Bath vs. Belfast vs. Rockland

[TheFriendlyDrunk]

Originally Posted by Midcoaster

If I were you, I'd attempt Portland, that is, if you want choices, and greater freedom to be who you are. With the 3 hour distance requirement, I wouldn't reject somewhere else in New Hampshire, unless you've experienced all the possibilities there. What about Portsmouth?

I wouldn't go further north than Bath.

Portland is a little too big for me, but Portsmouth is one of my favorite all time places. If anyone has never been before, it's well worth a visit on a summer day. The only problem is that the rent has totally gone out of control. I know people that pay $800/month for a studio with no kitchen or parking or one bedrooms with no parking for $1,000/month. And parking is a extremely limited in Portsmouth.

Originally Posted by inthetrees

The sulfur smell in Rockland/Thomaston is still there, and not just in the summer. I notice it most on Old County Road driving the back way to Lowes.

Hmm, that's disconcerting. It was a rather windy day when I visited it so I didn't notice a smell. How bad is it? Is it something you get used to?

[Maineac]

Dragon Cement plant? Never noticed it, I guess. Low tide can stink anywhere. Belfast, during the chicken factory days, was unbearable at dead low. Still has issues if you're sleeping on the boat in the Harbor, but manageable.

[inthetrees]

Originally Posted by Maineac

Dragon Cement plant? Never noticed it, I guess. Low tide can stink anywhere. Belfast, during the chicken factory days, was unbearable at dead low. Still has issues if you're sleeping on the boat in the Harbor, but manageable.

Sounds like you have never been down old county road at the right time. According to other city-data people, it's the town dump that is responsible for this Sulfur smell.

[bluebreezes]

A good friend lives right on Limerock Street in Rockland, the same street where the dump is located on the Old County Road end. He says that even on windy days he never smells the dump at his house, and only smells it when driving past it.

There is a smell sometimes from the seaweed carrageenan producing plant on the waterfront, but that's not all the time either and in some neighborhoods, you can't smell it at all. Sure, you might smell it if you're standing down at the ferry terminal, but it's not that bad, really.

Rockland's got a lot going on even in winter. Rockland residents get free year round admission to the Farnsworth for one. There's a new contemporary art center opening next month downtown, and there are many smaller galleries open year round.

It's not hard to find good apartments within walking distance of the downtown. Rockland is very walkable.

My friend moved to Rockland from the Portland area because he found much better apartment rental prices. He had also spent quite a bit of time looking in Bath and wasn't able to find anything for a good price in neighborhoods he felt in.

Another great thing about Rockland is how easy it is to take a ferry out to the islands for a day trip.

Not sure if any of this might interest you as a young guy in your 20s, but Rockland is a great place. Hope you have lots of good luck finding a good place where you'll be happy and have a great time meeting new people.

[slyfox2]

If you can't live on Mount Desert Island, I like Rockland the best of the three. I almost moved to Bath in 1978, but the powers-that-be wanted me to go back to school to pick up another 9 credits, and after slogging through a 42 credit Masters Degree over 4 long years I was not going to do that. So we didn't move to Maine then. but 33 years later we did. Better Late than NEVER.

[TPBodine]

I second Rockland. It's a vibrant town that's getting even more vibrant. Good restaurants, a brewery, interesting art museums (and another one on the way), the Strand Theater, coffee shops, a walkable downtown, ferries to the islands, the town's open year round, and it has reasonably affordable housing. The people are great, too.

The smell is pretty much gone from the dump (although I'll still get a whiff of it every now and then on the Old Country Rd). But it was only noticeable in a very small area right by the dump.

I also like Belfast, which has the Colonial Theater and some decent restaurants downtown, and then the Co-Op which is a great place for groceries. But Rockland seems a little bit more lively.