First Impressions of Mainers (Kittery, Belfast: for sale, real estate, apartment)

[maine4.us]

I started this thread to let people from Maine and those from away see how Mainers are not cold and unfriendly.

[maine4.us]

Some First Impressions of Mainers around Eastport. When we (DW and I) arrived in Eastport, the key to our house didn't work. I went to find Pat, who watches our house when we aren't there and found her in a local real estate office. We had never met in person, but she hugged my wife and I and said she was happy to meet us. The broker of the firm Mary, introduces herself and proceeds to give us both big hugs and shakes our hands. She gives us a proper welcome and hands my wife a book on the history of the area. We Pat has the other key to our house at her home, so we follow her to her home and meet her husband who also shakes our hand and welcomes us to the area.

Finally we reach the house and are able to get to unpacking the car. We unpack the car, and it comes time to turn on the water. I go under the house and turn on the water, and my wife immediately starts yelling. So I turn off the water. It seems the new plumbing has never been pressure tested and we have numerous small leaks and a couple of large ones. Our next door neighbor is a plumber, how lucky and I walk over to his house and ask him about fixing the leaks. He tells me, I am the one that plumbed the house, it's my work, and I will make it right. He stayed until 11:30 that night and fixed every leak. He would not take a single penny, just said again, "it's my work, and I will made it right." Where I live, I am just am not used to anyone for any reason refusing money, but with Bubba, the plumber, it was a matter of pride, and of his reputation. Within the first 6 hours of being in Eastport, 3 Mainers made a wonderful first impression. I will add some others to the thread as this is a bit too long to add any more first impressions of residents of Maine.

[Mainer61]

Being from Maine, I expect all of us to be that way....sadly I have been wrong on many occasions. I don't think, however, that it's where we from...sometimes people just hear one thing and think everyone is that way. Last year we took our daughter to college in NYC. My husband and I had no idea how to get out of the city. We stopped and I asked a policeman for directions to Maine (LOL!!). He said, 'follow me,' and led us right to the bridge. Wow...we were so thankful.

[Elcarim]

Our impression of Mainers was life changing. We knew before we arrived in Maine for our visit that it's where we 'thought' we wanted to be. By the time we left, we knew we'd be going home to get the house ready for sale get ourselves back as quickly as the powers that be would allow.

Our FIRST impression of Mainers? That came within 15 minutes of crossing the boarder of HOME. We stopped at the nicest little rest area in what I think was Kittery. We picked up some fast food, took the girls to the rest room and as us girls were coming out, we found DH on the steps outside talking to the sweetest lady - a lifelong Mainer. She recognized from his obvious Southern accent that 'we weren't from around here' and stopped him, and she started asking 20 questions. We stood out there, freezing our assets off in the dark, this sweet lady telling us all the 'not to be missed' things we should do while visiting. Then she went on to tell us her favorite towns for living in, once she learned we were shopping for a new home. One thing she said that I'll never forget was, "Whatever you're looking for, it's here!" I think we were on that stoop for a good 30 minutes, and I think her Maine skin was MUCH thicker than ours!!

We got back into the van, and just kept looking at each other and laughing. I said several times that I'd never met such friendly stangers. That was so odd to us! Our 6 y.o. even asked at one point, "Why was that lady so nice to us, Mommy?" (A question we'd hear quite often on that trip!) How sad that our children have come to expect the worst from people at such a young age!

Like many others on this forum, I have quite a few stories to tell, so I'll spread it out as this thread grows! But that was our FIRST impression of Mainers. I can say that our LAST was just as memorable!

[Elcarim]

Ok, I'll take another turn! Our waitress (twice in one week) in Belfast knew us by the second trip. She asked all about how our trip was going and whethere or not we had decided which town we thought we may settle in. Mind you, there were 4 days and many other customers she'd seen between our visits. She remember our whole story, nonetheless! That, in itself, was impressive!

But the most memorable thing about our chats were her accounts of deciding to move to Galveston, TX "a while back". She lasted here a whole 3 months! She said, "I thought that would be a good place - warm weather year round, lots of sun, still on the ocean.........you folks call that an ocean?????" She was apparently disgusted by the smelly brown water that wasn't fit to swim in and by the fact that the water was so hot all the time that it felt like a sauna. She knew that nauseous feeling we always had after coming out of that water quite well! We rarely go in it anymore. The local inhabitants of the island that scared her senseless didn't help, either. She was afraid to leave her apartment after dark, and rightfully so! She said she hightailed it back to Maine at first opportunity. Don't blame her there!!

"We're right behind you!" I told her.

[Siobjuan]

Due to some bizarre circumstances (I won't get into them here....maybe we need a 'screwed by family members' thread) my husband and I had 2 weeks to find a new home. We had already been looking around and was interested in Maine. We had helped my sister's family move (to Winn) the year before and had fallen in love with the open spaces. Having 2 kids, we didn't want to be in Nowhere For Miles Around, Maine, so Dexter is a great fit.

The realtor we hooked up with went above and beyond to help us as we had such pressing circumstances. We looked at every available home (in our price range) in 3 towns in one weekend! NO WAY that would have happened in Massachusetts. I knew we found our new home the minute I stepped foot on the property. It just called to us. We moved in January, and were starting to bite at each other from cabin fever when the most glorious thing happend. Spring!

As I set about getting my first Maine 'dirt manicure' and folks came out of the woodwork. Those that were interested stopped by, introduced themselves, and got to finding about the 'new folks from away'. Those that didn't just nodded and kept on going.

To this day there are neighbors who stop in a spell and chat and those that just nod and keep on walking!

[ogre]

I've posted here off and on over the past year or so, but, except for a couple of recent posts at the Red Sox thread, haven't posted here in some time. This thread got my attention, though. (BTW, Elcarim, how's the move going? I know you've been trying to make the arrangements to move to Maine. Have you made it there yet?)

I'm one of those "MAholes" sometimes held in some degree of disdain in northern New England, but I wanted to jump in here because of the fact that an outsider is in a good position to offer an unbiased view. I've spent quite a bit of time in Maine over the years, and have always found the people to be especially likeable. For the most part, Mainers impress me as unpretentious and practical. Also, I find Mainers to be very friendly. I know that "New Englanders" have a reputation for being cold, but, even though New England is not the largest region of the U.S., it is still an entire region, which covers enough territory to have plenty of sub-regional variation. I find Maine to be an especially pleasant corner of the New England region. How friendly Mainers seem may depend a lot on your idea of friendliness. If friendliness means to you being loud and gregarious, the kind of friendliness where people slap you on the back and pump vigorously when they shake your hand, well, Maine probably won't fit the bill. However, I find people in Maine to generally be very friendly in a more softspoken way. If you're prepared to engage in some real conversation, and listen as much as you speak, you'll discover an easygoing neighborliness, which is genuinely warm, and which I find very appealing.

Just one person's thoughts, but that has been my experience in Maine.

[mainebrokerman]

Originally Posted by Siobjuan

Due to some bizarre circumstances (I won't get into them here....maybe we need a 'screwed by family members' thread) my husband and I had 2 weeks to find a new home. We had already been looking around and was interested in Maine. We had helped my sister's family move (to Winn) the year before and had fallen in love with the open spaces. Having 2 kids, we didn't want to be in Nowhere For Miles Around, Maine, so Dexter is a great fit.

The realtor we hooked up with went above and beyond to help us as we had such pressing circumstances. We looked at every available home (in our price range) in 3 towns in one weekend! NO WAY that would have happened in Massachusetts. I knew we found our new home the minute I stepped foot on the property. It just called to us. We moved in January, and were starting to bite at each other from cabin fever when the most glorious thing happend. Spring!

As I set about getting my first Maine 'dirt manicure' and folks came out of the woodwork. Those that were interested stopped by, introduced themselves, and got to finding about the 'new folks from away'. Those that didn't just nodded and kept on going.

To this day there are neighbors who stop in a spell and chat and those that just nod and keep on walking!

good post,,,,thanx for the first hand testimonial,,
i like the town of dexter, one of my fav stores is there,,(p&L country store)
phil and lori are great people!!

[booker_one]

i just got back from maine/new hampshire. every single person we spoke to was very friendly. i was very impressed!!!

[dramamama6685]

Originally Posted by booker_one

i just got back from maine/new hampshire. every single person we spoke to was very friendly. i was very impressed!!!

We had complete strangers engage us with riveting stories of family history, current work projects, town history, etc. As long as you are willing to listen, there are plenty friendly folks in Maine. It was one of the things that left the biggest impression on us and why we can't wait to be a part of it all!