Why Does Northern Maine Feel So Different Than The Rest Of The Northeast? (Portland: salvaged, excise tax)

[FL_Watch]

For one, let's take the Italian-American population in Maine.

In New Hampshire, the Italian ancestry percentage is 10.5%. In Vermont, it's 7.5%. In Connecticut, it's 17.7%. Pennsylvania is 12.0%.
OTOH, Maine is at 5.7%, the lowest of any state in the Northeast region and comparable to Michigan and Colorado. It gets lower as you go north and east. In Aroostook County, the SWEDISH and GERMAN populations exceed the Italian population (Germans by a rather significant margin). So in that sense alone, Aroostook County has more in common with, say, Wisconsin than it does with northern New Jersey.

Aroostook County, a mostly charming, scenic, safe, quaint and friendly area, might as well be in a different country from New Jersey or Connecticut. It's hard to pin down, but the peoples' attitudes and political outlooks are more akin to the Upper Midwest and Pacific Northwest than anywhere within' the BosWash corridor.

Does anybody else notice this? Do you like being grouped in with Massachusetts and Connecticut, or do you feel detached from your southern neighbors? IMO, Portland is still classic "New England" to the core but Aroostook or Piscataquis Counties just does not resemble classic Northeastern culture, except for the gorgeous fall foliage.

[AustinB]

Do we need to bus some in?

[7th generation]

Originally Posted by FL_Watch

IMO, Portland is still classic "New England" to the core ..............

Portland used to be a quaint Maine fishing town, but now is resided by and run by "out-of-state" elitists.
It has forever lost it's charm.

[slyfox2]

Originally Posted by 7th generation

Portland used to be a quaint Maine fishing town, but now is resided by and run by "out-of-state" elitists.
It has forever lost it's charm.

Just because these people disagree with your views, doesn’t mean that you have the right to use insults. Insults are the domain of those who don’t have a solid enough argument to act civilly.

These people are residents of the State of Maine. They pay taxes to Maine and to Portland. They pay excise taxes for their cars.

They are Mainers. They are not out of state elitists unless you have determined that Portland is no longer a city in Maine.

Frankly, my dear, your comment is just plain offensive, and unlike the caring attitude that I have come to expect from Mainers as a whole.

[7th generation]

Originally Posted by slyfox2

Just because these people disagree with your views, doesn’t mean that you have the right to use insults. Insults are the domain of those who don’t have a solid enough argument to act civilly.

These people are residents of the State of Maine. They pay taxes to Maine and to Portland. They pay excise taxes for their cars.

They are Mainers. They are not out of state elitists unless you have determined that Portland is no longer a city in Maine.

Frankly, my dear, your comment is just plain offensive, and unlike the caring attitude that I have come to expect from Mainers as a whole.

Ah yes I see. I was born and raised here and visited Portland with my parents and family.......60+ years ago and many times since. It has lost it's charm as a fishing village and has taken on the air of a typical coastal town in New England, which is foreign to me. What I posted was my personal observation and not slanted. It is regarded as such by many Mainers I know. If this post triggered you, I can delete it.

[Pilot1]

Yes, Portland is Boston North. Totally changed, and not for the better. Up state Maine is different because it is all forest owned by logging companies.

[Northern Maine Land Man]

There is not one single acre of Maine paper industry owned land in Maine today. The small amount still owned by logging companies is much reduced compared to what it was a decade go. The survivors are trying to get some demand going for Maine wood. People still gave good feelings about the Maine they knew and the Maine we remember.

"Aroostook County, a mostly charming, scenic, safe, quaint and friendly area, might as well be in a different country from New Jersey or Connecticut."

The FBI says that Maine is the safest state. Aroostook County may be the safest county in the safest state. Aroostook County is the largest agricultural county in Maine. In 1940, Maine had 6,250,000 acres of pasture and cultivated land. Today we have just over a million. In my lifetime, Maine has gained an average of 77,000 acres of forest every year. That is more than three whole townships of woods. Walk up over a hardwood ridge most anywhere in Maine and you will find stone walls in the woods. Those walls were mot put there by elves during the night. They were built by our grandfathers and their fathers when that land was fields.

Aroostook County worked to preserve their fields. I bush hog fields for people at a very reasonable price, just to do my part in preserving what fields we have left. This loss of 5,000,000 acres of field has been a disaster for the meadow lark population. I have not seen a meadow lark in years. The flip side of this situation is that pileated woodpeckers are back in abundance.

I have seen a lot of good questions about Maine in the past few weeks. What I just wrote is well known in Maine, but rarely known outside of Maine. During the spruce budworm epidemic, the environmental industry screamed about corporate robber barons raping the forest as they salvaged dying spruce. One group put out a press release with a picture that appeared on many newspapers. It was a color photo of a vast flat clear cut. Any Mainer knew that the photo was not taken in Maine. A little research showed that it had appeared in a Russian forestry magazine and it was taken in Siberia.

Many city dwellers still think that the forests in Maine are gone. A picture is worth a thousand words.

[maineguy8888]

Originally Posted by Pilot1

Yes, Portland is Boston North. Totally changed, and not for the better. Up state Maine is different because it is all forest owned by logging companies.

Tons of farmland in the County.
Also, the OP is correct that we don't feel connected to southern Maine up here. (To say nothing of the rest of New England). Far northern New Hampshire has some similarities to northern Maine. The rest of New England is pretty much like "anyplace else USA" now.

[Vance Mack]

Originally Posted by maineguy8888

Tons of farmland in the County.
Also, the OP is correct that we don't feel connected to southern Maine up here. (Much less connected to the rest of New England). Far northern New Hampshire has some similarities to northern Maine. The rest of New England is pretty much like "anyplace else USA" now.

That's an interesting comment that points out the regional differences in Maine. As someone who grew up on the coast and spent a lot of time in the mountains I always considered those areas to be the "real Maine" and have always thought of "the county" as basically an extension of Canada. Particularly NB.

[maineguy8888]

Originally Posted by Vance Mack

That's an interesting comment that points out the regional differences in Maine. As someone who grew up on the coast and spent a lot of time in the mountains I always considered those areas to be the "real Maine" and have always thought of "the county" as basically an extension of Canada. Particularly NB.

We are our own world here... they used to call it "going outside" whenever anyone went south of Sherman. (That was back in the 1800s and early 1900s, but the thinking remains).

We do have quite a connection with NB. (We call it "over home" since many of us have some roots there).