Anyone move from CT to Maine? (Portland, Brunswick: how much, home, transfer)

[Robert1955]

How did you adjust? People friendly? Miss the activity level here? Any thought of moving back? Thanks.

[forest beekeeper]

I have lived in Ct a few times, beginning in 1977. My Dw is a Ct native. We have property in Norwich Ct. My career had us transferring away, and later returning to Groton area numerous times. When I retired we returned to Ct and stayed there again for 4 years, before moving to Maine in 2005.

We saw the comparison of how the area was before Foxwoods / Mohegan Sun-moon; as compared to after they had become major players in the area. For folks who stayed there continuously, the changes were gradual. For us the changes in New London county seemed abrupt.

Maine living does take adjustment.

We have enjoyed every bit of it.

We had children in the public-funded school systems when we moved here. The differences in quality of education between those two school districts is massive. It would require a separate thread to express how much better the schools are in Me than they are in Ct.

We have found Mainers to be very friendly, more so than Connecticut Yankees.

The only thing that we miss of Ct is a few of my Dw's friends there. My Dw makes a trip to Md 2 to 3 times a year to visit her sister, so she often stops in Ct to visit friends there. Her group of highschool chums all stayed in Ct and have never moved.

We have no thoughts of moving back to Ct.

[Robert1955]

Thank you for your comments. We're coming up this weekend to look around some more!

[forest beekeeper]

Originally Posted by Robert1955

Thank you for your comments. We're coming up this weekend to look around some more!

What region of Maine are you looking at?

[Robert1955]

York to Kennebunk-I still need to be able to get to CT and MA easily and often. Thank you for your help.

[Roadkill95]

Originally Posted by Robert1955

York to Kennebunk-I still need to be able to get to CT and MA easily and often. Thank you for your help.

Living in CT myself,Norwich, I don't see a big differance from the area you are looking at and here where I am. It may be a little more different for you as you are coming from fairfield.
That area of maine to me is really not maine but north boston. The advantage you have living in that area is you are that much closer to the real maine than from here.

[forest beekeeper]

Originally Posted by Roadkill95

Living in CT myself,Norwich, I don't see a big differance from the area you are looking at and here where I am. It may be a little more different for you as you are coming from fairfield. That area of maine to me is really not maine but north boston. The advantage you have living in that area is you are that much closer to the real maine than from here.

I agree.

[lrfox]

Originally Posted by Roadkill95

Living in CT myself,Norwich, I don't see a big differance from the area you are looking at and here where I am. It may be a little more different for you as you are coming from fairfield.
That area of maine to me is really not maine but north boston.:

Having lived in both the Boston area and Southern Maine I'll never understand people who say this. It's a different world than metro Boston. It may be a bit more built up than Northern Maine, but it's still pretty sparsely populated with no shortage of rural land and forest just off the small strip of relatively thickly settled land (really, along Route 1 and towards the water... a tiny area). Furthermore, the attitude and feel of the area is entirely different than what you find in the Boston area. People in Southern Maine are a lot more laid back and easy going than those in metro Boston. It may not have the "attitude" of Northern Maine, but it's no more similar to Boston in that regard either (far from it, really). Just because Southern Maine isn't exactly the same as Northern Maine doesn't mean it's "Boston North." Anyone coming from a large metro area (or even medium sized metro area) will quickly be able to see that Southern Maine, even Portland doesn't feel like a big metro area at all. Portland may be too large for the people of of Northern Maine but at 63,000 people and a whopping (said with complete sarcasm) 480,000 stretching all the way from Kittery to Brunswick and everywhere between, Southern Maine still has a VERY low population density for a coastal area. It's not big and it's certainly NOT like any of Boston or the other Northeast metro areas.

In all fairness, the area around Norwich has a relatively low population density too. Just about the lowest between Boston and Washington D.C.... Until you hit the DelMarVa Peninsula. Southwest CT (i.e. Fairfield County) is a lot more built up.

[Robert1955]

Thank you all for your comments. We'll have to come up and see the various towns. We want to be additive to any community and be involved in a nice way. We know we'll never be real Mainers and that's OK-we'll defer to the real ones and realize how lucky they are to have roots in such a great state!

[Maineah]

Originally Posted by lrfox

Having lived in both the Boston area and Southern Maine I'll never understand people who say this. It's a different world than metro Boston. It may be a bit more built up than Northern Maine, but it's still pretty sparsely populated with no shortage of rural land and forest just off the small strip of relatively thickly settled land (really, along Route 1 and towards the water... a tiny area). Furthermore, the attitude and feel of the area is entirely different than what you find in the Boston area. People in Southern Maine are a lot more laid back and easy going than those in metro Boston. It may not have the "attitude" of Northern Maine, but it's no more similar to Boston in that regard either (far from it, really). Just because Southern Maine isn't exactly the same as Northern Maine doesn't mean it's "Boston North." Anyone coming from a large metro area (or even medium sized metro area) will quickly be able to see that Southern Maine, even Portland doesn't feel like a big metro area at all. Portland may be too large for the people of of Northern Maine but at 63,000 people and a whopping (said with complete sarcasm) 480,000 stretching all the way from Kittery to Brunswick and everywhere between, Southern Maine still has a VERY low population density for a coastal area. It's not big and it's certainly NOT like any of Boston or the other Northeast metro areas.

In all fairness, the area around Norwich has a relatively low population density too. Just about the lowest between Boston and Washington D.C.... Until you hit the DelMarVa Peninsula. Southwest CT (i.e. Fairfield County) is a lot more built up.

Excellent post and I agree with you wholeheartedly. I do not know where the imaginary "North Boston" line ends but it certainly is not around this area. We still hunt with rifles in my town and most of the other towns north of the Royal River. We have State Parks in Freeport and Pownal. Better than half of the roads in the Pownal area are still dirt. New Gloucester is home to Pineland Farms one of the largest multi use agricultural lands in Maine. One of the largest fish hatcheries in Maine is in Gray. Gray is also home to the State's animal farm where wounded or orphaned wild animals are cared for. Cumberland is still 80% farmland and is home to one of the largest agricultural fairs in Maine....hardly a "North Boston" enterprize IMO. Brunswick has fewer "Big Box "stores than Presque Isle now and the U of M campus is nearly as large as Bowdoin College. All of these areas are within a 15 minute back road drive from Freeport.....North Boston??? I don't think so.