Best place to settle down in Maine?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I live in Brunswick on its outskirts. Popham and Reid beaches are more like 40 mins away. Range Pond SP is also 40 mins.

Thomas Point Beach is close to Brunswick.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Has anyone been to Brunswick and can advise?

Brunswick is very nice. It's a decent-sized town with a commercial center, sidewalks everywhere, and of course Bowdoin College, where you can attend various events including the international music festival every summer. There is also a theater in the town and an excellent public library.

It is well-situated in that it's just a half-hour (or less) north of Portland, yet close to wonderful midcoast locations including Wiscasset, Harpswell, Bath, and Boothbay Harbor. Beaches are ten minutes away.

It's okay, but I would not uproot my life to live there. Pretty views do not a life make.

That is your takeaway?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Has anyone been to Brunswick and can advise?

Brunswick is very nice. It's a decent-sized town with a commercial center, sidewalks everywhere, and of course Bowdoin College, where you can attend various events including the international music festival every summer. There is also a theater in the town and an excellent public library.

It is well-situated in that it's just a half-hour (or less) north of Portland, yet close to wonderful midcoast locations including Wiscasset, Harpswell, Bath, and Boothbay Harbor. Beaches are ten minutes away.

There are some surprisingly good restaurants in those parts as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Have you spent time there? I would caution you to spend some time there in the winter (and late fall, late spring:early summer. Not uncommon to have cold temps and snow in may. Also, be aware it gets dark very early in the winter. Like 4pm. It’s brutal if you are someone that likes the sun.

+1. I am a native Mainer. Live in DC now, but still summer there and will move back eventually (read: after my child goes to college) to a family home we have inherited but my spouse is not from there and we may never do 100% in Maine. Will most likely keep our DC house. It’s a big move and although I love it and have over 6 generations of family history there, it’s definitely not for everyone and that is the truth.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Have you spent time there? I would caution you to spend some time there in the winter (and late fall, late spring:early summer. Not uncommon to have cold temps and snow in may. Also, be aware it gets dark very early in the winter. Like 4pm. It’s brutal if you are someone that likes the sun.

+1. I am a native Mainer. Live in DC now, but still summer there and will move back eventually (read: after my child goes to college) to a family home we have inherited but my spouse is not from there and we may never do 100% in Maine. Will most likely keep our DC house. It’s a big move and although I love it and have over 6 generations of family history there, it’s definitely not for everyone and that is the truth.

I feel that way about the heat and humidity in this area. It is brutal and depressing every year, and getting worse.

[Anonymous]

I lived in Maine for a dozen years before and after law school in DC - attended Orono for undergraduate and graduate degrees and lived in the Orono/Bangor area and also in coastal Hancock County.

Maine is heartbreakingly beautiful, I miss it a lot. I wish I could have found work there and lived there forever but at the same time I don’t. Yes you can find cultural experiences and some progressive people to hang with but there is still a lot of backward thinking up there and it is a hard place to be old unless you have plenty of money because social supports are abysmal for elders and other vulnerable people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I lived in Maine for a dozen years before and after law school in DC - attended Orono for undergraduate and graduate degrees and lived in the Orono/Bangor area and also in coastal Hancock County.

Maine is heartbreakingly beautiful, I miss it a lot. I wish I could have found work there and lived there forever but at the same time I don’t. Yes you can find cultural experiences and some progressive people to hang with but there is still a lot of backward thinking up there and it is a hard place to be old unless you have plenty of money because social supports are abysmal for elders and other vulnerable people.

Hey, fellow Black Bear!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I lived in Maine for a dozen years before and after law school in DC - attended Orono for undergraduate and graduate degrees and lived in the Orono/Bangor area and also in coastal Hancock County.

Maine is heartbreakingly beautiful, I miss it a lot. I wish I could have found work there and lived there forever but at the same time I don’t. Yes you can find cultural experiences and some progressive people to hang with but there is still a lot of backward thinking up there and it is a hard place to be old unless you have plenty of money because social supports are abysmal for elders and other vulnerable people.

PP here who is the native Mainer. This is exactly why we won’t move until after our kid is in college - we would not dream of sacrificing the experiences and opportunities she is having by growing up in DC - and also why we will probably keep our place in DC even though I do have lots of friends and family up there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Have you spent time there? I would caution you to spend some time there in the winter (and late fall, late spring:early summer. Not uncommon to have cold temps and snow in may. Also, be aware it gets dark very early in the winter. Like 4pm. It’s brutal if you are someone that likes the sun.

This. If you have only ever been to Maine between June and September, realize that that is not representative of what it is like to live there year-round. It is very very different when the summer people leave.

Also, the medical care in Maine SUCKS big time. There are simply not enough doctors in the state, and really only one tertiary care hospital (in Portland). Pen Bay is okay, and facilities in Bangor and Augusta are...okay. People who need advanced care sometimes cannot get it in Portland bc the beds are full and the waits are too long, and people go to Boston for anything elective that is next-level. For emergencies, you may be SOL and stuck with suboptimal care. I would NOT retire there.

I adore Maine and I have no issue with cold weather, but I know two different couples who sold their homes in Maine after they got older because of lack access to health care. They both still go up for a few months in the summer, but decided they can't live there anything like full time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Have you spent time there? I would caution you to spend some time there in the winter (and late fall, late spring:early summer. Not uncommon to have cold temps and snow in may. Also, be aware it gets dark very early in the winter. Like 4pm. It’s brutal if you are someone that likes the sun.

This. If you have only ever been to Maine between June and September, realize that that is not representative of what it is like to live there year-round. It is very very different when the summer people leave.

Also, the medical care in Maine SUCKS big time. There are simply not enough doctors in the state, and really only one tertiary care hospital (in Portland). Pen Bay is okay, and facilities in Bangor and Augusta are...okay. People who need advanced care sometimes cannot get it in Portland bc the beds are full and the waits are too long, and people go to Boston for anything elective that is next-level. For emergencies, you may be SOL and stuck with suboptimal care. I would NOT retire there.

I adore Maine and I have no issue with cold weather, but I know two different couples who sold their homes in Maine after they got older because of lack access to health care. They both still go up for a few months in the summer, but decided they can't live there anything like full time.

pp here -- I wanted to add that one summer were were staying on Mt. Desert Island and I injured my knee. There was actually one orthopedist in Bar Harbor, but he was completely booked. I went to the "emergency room" and begged and they got me in to see him (he stayed late to see me), and it turned out that he lived a few blocks away from me in DC area. He was just up there for the summer. So don't hurt yourself in the winter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Have you spent time there? I would caution you to spend some time there in the winter (and late fall, late spring:early summer. Not uncommon to have cold temps and snow in may. Also, be aware it gets dark very early in the winter. Like 4pm. It’s brutal if you are someone that likes the sun.

+1. I am a native Mainer. Live in DC now, but still summer there and will move back eventually (read: after my child goes to college) to a family home we have inherited but my spouse is not from there and we may never do 100% in Maine. Will most likely keep our DC house. It’s a big move and although I love it and have over 6 generations of family history there, it’s definitely not for everyone and that is the truth.

Can you (or other PP native Mainers) share more about this? We've been going up to the midcoast for the past few summers and are having some FOMO about whether we should move here from DC. But it is difficult to get a feel for what it would actually be like to live here. We've met some outdoorsy families who do interesting work around Brunswick, Freeport, and Harpswell, but there seems to be a weird vibe with massive houses increasingly taking up the coastline and, depending on the community, very little public access. Also, we haven't had any affirmatively bad experiences, but for sure there is skepticism of outsiders. Oh - and we hear gunfire pretty frequently at random times of day - like people just shooting their guns a few doors down after dinner. This has not been in particularly rural areas.

[Anonymous]

Based on 12 years experience with family vacations and many years of sleep away camps for the kids (always tucked away in tiny towns/ if you can even call them that) I’ve learned there are 2 types of people in Maine. You’ve got the summer people and the townies. Once the summer people leave you are left with druggies, the morbidly obese, and the redneck hillbilly types.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Based on 12 years experience with family vacations and many years of sleep away camps for the kids (always tucked away in tiny towns/ if you can even call them that) I’ve learned there are 2 types of people in Maine. You’ve got the summer people and the townies. Once the summer people leave you are left with druggies, the morbidly obese, and the redneck hillbilly types.

This is correct. I’ve lived in Maine and it is a wilderness culture. You are on your own.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I live in Brunswick on its outskirts. Popham and Reid beaches are more like 40 mins away. Range Pond SP is also 40 mins.

Our family agrees that Popham Beach is the most magical beach we've ever been to. Go at low tide.

We love Maine and I'm trying to convince my partner to buy land there to eventually build on.

[Anonymous]

I have only visited Maine once, but I loved it and thought I could live there -- maybe six months of the year. Otherwise the cold and snow would be too much for me.