each peninsula which juts out to the bold open ocean. The Maine turnpike is not the way to discover Maine, for sure. One must get off the beaten path. Now that we are nearing retirement ourselves and seriously considering relocating from Vermont, another beautiful state, to coastal Maine........most likely mid coastal Maine but anywhere from the Yorks up to Camden area..........including the Boothbay Harbor region.......can anyone who has made the big retirement move please comment on their experiences in relocating to the Boothbay region, Wells Maine area, York Harbor area, Camden, etc., etc. The pros and cons of each area for retired folk. We have explored as far north as Eastport & Calais. Prefer to be in a town with some services & senior citizen activities, etc. Wonderful forum. Thank you in advance.

[Acadianlion]

I think that you are looking at entirely different areas. Of them all, I think that Camden might be the best location for retirees. The changes that take place in Boothbay in the summer are tremendous because of the seasonal influx of tourists and summer visitors of all type. York Harbor and Wells are, well, really in North Boston, and are entirely different than most of Maine.

Camden is quite a busy center year round, has a hospital and is within easy reach of a larger hospital in Rockland.

I am not sure what "senior citizen activities" are.

I am not sure why you are restricting your choices to those areas except it seems as though you don't want to be too far away from a major metropolis like Portland. If that is so, then perhaps you should be closer either to that, or to Bangor where the highest year round populations are centered.

If you live in York, your major service center is in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

[corgis]

Eastport has many senior citizen activities - they have a senior center, a large Elderhostel program, craft classes, a play house, a beginning orchestra/band.

[GregW]

IMHO - Utopia and Maine winter should not be used in the same sentence. My idea of utopia is a lot warmer.

[senior citizen]

Thank you for your input. Nope, we do not prefer to be close to a city (Portland or Bangor). We have visited and stayed in all the smaller towns and villages up and down the coast and toured each peninsula. Pemaquid Lighthouse area is one of our favorites, but not to live in full time all year round. My husband likes the tiny fishing villages such as Harspwellville (if my memory is correct) but we have to compromise, obviously. I myself love Camden and we have stayed there many times (the little belted galloways, the children's chapel.......we've explored it all and Camden reminds me a lot of the town we reside in now in Vermont except for the "water" and harbor. Boothbay Harbor is quaint and a tourist trap to some but still interesting and affordable.......not quiet for sure, except when the tourists leave. As Vermonters for almost 40 years, we like small town living..........but are also thinking of the grandchildren and that perhaps they would prefer to visit us in a beach area....thus the Wells Beach and Yorks.......as we love the Nubble which is a lot more crowded than Pemaquid, for sure. As far as the fishing villages out on the various peninsulas, as we age in place, we really don't want to be driving 19 miles out to route one to shop. That is what I mean by services. Camden does have a hospital as well as Boothbay Harbor. We love Mount Batty in Camden although it is quite tiny compared to our Vermont mountains........... Deciding on a relocation place is a dilemma for sure..........as we have lived twice in Florida. Once for a year when the kids were babies.........and once when they graduated college for 4 months........but we always return to Vermont. Thus, we've decided to stay in NEW ENGLAND. Brunswick is a nice town also. We have stayed in Eastport each time we head to Prince Edward Island, Canada. On the way back we always stay in Boothbay Harbor after Bar Harbor. So, we are familiar with the towns, just can't decide. Camden has the nice library near the harbor.....and is such a pretty tiny little town and yes, that would be my first choice. Thanks again.

[forest beekeeper]

Originally Posted by GregW

IMHO - Utopia and Maine winter should not be used in the same sentence. My idea of utopia is a lot warmer.

See now I understand 'Utopia' to be an area that is roughly contained in:
Aroostook county, Somerset county, Piscataquis county, Penobscot county, Washington county, and parts of Hancock county.