Nice quote (Portland, Penobscot: home, living in, fence)

[moughie]

"Mainiacs away from Maine are truly displaced persons, only half alive, only half aware of their immediate surroundings. Their inner attention is always preoccupied and pre-empted by the tiny pinpoint on the face of the globe called Down East. They try to live not in such a manner that they will eventually be welcomed into Paradise, but only so that someday they can go home to Maine."

-- Louise Dickinson Rich

[msina]

That's so true .........Thanks!

[Nor'Eastah]

[quote=moughie;4370279Their inner attention is always preoccupied and pre-empted by the tiny pinpoint on the face of the globe called Down East. [/quote]

That is a really nice quote!

But is "Down East" all there is to Maine???

[Mainer61]

Originally Posted by Nor'Eastah

That is a really nice quote!

But is "Down East" all there is to Maine???

That was my thought....there is so much more to Maine. I'd like to think the quote was calling ALL of Maine downeast.

[elston]

My Dad who was a Maine Man and from generations of Mainers who lived around Portland, used "down" to describe a trip to his home.....as in, "tomorrow we are going down to Maine" (or maybe it was Down Maine.) He said it had to do with the way sailing ships approached Portland harbor--I don't know if that is true or not....but grew up hearing "down to Maine" When he said it he was living in Rhode Island or Massachusetts, and Maine was geographically north or "up" and he was driving not sailing .

Anyway it is a great quote, Mougie; thanks for sharing.

[moughie]

Originally Posted by Mainer61

I'd like to think the quote was calling ALL of Maine downeast.

That is how I understood the quote also

[island mermaid]

Originally Posted by moughie

"Mainiacs away from Maine are truly displaced persons, only half alive, only half aware of their immediate surroundings. Their inner attention is always preoccupied and pre-empted by the tiny pinpoint on the face of the globe called Down East. They try to live not in such a manner that they will eventually be welcomed into Paradise, but only so that someday they can go home to Maine."

-- Louise Dickinson Rich

Very nice moughie, beautiful. Thanks for posting this!

[Submariner]

I would not consider "Down East' to include all of Maine, technically not all of 'Down East' is within Maine either.

An interesting sailing term, that I am not sure really applies very well today.

[AustinB]

Originally Posted by elston

My Dad who was a Maine Man and from generations of Mainers who lived around Portland, used "down" to describe a trip to his home.....as in, "tomorrow we are going down to Maine" (or maybe it was Down Maine.) He said it had to do with the way sailing ships approached Portland harbor--I don't know if that is true or not....but grew up hearing "down to Maine" When he said it he was living in Rhode Island or Massachusetts, and Maine was geographically north or "up" and he was driving not sailing .

Anyway it is a great quote, Mougie; thanks for sharing.

I'd always heard that the term down east refered to the ships sailing down wind to the eastward. The prevailing winds in the summer tend to be from the south west.

[Northern Maine Land Man]

Yes; down east was a direction more than a place. The old sailors said it was like sailing down hill to head home from Gloucester or Boston. After the direction was in common use somebody that sailed that route on a regular basis was called a downeaster. Then it became a place claimed by anybody from the Maine coast. People tend to place arbitrary boundaries like a picket fence around a bit of lawn. Some boundaries become apparent and are self defining like the Volvo Line. Others are amorphous and change over time. To my way of thinking, Down East today is the Maine coast east of the Penobscot River.