Here we go again. Where to go (Millinocket, Dover-Foxcroft: law, land)

[david1677]

Originally Posted by maineguy8888

This is in Cherryfield yesterday, about fifteen miles from Machias:

Five alleged crack dealers arrested after 2-hour standoff in Cherryfield — Court News — Bangor Daily News — BDN Maine

Crazy crap.

I showed this and the bdn article to my wife and she said North it is.

So that's the tentative plan for now.

What's the thoughts on the Millinocket or Dover-Foxcroft area ?

[maineguy8888]

Originally Posted by david1677

I showed this and the bdn article to my wife and she said North it is.

So that's the tentative plan for now.

What's the thoughts on the Millinocket or Dover-Foxcroft area ?

I have always thought that the Millinocketn area is greatly underrated. If someone is retired or has their own income, it's a great place. Just outside Baxter State Park and Mt. Katahdin (which to me, is the most awesome place in Maine). Beautiful area. And the real estate there is dirt cheap (that's because the two big mills closed a few years ago and the population has dropped).

Dover Foxcroft, I don't know much about.

[ndcairngorm]

If you get interested in an area, a good thing to do is to try to get the local newspapers, if any, online, or at least to dig around and get some chat about the place among the residents.

We used to live in a tiny town in Maine (that's as far as I will go to identify it), call it a village, really, but that was nearly 3 decades ago. It was an idyllic time and we thought back to it many times. Recently, when we were casting about for where "to end up," we thought of XXX. Even found a great house that we started lusting after. Then found the local newspaper (nonexistent when we were there) and read a huge long argument between most all the residents about target practice in your backyard. Half the people were upset at the continual noise all the time; the other half said it was their property and if they wanted to do target practice in their backyard it was nobody's business but their own. And I'm not talking about bows and arrows.

We're not looking at that place anymore.

[kevin5098]

Originally Posted by david1677

I showed this and the bdn article to my wife and she said North it is.

So that's the tentative plan for now.

What's the thoughts on the Millinocket or Dover-Foxcroft area ?

Dover-Foxcroft Crime rate is about 19 (per 100K) - about the same as Cumberland County
Millinocket is about 16 - roughly the same as York County

Point is that there are pockets of crime all over the state, not just down here in the urban sprawl of Southern Maine. Move where you want. Just bear in mind that there are nice places (and not so nice places) to live all over the state.

http://www.maine.gov/dps/cim/crime_i...20Counties.pdf

[OpinionExperience]

Originally Posted by kevin5098

Dover-Foxcroft Crime rate is about 19 (per 100K) - about the same as Cumberland County
Millinocket is about 16 - roughly the same as York County

Point is that there are pockets of crime all over the state, not just down here in the urban sprawl of Southern Maine. Move where you want. Just bear in mind that there are nice places (and not so nice places) to live all over the state.

http://www.maine.gov/dps/cim/crime_i...20Counties.pdf

I'll agree with that. I was expecting to move to Mayberry coming from Jersey. I guess Mayberry doesn't exist anymore, only in black and white.

I like Maine overall for the close to earth vibe, craftsman style architecture and less population.

[Zymer]

Originally Posted by ndcairngorm

...found the local newspaper (nonexistent when we were there) and read a huge long argument between most all the residents about target practice in your backyard. Half the people were upset at the continual noise all the time; the other half said it was their property and if they wanted to do target practice in their backyard it was nobody's business but their own. And I'm not talking about bows and arrows.

We're not looking at that place anymore.

Everybody around here shoots in their back yard, or the front yard (in my case). It's not a big deal, and it isn't 'constant', when it happens it is usually on the weekend, a Sat or Sun afternoon. Sheesh, most of us have to work to be able to afford the ammo, even reloading has got much more expensive than it used to be- at the upper end of the scale it costs about $1,000/hr to run my specimen of Charles Ingram's little baby, the Mac-11/9.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fo2GFf7exHA

The article you read was probably little more than a tempest in a teapot, and substantially exaggerated.

[Northern Maine Land Man]

Millinocket and Dover both have hospitals. Dover has an outstanding orthopedic practice. I had my shoulder rebuilt there 10 years ago and have 100% range of motion. Millinocket had more recreational opportunities and the town has finally allowed ATVs in town.

You can ride an ATV from Millinocket to the ocean - legally. There is no other state where you can do that.

( Bring your GPS. )

[RMoore007]

Submariner

Dover-Foxcroft is where my family has lived since the early 1800's. My sister is living in the same old farmhouse where my grandmother and mother both were born and died in the same downstairs bedroom that my sister now sleeps in. The cemetery is right out back which can be seen from the kitchen window. It even has the old 1850's kitchen now used as a pantry. The new add on kitchen was built in the 1930's.
It uses a bit of oil in the cold winter but she closes off the 4 bedrooms upstairs. Both brothers live right across the street in their own places.

This house is worth little monetarily but obviously worth more in heritage and memories than anything else. Plus there is plenty of land to spread out. The point is that these large old farmhouses are all over the place and can be bought quite reasonably. If a person had some skills to renovate over time or money to replace skills, one could live very comfortably in central Maine. The town is the county seat and has all the commercial and medical needs except for a big box store which is 25 miles away in Newport. There is a local realtor in town that has many listings around your budget with a quick search.

The high school is Foxcroft Academy and students come from all over the world to attend. Residents get to go there for free. My nephew just started there last fall. The lower grade schools are good and swell with parent participation. It is the SeDoMoCha Regional school.

The recreation part of living in that area is of course one of the good parts. The largest lake in Maine is only 35 miles away. Sebec Lake just 5 miles. Of course it seems every town has it's own lake or river anyway so there are multiple water sports available. The atv/snowmobile trail system is great. Not as good as NMLM said about Millinocket and being able to ride atv's IN to town but still can go from town to town.

My take on politics and crime in that area is that there is still politics and crime in that area.

If there were any specific questions about that area I would love to help. I know very little about the other areas you were looking into but as NMLM as mentioned before that the Lincoln area is worth looking into also. I know that I stop there on my way to Calais and could always see myself living there too. Again, a lake in town.

Overall, it's a place that is usually overlooked by most people on this board because they may just go to Dover to go to a medical appointment or pass through on their way to Moosehead Lake on the Moosehead Trail (route 23) or to Katahdin on the Katahdin Trail (route 7). It is in what is called the Maine Highlands and is just above the 45th parallel. My dad always had a love/hate relationship with the weather in Dover and blamed it on that. He called it the tundra. They became snowbirds out west but by mid February every season they would get homesick for the old property and get back in March.

Good Luck

[woxyroxme]

Originally Posted by Peter1948

Just curious why you are moving outside of a growing metro area to the cold and non growing, smaller state?

I am retiring to Eastport Maine because I can't stand the out of control sprawl in my area, Eastport is virtually unchanged since I was a kid and related to half the town.

[Northern Maine Land Man]

Pretty hard to sprawl in Eastport. It's surrounded by water!