Why Does Northern Maine Feel So Different Than The Rest Of The Northeast? (Portland: to buy, quality of life)

[PcolaFLGuy]

I've lived in NH before but I'm a southerner. Recently, I've started looking at larger parcels of land in Aroostook County.

Since doing a bit of research, I've become pretty fascinated by these little communities up along the border like St. Agatha and Cleveland(?). Any knowledge or experience in that area near Long Lake?

[maineguy8888]

Originally Posted by PcolaFLGuy

I've lived in NH before but I'm a southerner. Recently, I've started looking at larger parcels of land in Aroostook County.

Since doing a bit of research, I've become pretty fascinated by these little communities up along the border like St. Agatha and Cleveland(?). Any knowledge or experience in that area near Long Lake?

Cleveland is an area of St. Agatha; you don't hear people refer to it any more.
Cyr Plantation and St. Agatha are beautiful areas...........Long Lake is a really nice lake.

[maineguy8888]

A northern Maine morning: stopped for coffee and a few homemade things at the Easton Amish store....four or five Franco women from over across also shopping while conversing in French (the Amish girl who waited on them has a very marked Amish dialect so their conversation in "English" was quite interesting!). Then off through the post-harvest fields, to wind up at my destination in the Big Woods west of Mars Hill...and stopping for lunch and other stuff at the Micmac store/fish farm in Caribou.

[Northern Maine Land Man]

New Sweden is a nice quiet town. They have a traditional Swedish event every summer around June 21 called "Midsommerfest'. Lots of good large parcels in the area.

I was stationed in Pensacola twice in a prior life.

[Roadwarriors79]

OP, I have been visiting Maine in the last few years. Most of northern Maine does feel to me like it belongs in another part of the country. The people I have met in Maine over the years are friendlier than anywhere else in the Northeast, without a doubt. It was pleasantly surprising to see. I haven't gotten to see much of the southern part of the state, other than a little bit of Portland and its suburbs. From personal experience, I feel like summers (especially summer weekends), driving on I-95 south of Portland is just an extension of every crowded city in the Northeast (Boston area and points south).

[Nor'Eastah]

I spent summers as a boy in the greater Portland area. This was back in the 1950s, and I recall it being very different than it is today. I don't spend much time in Portland these days. After a career and raising a family in my native Rhode Island, I chose to retire to Maine, but was surprised at how far north we had to go, to duplicate that feeling of greater Portland back in the 50s.

I now live in Picataquis County, just northwest of Millinocket. Yes, it's rural and remote, but that's what we wanted, and we could not find it downstate. A few years ago, my family and I invested in some far northern NH acreage, which we are developing now. NH has changed even more than Maine, but this parcel we bought is quite nice.

I'm glad that northern Maine is nothing like CT or NJ. Those places are heavily populated, urban, crime-ridden, noisy, and represent everything we were trying to get away from. If you enjoy that lifestyle, go to CT or NJ. Leave me in peace up here.

[jdoll88]

The more i Listen to you folks talk about northern maine the more I fall in love with the idea of it all

[maineguy8888]

Originally Posted by jdoll88

The more i Listen to you folks talk about northern maine the more I fall in love with the idea of it all

You have to be able to like winters (or even just tolerate them). It can be pretty tough for four to five months a year.
That said, summers are perfect.

[JoulesMSU]

Northern Maine feels like the Midwest because it's the same thing... the Midwest is characterized by low population density and lack of economic opportunities, because it's mostly small rural communities that are being passed by because they have this notion of trying to hold on to "how things used to be" instead of adapting for what things are becoming.

A few months ago they released the 2018 Distressed Index and I think this pretty accurately captures what it's like in each county. As you can see, Cumberland and York Counties are among the best in the nation ("Prosperous"), whereas Aroostook and Washington Counties are in the bottom half, "At Risk".

https://eig.org/dci/2018-dci-map-national-counties-map

I came out here from an "At Risk" rural Midwestern County myself, and "Northern Maine" seems to be almost identical to what I came from. As for the posts at the beginning of the thread, I don't know what Portland used to be like, but I could have moved to pretty much anywhere in the country - Seattle, Denver, Minneapolis, etc. - but I picked Portland because it's not only one of the best cities now, but it seems like it's constantly getting better.

[maineguy8888]

Originally Posted by JoulesMSU

Northern Maine feels like the Midwest because it's the same thing... the Midwest is characterized by low population density and lack of economic opportunities, because it's mostly small rural communities that are being passed by because they have this notion of trying to hold on to "how things used to be" instead of adapting for what things are becoming.

A few months ago they released the 2018 Distressed Index and I think this pretty accurately captures what it's like in each county. As you can see, Cumberland and York Counties are among the best in the nation ("Prosperous"), whereas Aroostook and Washington Counties are in the bottom half, "At Risk".

https://eig.org/dci/2018-dci-map-national-counties-map

I came out here from an "At Risk" rural Midwestern County myself, and "Northern Maine" seems to be almost identical to what I came from. As for the posts at the beginning of the thread, I don't know what Portland used to be like, but I could have moved to pretty much anywhere in the country - Seattle, Denver, Minneapolis, etc. - but I picked Portland because it's not only one of the best cities now, but it seems like it's constantly getting better.

Was this post just to toot Portland's horn? lol
Trust me, that's not needed. Happens enough as is.

Portland and southern Maine in general are nice, no doubt. (I have lived there on and off for the last twenty five years).
I agree with your thought that it just doesn't make much "sense" for places like Maine or rural Michigan to exist at all. People who live there must be slightly daft. But for some reason we do. Still haven't figured that out completely.