Best place to settle down in Maine?

[Anonymous]

Maine is the oldest state in the nation, with a median age of 45 years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

We loved that beach!

[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.

+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.

I’m only 45 minutes outside of DC in Calvert County and we also hear gunfire from people just having target practice on their land, or scaring off foxes, stuff like that. It caught me off guard me at first, but I’ll take this over gunfire in the city any day!

[Anonymous]

I don’t know Maine well. But I am managaing my parents elder care in a medically underserved area and let me tell you it sucks, big time.

[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.

You are a loathesome bigot of the very worst kind, poster.

I’m not a native Mainer, but I lived there for more than a dozen years including while attending university and earning an advanced degree. I have numerous friends from university who are now the leaders in government, medicine, business.

Maine has plenty of highly intelligent, vibrant people filling the ranks of her citizenry. And yes she also has plenty of backward thinkers. But it is noteworthy in my own life that I never saw/heard in Maine the kind of bold faced backward racist behavior and speech that I saw in Alexandria Virginia while attending law school in DC.

You’ve got a mote in your eye, poster.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

You are a loathesome bigot of the very worst kind, poster.

I’m not a native Mainer, but I lived there for more than a dozen years including while attending university and earning an advanced degree. I have numerous friends from university who are now the leaders in government, medicine, business.

Maine has plenty of highly intelligent, vibrant people filling the ranks of her citizenry. And yes she also has plenty of backward thinkers. But it is noteworthy in my own life that I never saw/heard in Maine the kind of bold faced backward racist behavior and speech that I saw in Alexandria Virginia while attending law school in DC.

You’ve got a mote in your eye, poster.

Beam is what I meant, of course. Just another ignorant Maine redneck I guess.

[Anonymous]

Is access to healthcare less of a concern if you’re based in or near Portland?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is access to healthcare less of a concern if you’re based in or near Portland?

With healthcare being a primary criteria, the Portland area is definitely where to be - there is better than average care available there, but more importantly you are within easy traveling distance to Boston where many Mainers are referred for higher level care.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is access to healthcare less of a concern if you’re based in or near Portland?

With healthcare being a primary criteria, the Portland area is definitely where to be - there is better than average care available there, but more importantly you are within easy traveling distance to Boston where many Mainers are referred for higher level care.

+1 absolutely go to Boston

Brunswick resident here. I used to work at Maine Med pre covid. Healthcare workers were sorely in demand in 2019 and the state C19vax mandate delivered another blow(btw they are dropping this shortly). I go to Intermed physician group and find them competent.

[Anonymous]

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

Brunswick is a lovely town. It has a small downtown with cute shops and cafes. Bowdoin College is in Brunswick and there are lots of events and programs. The Harpswell peninsula is nearby with some of the most beautiful beaches in Maine. Freeport is about 30 minutes away; Portland is about an hour as is Augusta. Bath is very close as well; that's another lovely small city.

If you are used to a densely packed suburban lifestyle, then it might take some getting used to. Despite what some DCUMers might think, Maine is not an empty backwater. Well, not until you get up to Aroostook County and the unorganized territories, then all bets are off

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is access to healthcare less of a concern if you’re based in or near Portland?

With healthcare being a primary criteria, the Portland area is definitely where to be - there is better than average care available there, but more importantly you are within easy traveling distance to Boston where many Mainers are referred for higher level care.

+1

Portland has good healthcare including specialized care, but if anything extraordinary arises, you are a train ride away from Boston.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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

Brunswick is a lovely town. It has a small downtown with cute shops and cafes. Bowdoin College is in Brunswick and there are lots of events and programs. The Harpswell peninsula is nearby with some of the most beautiful beaches in Maine. Freeport is about 30 minutes away; Portland is about an hour as is Augusta. Bath is very close as well; that's another lovely small city.

If you are used to a densely packed suburban lifestyle, then it might take some getting used to. Despite what some DCUMers might think, Maine is not an empty backwater. Well, not until you get up to Aroostook County and the unorganized territories, then all bets are off

Portland is a half-hour from Brunswick, faster without traffic. Yesterday it took me 25 minutes to get from the Old Port to Brunswick.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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

Brunswick is a lovely town. It has a small downtown with cute shops and cafes. Bowdoin College is in Brunswick and there are lots of events and programs. The Harpswell peninsula is nearby with some of the most beautiful beaches in Maine. Freeport is about 30 minutes away; Portland is about an hour as is Augusta. Bath is very close as well; that's another lovely small city.

If you are used to a densely packed suburban lifestyle, then it might take some getting used to. Despite what some DCUMers might think, Maine is not an empty backwater. Well, not until you get up to Aroostook County and the unorganized territories, then all bets are off

Portland is a half-hour from Brunswick, faster without traffic. Yesterday it took me 25 minutes to get from the Old Port to Brunswick.

And that poster also said Brunswick is 30 minutes from Freeport. It's more like 15, and in the non-tourist season, it's more like 10.

[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.

I’m thinking maybe this was awhile back, PP? Because I live here and in DC and I don’t really agree with your take. Maine was the first state to legalize gay marriage by referendum, the first (I think) to have ranked-choice voting, and there is a very rich cultural and progressive life here. Definitely helps to have money, but you think money isn’t important in DC? Lol

[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.

Oh… by all means, please continue to feel that way based on your dozen years of family vacations lol