Best "Homegrown" Town in Downeast Maine-No Resorts (Ellsworth: transplants, job market)

[AustinB]

Originally Posted by retiredtinbender

Nut the ridi!! Nut the ridi!!

Back to the OP; I think that almoost any spur road ride off Rt 1 tendsto show some very nice towns and areas. Just SE of Castine gets you around Surry, Brooklin, Eggmoggin, Deer Isle/Stonington. The west side of MDI is noce but you have to fight all those tourists going to Bar Harbor. Get off the beaten path and enjoy the ride along the coast.

Where we getting clams Bob?

It would be nice if you could get some really fresh seafood at a restaurant in Eastport. Not those frozen fillets or clam strips. I'm going to have to settle for a fine sandwich at Bank Square, unless there are some good objections.

Back to op, Eastport seems to be in a transition faze. It used to be a real working community, but not it is trying to be touristy. What do you think Bob.

[AustinB]

Originally Posted by Zarathu

I've traveled by car all over the east coast during the summer from Texas to Caribou and into Canada. Except for the July 4 celebration fireworks, driving through MDI is a piece of cake even compared to rush hour in my little burb of Quarryville,PA on any normal day. Now I admit that on Saturday morning from 8:30 to 11:30, getting out of MDI into Ellsworth on the main drag can be a pain. But locals take the back road into Trenton(water st. Bayside road and Oak Point) and avoid the whole section. I've never seen Rt 3 on MDI bumper the bumper ever.

Now.... If you leave Portsmouth, NH, between 7:00 and 10:00 on a Saturday morning on 95, you get into a huge bumper to bumper on that, but as soon as you get past Portland, its smooth sailing.

I'm just saying that if you think its touristy in MDI and BH, you don't know what real tourist congestion is. That nothin'.

Z

I have to beg the differ with you there. I used to work at Hinckley Yachts, many a moon ago, and I have seen this happen during the afternoon comute home in the summer.

[Maineac]

45 minutes from Dedham to SW Harbor in the early spring to get to the boat. 1.5 hours or more after the 4th of July. Back way through Ellsworth to Oak Point could cut off some of it. Sometimes.

[retiredtinbender]

Originally Posted by AustinB

It would be nice if you could get some really fresh seafood at a restaurant in Eastport. Not those frozen fillets or clam strips. I'm going to have to settle for a fine sandwich at Bank Square, unless there are some good objections.

Back to op, Eastport seems to be in a transition faze. It used to be a real working community, but not it is trying to be touristy. What do you think Bob.

The key words are "used to be a working community". You used to be able to buy things downtown that you needed like clothes, medicine. Now it's almost all galleries and eateries. A sprinkling of craft/gift shops too. I'd say that downtown has gone touristy. Or trying to anyway.

and I agree with you on the traffic thing. I've hit traffic on more than one occasion on Rt. 3. But no, it's not like tring to get through Conway NH or Six Flags in NJ. Ridiculous to compare to more populated areas. But it is still congested.

Another good spot is Owls Head area. The transportation museum with a motorcycle/car parts swap meet in the summer. I have to get down there this summer. I think maureenb will buy me & DW a coffee. LOL

[AustinB]

Originally Posted by retiredtinbender

The key words are "used to be a working community". You used to be able to buy things downtown that you needed like clothes, medicine. Now it's almost all galleries and eateries. A sprinkling of craft/gift shops too. I'd say that downtown has gone touristy. Or trying to anyway.

and I agree with you on the traffic thing. I've hit traffic on more than one occasion on Rt. 3. But no, it's not like tring to get through Conway NH or Six Flags in NJ. Ridiculous to compare to more populated areas. But it is still congested.

Another good spot is Owls Head area. The transportation museum with a motorcycle/car parts swap meet in the summer. I have to get down there this summer. I think maureenb will buy me & DW a coffee. LOL

Get her to take you over to the Weskeag store, in S. Thomaston. Used to be real good.

[mainegrl2011]

Originally Posted by AustinB

I have to beg the differ with you there. I used to work at Hinckley Yachts, many a moon ago, and I have seen this happen during the afternoon comute home in the summer.

I couldn't agree with you more, AustinB, One of my relatives used to work at Hinckley's and he has spoken (complained) to me about the traffic trying to get off the island many times.

Truth be known, Maine people prefer the lesser amount of traffic from Nov.-June and tourists (maybe even summer people) are tolerated for economic reasons. If it wasn't for the tourist "business," I doubt anyone would say, "I can't wait for the tourists to arrive and traffic to increase." I know many people who consider the arrival of summer tourists to be a type of invasion.

[maine4.us]

so, if I moved to Maine and became a year round resident......do I become a resident invader???

[Zarathu]

Originally Posted by mainegrl2011

If it wasn't for the tourist "business," I doubt anyone would say, "I can't wait for the tourists to arrive and traffic to increase." I know many people who consider the arrival of summer tourists to be a type of invasion.

Hmmmm...... But that's the way anything is. There are good and bad elements of any stuff. But I have to say that I know lots of people on-island. Never has anyone even implied to me that they wish I wasn't there; and in fact, quite the opposite is true.


Z

[AustinB]

Originally Posted by maine4.us

so, if I moved to Maine and became a year round resident......do I become a resident invader???

Best you could hope for would be transplant. A lot of people are 'from aways'.

[Zarathu]

Originally Posted by AustinB

Best you could hope for would be transplant. A lot of people are 'from aways'.

You can hope for "flowering and fruited transplant".