Retire in Boothbay Harbor, Bath, or Portland (Bangor, Brunswick: to rent, condos)

[gigglesjs]

Hi, My husband and I are both 53 and want to semi-retire within a year. He does IT-consultant stuff, I am a retired mom...LOL. We live in Florida and hate it...We have both lived in northern Vermont (I went to college in Montpeiler VT.) so winters with snow are fun to us. We enjoy everything from fun dancing bands to romantic dinners on the water, to snowshoeing. We live on our boat, so living in a house again will be different...We have done internet searches at Boothbay Harbor since we love sailing and my husband used to build boats. We have searched Bath and it seems to be a nice small town. We have also searched Portland and it seems like a lot of fun, with a small town feel.
I just want to be able to walk out my door and not fear of being shot at (Miami). So if you could live near or around any of these places or anywhere between Bangor and Portland where would it be. Can't wait to get out of dodge.
Have a wonderful day everyone in Maine, you are very fortunate.
Oh kids (3) are all in college in either Oregon or Washington State.

[corgis]

We are retiring to Eastport - that being said, if I had to pick one of the three places you are thinking about, it would probably be Boothbay, then Bath and lastly Portland simply due to population.

[AustinB]

Originally Posted by corgis

We are retiring to Eastport - that being said, if I had to pick one of the three places you are thinking about, it would probably be Boothbay, then Bath and lastly Portland simply due to population.

You are right. Boothbay is a beautiful town. It gets tourist crazy in the summer. Bath might actually be a nicer area. You don't have to live in town near the shipyard.

[BacktoNE]

I'm partial to Boothbay as that is where DH & I eloped. It's such a pretty town, but it does get tourist-crazy in the Summer.

Bath/Brunswick is a nice area with lots to do and easy access to Portland when needed.

I would have loved Portland when I was younger, but now at middle age, I want a smaller town so that would be last on my list of the 3 you mentioned.

[gigglesjs]

Thanks...after reading we went to the Eastport area on the web. and have decided to rent an RV for a month during the summer and travel between Boothbay and Eastport along the coast...any places that we should see or check out please add, we are so excited about exploring your pretty state.

[retiredtinbender]

Thomaston is a nice place, Camden/Rockport are nice to walk around. There's a tranportation museum in Owls Head S/E of Rocklandbut off Rt 1. Belfast has a neat downtown and good food. Searsport has maritime museums. If you have AAA get a Maine travel guide or go to Maine tourism and order one:
Travel Planners or Maine Office of Tourism - Plan Your Trip

Have a good safe trip and let us know how you make out.

[Deborah Caldwell]

It seems to me that you are doing exactly the right things. The trip will speak for itself. The research you have done and the places you find to explore will speak for themselves. Your past experiences with cold and snow will bee a positive. The coastal towns that you are looking at are much more temperate than the Vermont and inland Maine scenes, so you will be just fine. The further inland you can go, such as Whitefield or inland Waldoboro, the less schitzophrenic the towns become. The summer season is only twelve weeks long, but it creates a wedge between reality and serenety. Hope, Maine is just outside of Camden, and much less impacted by tourists and its scenery and little mountains and ponds are breathtaking. Portland is really a wonderful town for middle-aged and younger people. But there is room for retirees, too, if you have a goodly amount of money to spend on some of the new condos there. All the housig ads will help you to decide. They tell their own stories. Have fun. When will you be here?

[woolwiTch]

You are smart to take a good look around before deciding. My DH and I retired (semi-retired in my case) to just outside Bath a few years ago and love it. (I grew up not far from here, but we lived in other parts of the country during our working lives.)

Boothbay is really beautiful, but I could never live there. It is absolutely insane in the summer, even though it's totally manageable in beautiful places not at all far from there. If you really fall in love with that peninsula, I'd say look at Edgecomb, which is very nearby and can be accessed without all the summer traffic. I also really like Damariscotta and Newcastle, just a quick few minutes up the coast from Boothbay. They are beautiful towns on Damariscotta Lake, River and the ocean. Lots of life in those towns year round and they have good health care facilities, including a hospital.

Bath is a really great town. It has a historic downtown with one-of-a-kind stores and restaurants, a fairly new YMCA, nice little library and lots of community activities like music, theater, art. Get involved in a couple of groups and the next thing you know, you'll have a nice circle of friends and acquaintances. Bath has a lot of beautiful old homes if you want to live in town. If you are interested in living on the water, there are homes on the Kennebec River in Bath and the nearby towns. You can live on or near ocean inlets or the "bold ocean" in you choose to live in West Bath, Phippsburg, Arrowsic or Georgetown. Brunswick is also a town you might want to take a look at. It has more stores and restaurants and arts, in part because of the presence of Bowdoin College. It's also 10 miles closer to I-295 for your trips to Portland.

I love Portland but, like the posters above, it would be my third choice among Bath, Boothbay Harbor and Portland. I can be there in 40 minutes and that works for me. If I wanted to be closer, I'd look at Freeport, South Freeport, Cumberland, Yarmouth, Falmouth----though housing costs will be higher than Brunswick, Bath and other towns further north.

Good luck!

[mainebrokerman]

Originally Posted by gigglesjs

Thanks...after reading we went to the Eastport area on the web. and have decided to rent an RV for a month during the summer and travel between Boothbay and Eastport along the coast...any places that we should see or check out please add, we are so excited about exploring your pretty state.

be sure to visit pemaquid point a couple towns over from boothbay, (you can drive right to the lighthouse)
also visit south bristol (also very close to boothbay) and christmas cove area, some of the prettiest areas along the coast

[woolwiTch]

Deborah Caldwell mentioned the town of Hope. It's a gorgeous little town close to Camden, tucked into the Camden hills, and an easy drive to Augusta. Hope is featured in this month's Downeast magazine, and here is a video about the town from Downeast's website:

Hope for Hipsters | Down East

If you haven't spent a lot of time in Maine, one thing you will have to take a hard look at is how far some towns are from major highways and cities. Maine is waaaay bigger than Vermont. There are many people on this site who love being far removed. But especially if you've lived in cities a lot, it might be too big an adjustment for you. Just something to keep in the back of your mind as you take your RV tour this summer.