Why Does Northern Maine Feel So Different Than The Rest Of The Northeast? (Bangor: how much, house)

[mainebrokerman]

from my perspective, northern maine has a high population of French canadiens.

even tho statistically northern maine has low income per capita...they take pride in what they have …..very little or no "slum areas" I noticed no matter what size house you see the lawns are well kept and clean....not crap all over the place...

and the people are very decent...…..you break down in a car... you will have many stop to help....or ask if they can call someone..

also the work ethic in past generations was very respectable and manners were taught...

for 20 years I travelled to most of the towns in the county and made some awesome friends.....

some folks do have money ...but you would never know it.... arrogance is despised...

[tarragon]

I have kinfolk that were from up north. I remember as a kid taking that long ride up I95 to Van Buren from Central Maine that seemed endless. What I once dreaded, now I dream of getting away to. It's been years since I've been up that way. Hopefully, the area will not get ruined by people coming into the area that wants to build it up and make it more commercialized.

[Vance Mack]

[quote=maineguy8888;53254757]We are our own world here... they used to call it "going outside" whenever anyone went south of Sherman.quote]

That is also very interesting. I have a feeling a lot of people in places like Greenville, Jackman and Washington County probably feel the same way.
Because of my job I spent a fair amount of time in the county in the late 80's and early 90's. A lot less since then, although my brother has a farm in Perham. I always thought the people there (at least the ones for whom English was their first language) reminded me of people from the Midwestern US in their accent, speech patterns and demeanor.
Who knows, maybe just because both became home to so many German, Swedish, etc. immigrants?

[maineguy8888]

Originally Posted by Vance Mack

[

That is also very interesting. I have a feeling a lot of people in places like Greenville, Jackman and Washington County probably feel the same way.
Because of my job I spent a fair amount of time in the county in the late 80's and early 90's. A lot less since then, although my brother has a farm in Perham. I always thought the people there (at least the ones for whom English was their first language) reminded me of people from the Midwestern US in their accent, speech patterns and demeanor.
Who knows, maybe just because both became home to so many German, Swedish, etc. immigrants?

As a footnote, some Danes too. Just across the border is New Denmark, NB. Homes there have Danish flags painted on their houses or barns.
https://www.mysteriesofcanada.com/ne...ity-in-canada/

The province did the same thing with Danes that Maine did with Swedes (an organized, sponsored importation to a pre-selected town).
My great-grandfather, Hans, came over from Denmark around 1885. He landed in Saint John and then went up the Saint John River to the little village of New Denmark. After getting his feet wet there, he joined other settlers who migrated fifteen or twenty miles across the border to Fort Fairfield, to what was called the "Danish Settlement" part of town. All farmers. Some of it remains. (My grandmother grew up speaking some Danish, and traveled back to the "home country" in 1960 to visit relatives she had never even seen before).

[maineguy8888]

Originally Posted by tarragon

I have kinfolk that were from up north. I remember as a kid taking that long ride up I95 to Van Buren from Central Maine that seemed endless. What I once dreaded, now I dream of getting away to. It's been years since I've been up that way. Hopefully, the area will not get ruined by people coming into the area that wants to build it up and make it more commercialized.

No chance of it getting overwhelmed like southern Maine or most of New Hampshire.........it's too far north.

Don't you love the open road between Bangor and Houlton? A gorgeous 90-minute drive with no other cars.....set the cruise on 80...........meditate but watch for moose (which is easier to do now that they have trimmed the woods way back fifty feet).

[Submariner]

Originally Posted by maineguy8888

... Don't you love the open road between Bangor and Houlton? A gorgeous 90-minute drive with no other cars.....set the cruise on 80...........meditate but watch for moose (which is easier to do now that they have trimmed the woods way back fifty feet).

I have been told that stretch of road is the only place in the USA where an inter-state bisects right through a peat bog.

[maineguy8888]

Originally Posted by Submariner

I have been told that stretch of road is the only place in the USA where an inter-state bisects right through a peat bog.

I don't know of any other stretch quite like it in the lower 48. (There are long stretches out west, but they have more traffic and tend to be ugly, in my experience).

[slyfox2]

Yeah....things change. Nothing is the same as it was in the 1950’s. Sorry.

[maineguy8888]

Originally Posted by 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.

BTW, Portland has changed A LOT in the last 40 years. I first started spending a good deal of time there 30 years ago and you could still see the old ways. Every time I go back it's changed a bunch more. Change isn't necessarily bad, but the Portland of 1960 or 1970 is long gone.

[G1..]

Originally Posted by AustinB

Do we need to bus some in?

He's saying you can't get good pizza up here!