I am German and had the opportunity to see large parts of the USA in many visits to the USA. Many big cities, beautiful places, but also not so beautiful areas. But Maine with its great landscape, the clear air and the nice people is very important to me on the list. It doesn't always have to be LA, NYC, SFO, Miami, Chicago, Boston or Las Vegas. The small towns are simply more relaxed and better.
Many people who visit the USA seem to go to out biggest cities. While most Americans tend to vacation our rural areas. I am not much of a city person so I find very little interest in cities and city life.
@@mtadams2009 Absolutely, I agree with you 100%. Especially for us Europeans, if you come to the USA, you have to go to NY, LA, etc. etc. For many, this remains a goal of their dreams. But I love the small towns, the wide open spaces, nature and the country.
I grew up in Lincoln which is in between Millinocket an Old Town. True story most of us from this place grew up an moved away. No jobs all of those towns including my hometown lost there money makers the Paper an Pulp industry. Funny to see places I used to hang around as a teen in Old Town. That was a cool place in the 90's close to the university an lots different people.
I live in Houlton and it’s a great place to live. You can let your children play outside without worrying that something will happen to them because everyone looks out for each other. Houlton is very community oriented and the town does a lot for the children and citizens. You should have kept walking across the bridge and checked out the river walk, it’s beautiful. The Temple theater was showing ‘old movies’ just for a week, we get all the newer movies as well. We have a simple way of life in a great community and I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else.
It's wonderful to see Houlton and to be driven around. Looks like a really lovely place and I bet there is a nice community there. I'm lucky I too live in a beautiful place. Papamoa Beach in the Bay of Plenty New Zealand!
I'm from a small town in Northern Scotland and these towns all reminded me of my home, (which sadly has been neglected due to terrible politics but I shall not go into that)It's exactly the type of place that I would like to be if I were living in the states. It looks beautiful
I don’t think ppl realize just how massive of a state Maine is. Northern Maine near Canada always felt like it’s own foreign country to me than part of the US.
Yes, The County is almost a country in itself! Maine, the two states in one with a red north and a blue south. He just hasn’t seen anything yet! He should visit in the winter with sub zero temps and blazing snow fields!
@@loa81I was stationed at Loring many snows ago! That's all I'm gonna say. Well, I was 19+ it was pretty dead up there. We did go to Quebec for the Carnival, saw Sammy Hagar with his old band in some outdoor field; oh well. It was a nice place to live for a year.
literally 💀💀. like some things i see people apply to americans like diversity do not apply to me someone from here. like it’s all white people lmfao what do they mean when they talk about diversity in america. los angeles? and new york city
My Dad grew up in Millinocket in the 60's. He worked a year in the mill and then joined the Navy. He didn't want to do that for the rest of his life. He was always telling stories of all the hunting, fishing and camping they did. The boy scout troop was run by a bunch of WWII vets and their camp outs were fantastic. He had endless stories about Mount Katahdin and Millinocket Lake.
Millinocket known as the "Magic City". Once a huge manufacturing city. Built around the Great Northern paper company that existed from 1897 to 2014. I bet your Dad worked for them. At it's peak employing 7000 workers.
We used to stay on Lake Millinocket. There was a store there that had a breakfast sandwich called an "EggMcBacon" . When we pointed out that there was no bacon on the sandwich, just egg and cheese they said "no our last name is Bacon"
In the fall of 2005, a buddy of mine and I decided we wanted to go to Maine (we were in New Brunswick for work). So we cross the border and drive into downtown Houlton. We park and are walking down the street when an older couple pull up next to us and say, "You guys aren't from around here are you". I just reply, "no ma'am" and I was expecting the worst. The lady proceeds to say, "well come down this street to this address, we run a museum in this colonial house, and we'd love to give you a tour"! So we went to the house and proceeded to have an amazing experience as a history buff. Highlights included: Boots worn by a Revolutionary War general (with a hole where he accidentally shot himself in the foot). Blankets used as signals for the Underground Railroad. Kaiser and Doughboy helmets worn by WW1 soldiers. And paintings created by German POWs in WW2. It was an awesome experience I am still grateful for.
@catherinesanchez1185 Exactly. Those ppl are full of it up there. & intolerant of black folks. I went up there in 2001, met a girl up there & nobody would give me a job. I went to East Millinocket/Medway. I went back to Lincoln, Me for work in 2018 & had a laugh! It had flipped from heavily gop to Democrat, the beloved paper mill had been dismantled & parts sold to China. It was like they "reaped what they sown " or something. I didnt feel bad at all. Didnt feel like I missed out on anything. Simply "too bad".
I lived in MIllinocket in the early eighties and worked for Great Northern Paper. I am very surprised there was no mention or view of Mount Katahdin. Mount Katahdin is the highest mountain in Maine. It can be seen throughout the town and is very beautiful. It also marks the ending of the Appalachian Trail.
I have been to Baxter state park and Millinocket as well, from what I was told the paper mill specialized in the slick glossy paper that was used for catalogs.
@@woxyroxme I cannot say I am an expert in paper manufacturing since I worked in IT, but GNP made a variety of papers including newsprint. Their newsprint was very high quality. Newspapers would use GNP newsprint for the front pages and use a competitor’s product for the middle pages to cut cost.
''It also marks the ending of the Appalachian Trail.'' The international Appalachian trail picks up from there, goes in New Brunswick , Canada and ends at Gaspé in the province of Quebec. It is also the end of the appalachian mountains themselves.
@@oswaldmosley6179They ruined my home state of Arizona. Left for Idaho. They’re now coming for Idaho. Thinking of moving to New Hampshire or Maine.. only a matter of time till the whole country is lost.
I moved up here to the Presque Isle/Caribou metropolitan area from Austin, Tx a year and a half ago. It's rural and beautiful. I'm really happy with my decision. I had car trouble a while back, and while I was waiting for my mechanic who jumped at the chance to come rescue me at 8:30 pm, a car stopped to check on me and ask if I needed help every two minutes (basically every car that passed). A police officer showed up just to make sure I was good and had help on the way. This would not have happened in my native SF Bay Area or my decade in Austin. I'm 53 and can get by on a full time pizza delivery gig. This includes rent, bills, and loan payments for the 15 acres up north that we bought to start a small farm. There's a sense of solidarity here that I've rarely felt. People might be gruff and grumbly, but they'll grumble while helping you get through whatever hump you're trying to get over. Financially struggling and Walmart and Amazon are killing the small businesses, yet downtown PI is going through a renovation with new shops opening in the empty store fronts monthly. I only wish I had known in a rural town kind of guy much earlier in life.
I grew up in Washburn near PI and I've been living in the south almost 15 years. I remember cars always stopping if someone had trouble up there, or we stopped to make sure they were safe. Down here in the south when I had trouble on the road it would be dozens of people passing me before one bothered to check, if that lol. I heard it described like this once, "People up north are not friendly but they're nice and people down south are friendly but they're not nice"
My family is from outside Houlton. (As a matter of fact, a relative founded it, Joseph Houlton) When I was a kid it was a happening place. The mills went out and farming isn't what it was. People in "The County" are good people. There is much civic pride. There is a simplicity that can't be beat. Our little towns in Maine are just waiting to be rediscovered. Internet jobs are the way to go... Safe, clean, lotsa love. Please come see us and share our life. We have so much to give. The Amish have discovered us. You can too!
@@presidenteden6498Make sure to visit Maine around January into February to really figure out if it's the right place for you to live. What's the average yearly snowfall in Germany where your from?
I am heartened to see the many responses from residents of Houlton. I lived in a village ten miles south of Houlton, and for us it was "town," the place where you bought groceries, feed, tools and materials, went to the movies and to church, etc. Houlton is the county seat of Aroostook (Ah-ROO-stook) County, which is why the courthouse is there -- and the jail next to it. Some history might help you make sense of the beautiful homes you drove past: at the turn of the 19th-20th century, Houlton boasted more millionaires per square mile than anyplace else in the country: people who had made fortunes in lumber and potatoes. The bottoms fell out of both markets around the late 70s to early 80s, and the town has become increasingly a shadow of its former self. Many of the youngsters leave to find work and livings elsewhere, and that's a pity, but it's the reality of life in northern Maine.
With Climate change now a sure thing, the Maine dominance in potato production will return. Idaho, California and other places that depend on irrigation are facing drought. Unsure crop yields, the expense of irrigation and water are making their potato crops too expensive and not dependable. Those dark green plants with the tiny purple flowers will return.
I feel for you guys. I'm from Eastern Kentucky and a lot of the young folk are moving away to Lexington and Louisville. Both northern Maine and Eastern Kentucky is one of the most amazing places in America. I hope both are homes can get some economic revitalization in order to keep our population steady.
I’m fascinated by these old towns that look like they’re stuck in the 50’s. Industry died off and time stopped for them. Old buildings closed and the only things left open are restaurants because people have to eat.
We’ve been living just south of Houlton for nearly two years. It’s an amazing place! Fun Fact: Temple Theater is the longest continuously operated theater in Maine. It was slated to close in June but was saved by the owner of the local radio station.
@@streaming1950 most likely drug related crimes, all it takes to get high numbers is a Sheriff who wants to be "tough" on drugs. MAine up there gets really cold in Winter and heat is a significant expense. If you have a "mediator" type sheriff then you get really low crime numbers. Small town numbers. (ironically I lived on School Street in Freeport) $264K for that house you were looking at, Joe. I lived 8 months in ME, the north parts are really more of Canada South - they tend to do business to the north. The other main border area is down at Calais,I went through there -- its more remote on the US side but more active on the Canada side. (really Canada is "east" but that just confuses people)
@@AL_YZ the statistics are skewed! The area is tough on crime. It’s all petty crimes. I’ve never felt safer ANYWHERE in the US than I do in this part, if not all of Aroostock County, Maine. It’s truly a special place.
@@cristionagabhann-st8zn he didn't say either way -- you are reading into it. He reports the same statistics everywhere he goes. But when its X/1000 -- and the population is under 10K it is easy to skew numbers. Some places under report crime, especially if the local law is lax. Like do they arrest the guy that they KNOW has no license for riding a small motorcycle/moped to work. Technically he needs a license, but you can't NOT have a vehicle out there. They are the ones that TOOK the license, they know well who he is. Or do they let him "get away" with it since he has a family to feed and he isn't drinking anymore. If they are "hardcore" about it they could get 2-3 more arrests before he gets jailed. A high crime rate in a small city isn't pointing to a "crime" issue -- its pointing to a very active "hardcore" sheriff.
The Amish have definitely moved into northern Maine and have been a great addition to saving these small towns. The population decline is due to the closure of the mills and manufacturing being moved offshore. Yes a lot of paper mills but sneakers, clothing and fabrics were made in these small mill towns.
Also potato farming has declined, and most farms have been consolidated with fewer owners and fewer family run. Also around 50% of the farmland has grown back into forest.
the BEST shoes I have ever owned (casual) were Dexter Shoes, made in Maine. Sadly, the company either closed or sold out to some big shoe manufacturer.
I grew up about 45 minutes north of Houlton in the area of Presque Isle. Hard to see a future in the area unless you're born the son of a farmer, work in the medical field, or are proficient in a trade. Young adults are moving away from the area pretty fast, but there's a lot of newcomers coming to the area for its isolation, as well as supporting the agriculture industry and some light military significance. From what I have heard, things were a lot brighter for the area when Presque Isle and later Loring Air Force Bases were operational, but without much military interest after the end of the cold war and the expansion of the Bangor base, things have stagnated. I'm going to school in the Bangor area now, and have gotten to know the area surrounding the city in about a 30 min radius fairly well, and I can say that the more "urban" parts of northern Maine resemble the smaller towns of the Bangor area fairly closely. The city of Old Town's downtown actually seems pretty similar to Presque Isle, but with a much larger college population. A large ongoing struggle with the area is obviously the poverty and correlating substance abuse issues. There were many classmates of mine whose families struggled with poverty and substance abuse and ended up in pretty much the same bucket as their parents. If your family doesn't have enough money to send their kids to college, it's hard to get a good job in the area and you're basically relegated to retail, dining, or working for a farmer.
My wife is from Presque Isle. Her family left Presque Isle in 76 and moved to Augusta. She was 12. Last time we were up there was 2012 just to check it out.
Class of 97 Presque Isle. Presque Isle generally has more people because of the two Colleges. My mother lives outside of Houlton and it’s okay, lots of law enforcement. Definitely had more money and people back when The County was developed, mostly due to lumber, potatoes, and the extinct ice industry. It’s the county seat(capital), but I would move back to Presque Isle before any other place there is.
@@justinmaine4932 i can tell you with confidence presque isle has gotten way better in the last 10 years. The town got its act together and is acting out on a massive infrastructure plan and major drug enforcement. It feels like a different place!
@@polarisswitchback2683 truer words have never been spoken, but I’d bet you make a couple cents more than a studying Audio Engineer, assuming you make a couple cents a year (which is probably too high an estimate due to inflation)
Lowell reporting in. More bears than people out here. Saw 2 moose coming down my driveway not long ago. I frequently wake up to deer and turkeys in my field. Absolutely love it out here. Friendly people (mostly) and beautiful wildlife. More places to hunt and fish than you could ever explore in one lifetime. Love Maine ❤
Being a native Mainer I was curious to watch this. Baxter State Park is near Millinocket, and Bangor is the closest large city, (approx. 32,000 pop.) it's a little over an hour drive, bus or car. There's an airport there as well. My sister lived in Old Town when she attended the University of Maine, just minutes away, so there are a fair amount of college students living there. There's another section of downtown I didn't see. The Penobscot Indian Reservation is close by as well. More and more people from other states are moving here, during covid there was a massive influx and it hasn't slowed much. Where I live, on the mid-coast, it's impossible to afford a home even with a glimpse of water without having half a million, the house I grew up in would likely sell for close to 2 million since it's right next to the ocean. I likely couldn't afford to live in the village I grew up in since even though almost half the village was owned by my father's family back in the day, it isn't anymore, sadly. Locals can't afford to live in their own state. Rents have risen to impossibly high rates, while wages remain low. In Rockland I've seen buildings getting bought by out of state "investors" who evict the tenants, add contractor grade materials to "upgrade" everything to resemble the boutique hotels or suburban homes from where they're from, then charge upwards of $2,000/mo. for an apartment. People are becoming homeless from their greed. It's sad. Thanks for your video. I realize this post is a bit long...oh well😁
This guy has his head up his arse…in case he hadn’t noticed, Maine is a RURAL state and our economy - like all across America - has changed. He leaves one with the impression that Maine is not too desirable a place to live. He should try living in Philadelphia - where I’m originally from - and walk down the drug infested streets in the Kensington section. Branding itself as the city of brotherly love is a real crock - that’s one of the reasons I left. BTW, the nearest big cities to Houlton and Millinocket are Bangor and Portland, fella! Big is a relative term in this state. Finally, I-95 is a pleasure to drive compared to the mayhem that exists in the “big city”.
I’m originally from Maine. The more you go up northern Maine the less there is. The poverty can be high. I grew up in Biddeford. We grew up in poverty. The thing is you don’t realize you don’t have much. Thank you for showing Maine. Brings back memories.
Excellent tour thanks for sharing. At around 16:55 in Millinocket, you mention "the nearest big city is Boston which is 6 hours away." Well, yes from a myopic American view. BUT, don't forget about Canada, if you're in Houlton, you're only about an hour from Fredericton, Canada. Fredericton is about the size of Portland, Maine, actually bigger, and go another hour or so south, you have Saint Johns, also bigger than Portland, Maine. People tend to treat the border like an invisible wall.. Go about an hour further east you have the city of Moncton, which is about the population of Bangor. Halifax takes another hour it's a big city, maybe not as big as Boston, but close to. Just a reminder, the humanity don't stop at the border.
We lived in Jackman and used to up Rt 21 to the Frontenac in Quebec for special suppers. About 1/2 of our town were French speakers and Catholic, the rest were old American and Protestant, there were times of light friction between the two. Lumbering was a frequent occupation, most of the lumberjacks were single and spent the season in lumber camps out in the Allagash wilderness.
My mom's family came from Old Town, where my grandfather was a logger, using a horse to pull logs, I believe in the 60s. He supplemented the income with lots of hunting and fishing. This video has given me a nudge to go explore it, and the surrounding towns! Edit: and for a Victorian, the more colorful, the better!
It looks like you drove right past my hometown of Lincoln, Maine (between Millinocket and Old Town), and its giant loon (photo op). It's also where my classmate, Gary Gordon is buried. He is a Medal of Honor recipient, and he died in the Battle of Mogadishu. A movie was made about him and that battle. It's called 'Blackhawk Down'. There's also a statue of him in Lincoln as well.
My family were some of first settlers in Houlton. They built the first saw mill and their home that they built themselves still has the foundation visible. Later they moved up North just a little to Mars Hill where they became successful potato farmers. When Idaho starting producing potatoes, the market collapsed and it became unprofitable to be a potato farmer. My Dad went to college and never looked back. There are a lot of Amish up in that area of Maine.
Very familiar with that area! We made many a cross-border beer run in the late 1970s to Mars Hill/Presque Isle and Houlton - because back then in NB the only place to buy booze was the liquor stores (which were only open Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm) or the back-woods NB bootleggers who charged a 100% mark-up. WDHP was the go-to FM radio station for the entire area. As for Potatoes, in NB we had McCain Foods buying up much of the crops, which kept many farmers in business. But I was unaware that Maine's potato industry had taken such a hit.
My mom was raised a few miles southwest of Houlton and the people survived as potato farmers, lumberjacks and associated vocations with the land i.e. saw sharpeners, game wardens and guides (fishing or hunting) She would tell me she and her sister would walk to school in snowshoes during the hard winters. Life was not easy, but family, friends and the church kept them strong and most of her family lived long lives.
This video really hit home for me. I grew up about 30 minutes south of Houlton in a small town called Patten. I probably saw around 30 movies at the theater in the 80’s. Great town. My dad worked at the mill in Millenocket for over 30 years so that place also hold a lot of memories. Lastly, I worked as a pharmacist on Main st in Old Town for a couple years before movie out of state. Maine is an incredible place and you nailed it with this tour. Nice work.
Great video and thank you for sharing. As a Brit I lived in Maine 20 years ago when I worked and lived in Portland. I travelled extensively throughout and visited the places on your trip. To be fair it looks like much has not changes, I95 was always empty. I loved the whole state, so interesting to live and breathe it as an outsider. Always vow to return and regret moving back to the UK. Thanks for refreshing my memory!
Once you've lived in Maine, and really spent a significant amount of years there, it is always in your heart. I lived in Maine for many years as well. I'm from New Hampshire originally and returned to be near family. It's just something that cannot be explained unless you talk to another person that has also lived there and had to move away. My heart will always be in Maine. ❤
One thing to note: I-95 in Maine is Maine....no State East not South not North. One reason no traffic no competition no inter-state drivers just Maine. I lived in Maine in the 80's and it was like that then too. Don't leave out all the picturesque towns along the Atlantic Coast of Maine like driving through a dream. Large homes large porches well painted. Friendly hard working people most out on boat's getting lobster and other seafood. Church suppers with real homemade bread and beans among many other items. Thick dark pine forest through the State, logging a big industry as well as Christmas Trees. Maine is rugged you have to be a surviver to live there but having driven up the Coast through the center and eating my share of fresh off the boat lobster it's paradise.
@t.s.butler191 OH My Gosh YES!! Best baked potatoes ever!! I've been in a nursing home the past several months stage 4 cancer which paralyzed me so forgotten REAL FOOD but you are so right!!!
People think of lonely freeways as the desert southwest where there's no speed limit half the time. I did travel that stretch of I-95 in Maine once many years ago and (I think the statute of limitations has passed) I may or may not have hit triple digits on the speedometer. I know, I was young and dumb then and had a bit of a heavy foot.
@joycelebaron2582 thank you I appreciate your sincerity it's a slow process. I must have had it for years before I realized then it spread fast. I'm so glad for RUclips from Chateaus in France to California and everything in between helps keep my mind off pain and worry. Enjoy Every day!!
Millinocket was a wonderful town to grow up in. The mill took care of the town and the children. We had a rec center, huts over different parts of town you could go craft, lots of fun things to do. I loved growing up there. We were free
My husband is from Lincoln but lived in Millinocket. I’m running the Millinocket Half Marathon in December. The traffic from the marathon/half marathon give the local economy a boost. Beautiful place. I love traveling to Maine to visit my in-laws but luckily they live near Bar Harbor now 😊
Interesting to note, the Millinocket Marathon actually has FREE ENTRY, in order to bring people into the area to support local businesses. The entire community gets involved. And, it's in the dead of winter! I'm hoping to do it this year or next. Good luck!
I ran the half last year, my girlfriend the whole, and she did the half the year previously. We love it so much we almost bought a house there. But, no jobs. We would be there this year but our car has a broken axle we can't get fixed in time. My gf is an ultra-runner aiming for a 100 miler, I'm just a 'normal' marathoner. We both LOVE Millinocket's marathon. The first 3 miles will trick you up. Have a great time!!
Highly recommend hopping off 95 near Bangor and heading up route 15 towards kenduskeag, corinth, dover-foxcroft, and Guilford. Take 23 back down towards Dexter, Corrina, Newport/Stetson. Beautiful drive and some lovely small towns, one of my favorite areas in the whole state.
I live on an old potato farm in the area you describe. If you take that route you can see two covered bridges as well as many many historic old mills whose time has come to remove the dams associated with them.
The far northern tip of Maine has a fascinating history. Acadia was a French colony from the 1600s in Nova Scotia, separate from the French in Quebec. In the 1750s the British took over and expelled them. Some Acadians went to Louisiana (where the word Cajun comes from) while others went to what is now the northern part of New Brunswick and Maine. The portion of the US/Canada border in the area was drawn in the 1840s, over 20 years after Maine became a US state, and split the Acadian community on both sides. Today they are a distinct subculture in both countries and even have their own flag. In the town of Madawaska one is likely to hear people speaking both English and French, sometimes switching in mid sentence 😀 I remember going through there in the early 1990s on my way from Boston to Quebec City. Very cool place, but I don't know what it's like today.
Thankyou for the historical facts. Proud ppl, those Acadians (both sides of border) It's a history that I often think that could be brought back to some of these dying old towns via tourism. Perhaps wall murals depicting it's history throughout the downtown. The purple house; historical bordello. :) wink wink.
In 1755 the British rounded up and forcibly put onto boats the Acadie population, and randomly sent them to New Brunswick/ Southwest Louisiana. This event was called Le Grande Derangement and at the time Louisiana was the most inhospitable place imaginable. The Cajuns as they were to become known, asked for nothing from the French government, just to be left alone. Cajuns are the strongest, warmest and most resiliant ethnic group I have ever met. Proud of family, tradition, music and food.
I had a flat tire outside of Houlton @ 2 AM with no cell service. It was a very winding road, pitch dark and the side of the road was soft dirt. This wonderful mainer, pulled over and helped me. She drove 30 minutes there and back to her shop to get a piece of plywood so I could change the tire.
The crime is actually pretty high especially attacks Houlton has no real economy and most young people ha e to move away because there's nothing no mall no Walmart target and drug use in this state is unbelievable
Enjoyed the video, but some of those far-northern Maine towns are sad. You can sense the hardiness of the folks there -- right after you said it was 64 degrees entering Houlton I saw a father and son walking down the street in shorts and short sleeved shirts. In Florida people are bundled up in parkas and gloves when it hits 64. I vote a resounding YES to the magnificent Victorian painted lilac and purple in Old Town. Winters are incredibly long, dark and cold up there and a house painted lilac is cheery and fun, much needed in those months.
@@rmf9567 I did not say people who live in Northern Maine are sad -- I meant the towns seem a little sad simply because there are closed stores and empty houses due to shrinking population. But I'm sure most folks who live there like living there and are happy.
There are a lot of huge old houses all over Maine. Since it is so costly to heat such large homes, and they are simply too big for an average-sized family, many of them have been divided into apartments. I live in midcoast Maine, in one of those kinds of apartments. It's in a house that was built by a wealthy shipbuilder and banker around 1847. His grave in the town cemetery has a huge statue of him. He and another wealthy individual were this town's most prominent businessmen in the mid-19th century, and some of the country's first millionaires came from Maine. Well, anyway, the thick plaster walls of my apartment make it very quiet and I don't need air conditioning in the summer. I only moved to Maine three years ago and have not explored much of the state outside of the midcoast, but I plan to see and experience more of Maine.
A Maine author, highly recommended: In copyright date order: The House That Jacob Built, John Gould [1908-2003], Illustrator Unacknowledged; William Morrow & Co. (1947 hardcover) --- And One To Grow On, Recollections of a Maine Boyhood, John Gould [1908-2003], with Drawings by F. Wenderoth Saunders; William Morrow & Co. (1949 hardcover) --- You Should Start Sooner, In which widely separated topics are strangely discussed by an old cuss, John Gould [1908-2003], with illustrations by F. Wenderoth Saunders; Little, Brown & Co. (1964 [1949-1964] hardcover) --- Last One In, Tales of a New England Boyhood, John Gould [1908-2003], with Illustrations by F. Wenderoth Saunders; Little, Brown & Co. (1966 hardcover) --- Europe on Saturday Night, John Gould [1908-2003]; Little, Brown & Co. (1968 hardcover) --- The Jonesport Raffle and other numerous Maine veracities, John Gould [1908-2003], with illustrations by Edward Malsberg; Little, Brown & Co. (1969 hardcover) --- Twelve Grindstones ["Folklore"], Joe Gould [1908-2003]; Little, Brown & Co. (1970 hardcover) --- Glass Eyes By The Bottle, Some Conversations about Some Conversation Pieces, John Gould [1908-2003]; Little Brown & Co. (1975 hardcover) --- Stitch In Time, John Gould [1908-2003], with Illustrations by Consuelo Hanks; W.W. Norton & Co. (1985 hardcover).
I enjoyed this video. I live in Millinocket. The town is struggling and the drug problem is heartbreaking, but it is a great little town with amazing people.
I live in NH, and spend allot of time in Maine. It's great that you are doing these videos. Hopefully, it will bring some attention to the beauty and people of this area. They could use it. Perhaps some companies may see the value of bringing back some manufacturing jobs to this area.
I'm from the Old Town Maine area, I love this town! There are so many things you missed about Old town and also Orono their like brothers. They feed off each other well and help each survive. It's a family and plus collageville, it's where the biggest collage is, University of Maine! Bangor is the problem city where drugs are everywhere. These little towns are great places to raise kids safely. I also think you missed another opportunity. If not going into LINCOLN MAINE. It has its own sandy beach, new playground, Waterfront properties, small down town and has its own Walmart, mcds, Hannafords grocery stores police station little down town city. Don't forget to come back to visit! Let me tell you, fall is the best time to come back and visit too! ❤️ Houlton is also famous for their HOULTON chocolate milk and ice cream. I hope you got that homemade opportunity! If not you missed out on the best product 😮. Come back and have some locals take you around these towns again and bet you will find more interesting things you will love about these towns you may have missed. Hope you come back soon!!❤😁
There is another idea to spruce up business, a tour station, to show folks around.Then you are gonna need some restaurants, good healthy food,& a motel or a place to spend overnite...There is an alternative to Air b & B which has corporate management & is better in my opinion than Air b& B
A bit of trivia for the comment readers : The I-95 ends in Houlton. Maybe they've extended it since the last time I was there, who knows. Millinocket is south of Houlton, heading back towards Bangor. Old Town is the small town north of Bangor. The University of Maine at Orono is east of it, and on the other side of the campus is the town of Orono. Many ppl from the surrounding area work for the University. People who've lived on the reservation or their parents did (Indian Island) get free tuition at any Maine university. AND, Joe wondered about the boys on the bridge? The Amish are quiet and secluded, but they co exist in communities here and in the Midcoast area. So yes it's possible those youngsters were Amish boys fishing off the bridge. TY for your visit to see the northernmost state, and also the only state in the US with a one syllable name! PS You did good with Houlton and Old Town, but Aroostook sounds more like "R-oos-took".
I’m an Aussie and in my big trip to the USA I caught the train from Boston to Portland on a day trip just to see a bit of Maine. I’d come back just to see the mountains. One of my fave books as a kid was “Mystery back of the mountain” which was set in Maine.
See the real Maine next time, not the Massachusetts style Portland pit at the extreme south of the state. Next time, head north, see the coast of course, but head inland and see the North Maine Woods.
I love Maine . I ve Made the drive up to Jackman Maine from Pennsylvania almost every summer for the last 15 years. I used to stay a a small, privately owned group of 5 cabins for a month. It had its own private trails, each cabin was on the lake, there was a trail leading to a different part of the lake that was absolutely stunning. You could take a boat into town. It was very close to the Moose River. The closes “Town” was called “The Forks”. It consisted of a general store, hotel, gas station, bait shop, and an ice cream shop all owned by the same person. Sadly, the couple who ran the cabins retired and sold them off. I’ll miss that place. I used to wake to the moose eating by the lake, and fall asleep to the cry of the loon. On a clear night, you could see the milky way scattered like shiny dust across the sky. If I ever get the money, I want to buy 50+ acres up there. I can close my eyes and still picture every inch of the cabin and surrounding area. It had a private spring with hoses connected to it that ran up to each cabin, so you can drink the best tasting, fresh water straight from the spring.
I love the drive up to Jackman, it really is idyllic. My brother and father go up there during the fall to hunt. It's funny to see the road signs start showing both english and french as you get closer to the Quebec border
It really is. I love the drive as well. As soon as you get into Vermont and New Hampshire the traffic practically disappears. One summer in Jackman, right before Canada started requiring US citizens to have a passport to enter Canada, I took a day trip and visited Quebec City. It was a good time. I remember seeing the French signs as well, and you are so close to Canada that you can pick up french radio stations. The place I used to stay at was called “The Last Resort”, and it was practically on the border. The cabins all had a wood burning stove, and the owner would let hunters rent the cabins in the winter. If I knew she was selling and had the money, I would have loved to buy one.
If finances ever allow, I’d like to buy some land of my own up there, or at least in one of the New England states. I’ve always wanted to camp at Baxter State Park, so I definitely will be making that happen in the future. The only problem is that i’m unwilling to drive that far unless I’m staying for 3 weeks, minimum; it’s about a 13 or 14 hour drive from where I’m living, if I recall correctly
New England is so beautiful, and it’s a shame I don’t explore it more. I live in New Haven, so my scenery is a bit different; but I appreciate all of the quaint family oriented towns. When I visit in Montreal next spring, I’m going to take the scenic route.
Being an Airforce Veteran as well as my mom. Every time I hear about Maine I remember my mom telling me about Loring AFB Maine (It closed before I joined) and how remote and cold it was.But I always heard the people from the area were some of the best people you could meet.
I too was stationed at Loring AFB 1970-1973. People in Caribou, Limestone, Fort Fairfield were great. Yes, winters were indescribable… coldest ever. One flight a day into Presque Isle and during the winter one a week IF we were lucky.
I can echo the warmth of the people in the northern Maine communities of Presque Isle and Caribou; I was stationed at Loring AFB from 1982-1985. We had more than 200 inches of snowfall my first winter. Yikes!
Spent 6 years at Loring AFB. Loved the area. Originally from Montana and I found the small town atmosphere much the same. Winter weather was better in Maine.
I love your channel and your delivery. I was a professional community planner who has lived in Maine, NH, and Upstate NY since 1973. I married a girl from Barre, Vermont 50 years ago and we now live near the Finger Lakes in NY. It is not surprising then that as I watched the Erie Canal, NY, Northern New England videos of your trip I was excited. I was particularly attracted to the Maine segment because my first professional job as the Director of Planning and Development in the early 1970s was in Houlton. I was the Clerk of the Works for the redevelopment of the Town Hall and the Fire Station you showed. I also got Market Square (Downtown) poised for National Historic District Designation. I also proposed the building of that pedestrian bridge downtown before I left my job in 1978. However, the most significant thing that you showed in the video was the neighborhood house tour. The large house that you showed (toward the end) of the Houlton segment that was missing its front porch and had weeds growing on the stub of its old roof caught our attention immediately. That house is 15 Weeks Avenue. You said was in rough shape and you were right !!!!. My wife and I lived in that sprawling old gem when we lived in Houlton in 1974. It was in beautiful shape 49 years ago, actually almost elegant LOL. It was owned by the couple across the street, they were redeveloping it. It made my wife so, so sad to see our old house falling down around its ears. However I love your videos and the channel. Keep it up
You know how thousands of people flock to foliage, I assume that this part of Maine hits peak early? Is it a foliage destination or could be marketed as such?
I live in Old Town and I've enjoyed watching your videos for a few months now! I'll admit, It was a bit sad seeing how desolate our state appears in the video. I can say we are proud of our state. And although northern Maine's population is becoming more spars as time progresses it's beauty and tranquility will always be constant. My curiosity begs to know if the high views on this particular video came mostly from the residents like yours truly 😊. Now I'm curious if a high ratio of views on all your videos come from the state your visiting 😂. Just a neat little thought. Keep em' coming!❤
I'm from NJ but I remember driving up to Limestone, Maine around 2005 to see the band Phish play at an airfield up there. I was amazed at how I-95 changed the farther north we got. Yes, it's truly a little lonesome highway up there. So lonesome that thoundsands of people actually ended up abandoning their cars on the side of I-95 when Phish announced on the radio that it was too muddy to get in. Everybody left their vehicles right where they were, and walked/hitch hiked, riding in the back of locals' pickup trucks, etc. And when it was all over, their cars were still there. Ours was still there. The police had left them alone. We just got in and drove back home.
We're also from NJ and when our son and his family moved up to ME, we'd drive along I-95 for what seemed to be forever. Since this was in 2004 or thereabouts, the highway wasn't crowded at all. The tolls were annoying--you just get out of New Hampshire by paying a toll, and a few miles up the road is tollbooths for Maine. Coming from Jersey--who is "toll" crazy, it was a little annoying, but on the other hand, someone has to pay for the roads.
i remember in the 90s driving up 95 for work. it was no joke traffic stopped all the way from old orchard beach maine...4 hours up to loring afb, i took that day off, and sucked down some nitrous for fun and conversation with some stuck travelers going to that show. it was quite the parade
I was born and grew up in Millinocket, and my great grandparents were among its earliest inhabitants. The 70's were a fantastic time, at least from my then childhood experience. Even the early to mid 80's, when I was a teen, felt like a great time. I have lived away for decades now, but brought my grandchildren up last Summer and was depressed for weeks after. At least Katahdin continues to be beautiful.
I live in New Brunswick and still cross border to go to some of the border towns. I think Maine is beautiful and peaceful. I was surprised at the crime rates. Prior to Canadians having to get a passport to get into Maine we flocked there for shopping groceries and Grandmas restaurant. Many Canadians were upset by the passport change and stopped going into Maine. Many of the bigger stores have closed now. Also you saw more Canadian license plates in parking lots than Maine plates. I95 was never crowded but did have more traffic than now. The people are super friendly and helpful there and its a shame to see that younger people have to move to make a life for themselves and their families.
The majority have been converted into apartments. Lots of pretty architecture but it’s very rare for them to remain single family homes here in Maine. The homes shown in old town, for instance, were college student homes with the exception of the lilac house.
You didn't go far enough north. To Caribou, Fort Kent, and Presque Isle. The small Swedish settlements of Stockholm and New Sweden where Swedish settlers came to settle in the 1800's. Or Limestone where there was once an Air Force Base that has since closed. Hope you can make it further north and meet the proud, friendly people who are proud of their heritage. As mentioned in an earlier comment, many potato farmers moved away. Some to Southern Maine and many moved to New York State. My dad left after WW2.
@@robertpare2702 My grandparents lived there. Eddie and Ida Bossie . They both passed a couple decades ago. They lived a five minute walk from the general store. They had 5 kids : Sonny, Joan, Betty, Maralyn, and my mother Hilda. If you knew them , I'm going to flip!! LOL!
Was stationed at Loring AFB in the early 90s. Would drive from NY, usually stop in Boston for dinner and to refuel. If I did the trip in one shot it was just over 12 hours drive. Yes, after Bangor you don't see many cars on 95. Lots of snow, very small towns, Limestone, Caribou. Great fishing. Made a couple trips into Canada. They closed that base sometime around 1994, there are few if any Air Force bases left in the Northeast which is kind of sad as New England is a beautiful part of the country. I remember my two years there mostly happy. Very peaceful place.
From 1954 to 1962, I spent my summers in a small place called Norcross, which is 7 miles from Millinocket. The Great Northern Paper Co was the big employer in the area and it owned a lot of land in this part of Maine. We did our shopping in Millinocket and it was a very vibrant working class town. To see Millinocket the way it is now, is heartbreaking.
Both Presque Isle and Caribou (60-70 miles north from Houlton) are bigger and even more isolated towns. Houlton is only about an hour and a half north of Bangor. My wife's parents lived there back in the 90s. Millinocket was a paper mill town. There are quite a few town in Maine that depended on now closed paper mills.
They had a paper mill in Lincoln, it gave the town the name “stinkin’ Lincoln” I have a friend who is a police officer there, he said he does nothing all day, he moved there from Camden NJ, he said if he didn’t respond to at least one shooting every shift that he felt like he was cheating the taxpayers. Maine may have problems but violent crimes is not one of them.
I love small towns but the lack of major medical facilities is concerning to me. Especially the older you get. Even in the event of a freak accident. It's a risk.
Millinocket has its own hospital, and an airport a mile away. Also, a few other medical places, as 25% of the town is elderly. Not huge like Portland's 2 hospitals, but good. Sadly, the State vetoed giving money to help the airport expand, which would have also provided jobs. But, they do have
Wow. Yup that’s the Interstate in Maine. Beautiful place. Can you imagine what the winters are like here? Without barely any industrial activity it’s hard to keep a population going. That’s the sad part of it
I have no home and wander out of the US, but if I was ever forced to go back, it would be Maine for sure. I spent year covid there (trapped in the US as it were) and hiked over 1,000 miles, right through the winter at Bucksport and thankfully the snow was light that year so I did not have to resort to skis or snowshoes. Went all over the state. Really like the entire coast past Portland. But loved Greenville, Caribou and Van Buren too !! Best place in the US, for sure.
@@crazychicken8290 My life has never been better. Retired very early. Just travel the world now. Met a great woman in Colombia and am traveling with her now in Argentina. We fly to Spain soon.
This sounds like a dream! The hiking AND the travel!! My goal is to retire by the time I'm 50 so that I can do all of the active things I love. I think I'll make it! Enjoy your adventures with your partner! ❤
I have relatives in Van Buren and had them in Caribou, I know those towns well. I love hiking too and used to snowshoe in the winter. I think I put it more miles on snowshoes than boots. It's fun!
I find that people are usually friendly and warm everywhere you go if you're friendly and warm to them. (usually!). Actually Maine has a reputation of the people being standoffish but I don't think so.
I stayed a few days in MIllinocket after hiking the Appalachian Trail in 2006. Some of the realest people I've ever met. Had a lumberjack try and pick a fight with me for no apparent reason, and it turned out it was just him and his friends messing with hikers. When I stood my ground, there was a moment of silence, then a cheer, and they bought me a beer and we played pool all night. I'll never forget it. I had heard that the lumber mill closed in 2014, and I wondered what the town is like now. Such a beautiful corner of this amazing country.
I was on that very lonely stretch of I-95 back in the summer of 1972 on my way to Mt. Katahdin. It was truly remarkable how few cars there were north of Bangor!! It's so scary to think of being there, say, on a bitterly cold night in January at 2 AM., especially in those days before cell phones.
I saw you and Nicole headed down I-69 in Michigan. I wanted to honk, but thought it might be rude. Hope you enjoyed your trip here. There's so much more to see than you can imagine.
From Houlton originally, long ago. It is the southern tip & county seat of Aroostook county. It's not the biggest town in the area. It's a crossroads border town. If you go north up US 1 from there you'll see some bigger towns and some outstandingly beautiful farm country. Or do Maine Rt. 11, even better, a scenic highway. But watch out for moose crossing the road, you would not want to hit one. It happens. South on Rt. 2 brings you through the Hainesville Woods, the old truck route before I-95 was built, said to have "a tombstone every mile, " a long haul through nothing but woods. Aroostook, "the county" is remote, desolate doesn't really describe it. It's also very much a northern climate. That's where your broccoli, peas, string beans, potatoes and etc. come from if you live in the Northeast US or NB Canada. It's pronounced "meh ducks' na keg" or just "ducks keg" lol. Enjoy!
Another great video !! Nice quiet towns, and I love the idea of an old theatre that shows old movies, awesome !! The cat looked very content and relaxed. Thanks so much, Joe and Nic, very enjoyable and interesting, as always.🥰
@@JAMES_III Goodness gracious @ mention of The House of Wax- with Vincent Price? That's going back, way back. lol Very fond memories with me & siblings. thx.
The entire northern half of Maine except for the I95 corridor is divided into townships and ranges. They vary from 12 to 20 square miles with some exceptions. The majority of them have zero full time residents. Easily a quarter of the state is unpopulated. You have to go west of the Mississippi River to find a comparable area.
I think Nothern Maine is unpopulated basically because there's still plenty of land near the coast. That, and the cost of maintaining roads up there that cars can drive on in winter, while not that high, makes it not worth it
We spent the summers of 2020 and 2021 in Millinocket and LOVED EVERY MINUTE! I don't think those towns are dying, they just aren't the hellholes that are Portland and Bangor. Beautiful quality of life up north - we are from the West Coast and would like to retire in the North Maine Woods.
I live here in Millinocket and this video seems to highlight that downsides of it. There are lots of beautiful homes and it is a beautiful area to live and lots of different recreation activities! I am not impressed with his perspective and how he views our Town!
Thanks for the great video on Houlton, Maine. I've visited Houlton several times; it's a lovely community. I'm surprised you didn't recognize Stevie Wonder's "Place In The Sun" that the woman was doing a great job with.
I'm the one who commented in the Syracuse video. I live in Maine now and have for 50 years. Maine is the whitest state, it is called "Vacation Land" It is also one of the poorest. The lost of the lumber industry and factories has brought the population down. One in 4 kids don't know when their next meal will be, so the schools feed these kids breakfast and lunch and send supper home with them. There is quite a number of homeless kids also. Lots of drugs up here, lots of Amish families, and lots of seniors. Houlton is in Aroostook county and is know for commercially raised potatoes. In the show American Truckers my flight instructor was hired to fly a Bell Jet Ranger helicopter side ways in front of these truckers to film them. He said it was the one of the most dangerous jobs he has had. He had to estimate the speed they were driving while not hitting the tail rotor on the trees going down these gravel roads. By the way these truckers will not stop for you. They drive fast and are loaded with a lot of trees; they wouldn't be able to stop anyways! Maine is beautiful, but you don't show the beautiful countryside. Maine is 94% wooded with many glacial lakes. Have a safe trip and enjoy!
Great comment, thanks! I had heard that the paper companies owned most of the land in northern Maine. I don't know if it's true or if it was, if it's still that way.
If you want to see some interesting towns in Maine, drive Route 1 north starting at Ellsworth along the coast up to Eastport. There are some towns in beautiful locations that are trying to come back from the closure of the sardine canning industry in the 20th century. Eastport itself is in a beautiful location. It is well worth the drive north. I would look at Machias, Lubec, Eastport and also make stops at towns like Cutler.
@@joycelebaron2582 the sardine industry was big on the Maine coast. Where I live on Mount Desert Island there were canneries in Southwest Harbor and Bass Harbor. The old docks are still there in both towns and the cannery building is still there in Bass Harbor. The last cannery, in Prospect Harbor on the east side of Schoodic closed in 2010.
Ironically I worked in millinocket when that place closed... I worked in a crew that closed the place down... They had huge oil tanks that needed to be drained, so we were there to empty and clean them... There was 2 workers left who were such awesome guys... Mike was one I can't remember the other guys name...they both bought their houses for 30k. It's a weird place but I liked it...back then I drank and had a lot of fun in the bar near our hotel...now that I mention that the guy Mikes family owned the hotel in some sort of way..cool guys they were so welcoming to us and willing to show us around the local culture, which mostly included identifying different animal dumps..
No traffic or people is what we are definitely looking for. With everyones brother moving to middle Tennessee and this freaking heat my husband want out! So we've been looking to move to upper Maine in the next few years. As the years go by and the hotter it gets each summer in the south people will eventually start moving north again to get away from it.
We lived in Texas and then Oklahoma before re-locating to Maine 5 years ago. One of my concerns was, would I be able to handle the winters. Make sure you house has a good source of heat, make sure you have the right clothing keep your car in good order, and you'll probably love it here. I do. If I ever have to leave Maine, it won't be because of winter. I was driving in Calais the other day and had my daughter with me. I was sort of complaining about the "heavy" traffic while I waited at the stop sign...all 4 cars of that "heavy" traffic.
Calais is the "big city" to me! 😄Well, I guess it is a medium city and Bangor is the big city for my purposes. I drive to Calais to get groceries. I used to live in Oklahoma too (OKC), and don't miss the tornadoes. I also don't miss the road rage, congestion, and hot summers. I retired to Washington County five years ago and it was the best decision I've ever made. What a beautiful place! @@geraldrhodes4114
Your opening comments struck me funny! One whole hour and not seeing any other cars is not unusual on I 95! My first experience driving north on I95/US Route 1/89 was in 1978. The interstate was not completed yet. Frequently I went form interstate to a two lane road. From Portland north there was definitely a dearth of traffic! Sometime during my 3 assignments , USAF, at Loring AFB, I 95 was completed to Houston. After my military duty, the interstate was completed all the way to Canada. As students at UMPI, we’d often joke about our trepidations driving north through Bridgewater and other small towns at night hoping we did not have car problems because the zombies might attack! Loring AFB closed in the early 90s. The economic impact was terrible. Some places ceased to exist. Ft. Fairfield, Mars Hill, Presque Isle,Caribou, and Limestone all were economically devastated by loss of diversity, population, and any real future. This is because LAFB was the largest employer up there and financially all this area and on down further south were hit hard by the base closure. One of my children is a postal worker in PQI, another lives in the Old Town area near Bangor, my last child is in CA as a computer tech at UC Davis. Job opportunities are almost non-existent in Northern Maine. The black flies after Memorial Day are horrible! I grew up in Arkansas on the agricultural rice, cotton, soya beans SE. The mosquitoes were horrible there, but you can dress for that! Black draws black flies. I now live in NM and finally wear black again! Outdoor activity opportunities are great there for snowmobiling, cross country skiing, fishing, camping, and hunting and much more. Old Town and Houlton look like the Ritz compared to the True North in Aroostook County, often referred to as The County. What?! I just watched the end of your video and you mentioned going to Augusta and other southern Maine places. You missed the best of the impoverished parts of Maine by omitting the North and Washington County! Thanks anyway , Regards…
As a Southerner from the foothills of North Carolina, I lived in Madawaska, Maine for eleven years. . .ten years and nine months too long. Thankfully, I am back home! Though striking and ruggedly beautiful, the St.John Valley is a very closed and isolating community from the Allagash to Fort Kent, Frenchville, Madawaska, St. David, and Van Buren. They are understandably protective of their heritage and their language. It was made abundantly clear to me within a few months of having moved that I was "from away" and would always be "from away". So. . .yes, the towns are slowly, painfully dying. I found more welcome and acceptance when crossing the Canadian border into Edmundston, New Brunswick, despite my Southern voice! Should you venture to Maine again, there's a beautiful, artsy little town called Monson, Maine at Lake Hebron---not far from Moosehead Lake and Greenville, Maine. . .you have the beauty that is Maine as well as the kindness and welcome of the folks living there. Thank you for sharing your travels!
Dont feel too bad they feel the same way about the rest of Maine as well. I was born in Houlton and grew up in a town about 45 miles south of there and they would think the same about me. Even though my grandfather and grandmother came from up there. Dont take it personally.
Hello fellow Texas 👋Don't expect any southern hospitality here 😢 Houlton is a small town but much bigger than many in this state. Houlton has one of the best restaurants north of Bangor try The Vault ( reservation required) Maine in general has a very high poverty rate, food insecurity runs ramped here 💔and the medium age is really closer to 70. There are more women than men. Not many smiles but the freemasons are a staple and love to show off in the yearly parades. What Id really like to see is the Masons helping the less fortunate in these northern parts, where help is much needed ....🙏🙏🙏 Paper and other such mills destroyed the land and the water quality , now that they are closed down Northern Maine is left w little money and a toxic Cancer filled environment 😢
I like this video. I am an Amazon employee, with the odd hobby of...reading our labels. I like to see where goods are headed. I'm in Michigan and can find a town in Michigan I've never heard of fairly frequently. I like to see if I can find packages to every state in a single 4-5 hour shift. Anyways, this video made me think of how...the same places seem to be. I sometimes take a walk in towns via Google Map. I once owned an Old Town Canoe and was grateful that Old Town was included in this video. I suppose talking to and interviewing people would be problematic for reasons I don't know. Those lonely vendors at the farmer's market might have enjoyed a chance to chat about their burg.
Maine and Michigan are similar. Not in all ways, but Washington County, Maine is similar to the (wonderful) UP of Michigan. Poverty in Washington County is bad, but the old money is still there, looking down their noses at everyone they did not grow up with, anyone who is not rich, or anyone NOT from Maine.
They would have loved to have a chat. Out of all the places I've lived and been to in the us/ world; aroostook county maine has the friendliest people I've ever encountered. Life is super simple there and people like it that way. It's also usually not as dead as this video portrays, this must have been early in the morning.
I grew up in the UP of Michigan and currently live in Millinocket, Maine. I moved here because the northern part of the state is much like the UP when I was growing up.
Passed through northern Maine a few years ago en route from Toronto to Halifax NS. Glad to escape an unfriendly Quebec into this relaxed part of the US.
Well not a language problem as I can get by in basic French. Certainly very offhand service and manners I've never experienced in other parts of Canada, the US and a large chunk of the planet I've wandered over. Could be the English accent but I travel low profile and never talk politics. Funnily enough the only part of Canada where locals told me they wanted out.
A lot of people from Quebec come to Old Orchard Beach, Me for their vacations in the summer. They can be rude. But so can people from here.@@freebird1ification
Thanks for your video. We lived in the southern part of Maine for over 34 years and never really got further north than Boothbay Harbor due to work and most vacations were spent out of state to visit family. Really enjoyed your video and kind of made me homesick since we now live in Tenn.
You are correct about the drive from Bangor to Houlton on I95 having sparse traffic, but the scenery is so beautiful. I make this drive every year to see friends in northern Aroostook County (aka "the County") and look forward to the drive. Little traffic, no billboards, and signs with hard to pronounce names on water ways and off the highway towns. Remember to get gas and food before getting on this stretch. The only time in 30+ years of driving this road it was more scary than beautiful was in a January snowstorm. Maine is almost two separate states -southern and northern - attitudes, culture, population, and even the language (many northern are bilingual English/French). I love the slower pace of The County and the small-town culture. I lived there for two years but needed a better paying job. It is a good place and worth the explore.
I grew up in Woodstock, just across the border in Canada. Visited Houlton many times, had past relatives that lived there. Been in the theatre, recognize the downtown, town was more of a going concern in the 70's. It was a quasi college town back then, we used to play pick-up basketball games with the students. Brings back memories.
What a wonderful video of the great state of ME. Lived in the southern part of ME in the late for a bit. What amazes me is that some towns that struggle with increased levels of poverty after a single industry closes find a way to maintain their homes and downtown business sections; while others allow "everything" to decay with higher levels of violent crime. Why is that? Safe travel, Cheers!!
That house in Houlton is at 60 School Street! Oh it's gorgeous on the inside, all remodeled (built in 1900, which was my guess on that other house down the street you asked about) with workshop, etc, my dream house!. I would have gotten in the van and raced up there to place an offer if I thought I could stand the Maine winters and being ... (from that line in the Shrek movie you talked about...) "Far, far away, Man!" LOL! Oh I forgot to tell you, it's $265. Somebody will snap that up and use it as a second home, IMHO.
Can’t believe you gave us a tour of Millinocket without of view of Mt Katahdin! 😱 Hope you at least got to see it. Magnificent ending to the Appalachian Trail ❤
I was so hoping you were going to Millinocket!!!!! Went there when I younger with my father to go White Water rafting on the Penobscot river. Remember we stopped at a diner and had Lunch. An older women greeted us in there named Flo. Remember she was dressed like a 1950 waitress. Place was just really different. I remember telling my dad "don't knock Millinocket!" Was great memories
I love taking a day trip or longer to visit and support these type of places. I get to meet nice mom and pop store/café owners. I also enjoy learning about the history of places. They need to be seen before the loons take away so much of it and change the facts about history. I've already been places where half of what I wanted to see and learn about was removed or defaced. It is not all all like it was when I was growing up and kids learned about history and got to actually see things and learn respect. Thank you for showing us these towns and appreciating them even when it's not always the pretty side of reality.
I completely understand how you feel. Nearing 75 years of age, and having traveled a lot growing up in the USAF, it breaks my heart how our country has been and is being stolen from us. Brainwashing the children is high on the list of Global Elites' priorities.
I looked up that house on School St. for $265,000 as it's a nice house with many new upgrades, but I wouldn't be feeling that house for that price in that area if I was in the market to buy.
Quick comment - the wooden bear isn't Smokey the Bear. Smokey the Bear always wears a Forrest Ranger's large hat. 😉😢 I've saved this so I can watch it later. These towns are heartbreaking. I've been to Lubec several times. It's wonderful but it's been going downhill since the sardine fisheries/canning closed.
A few notes on old town, it may not look like it but there is a bit of a resurgence going on in downtown. The university in Orono brings in a good anount of traffic during the school year, downtown gets much busier during the fall and spring. Alot of those large houses are all converted into multi families for use as student apartments. if you continued down Main St/Rt 2 you woulve passed the ND paper mill. The mill was on the verge of dying for quite a while until it was bought out by a Chinese company, Nine Dragons. They poured a lot of money into it and brought it back from the brink. A lot of people didnt like foreign investors taking over but if they hadnt Old Town wouldve probably seen a similar fate as Millinocket. Fun fact, theres a large cemetary just outside the mill, youll notice theres a large wall between the cemetary and main conplex. This didnt use to exist, the Chinese investors paid to build the wall beleiving it would keep out all the bad spirits from the mill lol. Anyways, the mill resurgence and university is sparking some interest in downtown. A few new restuarants have gone up in years passed, Kańu is most notable and feels a bit out of place given how upscale it is. I havent been up there in a few years but last I heard they were planning on building up some live performance venues along the Penobscot river landing near the waterfalls. Not sure whats going on there now but happy to see my university stomping grounds featured!
Yeah a lot of university students and employees live in Old town, it’s cheaper than Orono (where Umaine is). Also Old Towns only 12 miles or so from Bangor so a lot of people commute to jobs there. My dad was born in Old town. We visited in the 70s and found his childhood home was replaced by a gas station.
New Brunswick to Damariscotta are places where they are still living the dream. Great little towns . Maine is what it is and hopefully remains as is. Hope you 2 get to Damariscotta. Downtown is bustling. Still the season.
I am German and had the opportunity to see large parts of the USA in many visits to the USA. Many big cities, beautiful places, but also not so beautiful areas. But Maine with its great landscape, the clear air and the nice people is very important to me on the list. It doesn't always have to be LA, NYC, SFO, Miami, Chicago, Boston or Las Vegas. The small towns are simply more relaxed and better.
Maine is an exceptionally beautiful state..it has many things that are special to the US
And there’s Stephen King:)
Many people who visit the USA seem to go to out biggest cities. While most Americans
tend to vacation our rural areas. I am not much of a city person so I find very little interest in cities and city life.
@@mtadams2009 Absolutely, I agree with you 100%. Especially for us Europeans, if you come to the USA, you have to go to NY, LA, etc. etc. For many, this remains a goal of their dreams. But I love the small towns, the wide open spaces, nature and the country.
I grew up in Lincoln which is in between Millinocket an Old Town. True story most of us from this place grew up an moved away. No jobs all of those towns including my hometown lost there money makers the Paper an Pulp industry. Funny to see places I used to hang around as a teen in Old Town. That was a cool place in the 90's close to the university an lots different people.
I live in Houlton and it’s a great place to live. You can let your children play outside without worrying that something will happen to them because everyone looks out for each other. Houlton is very community oriented and the town does a lot for the children and citizens. You should have kept walking across the bridge and checked out the river walk, it’s beautiful. The Temple theater was showing ‘old movies’ just for a week, we get all the newer movies as well. We have a simple way of life in a great community and I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else.
It's wonderful to see Houlton and to be driven around. Looks like a really lovely place and I bet there is a nice community there. I'm lucky I too live in a beautiful place. Papamoa Beach in the Bay of Plenty New Zealand!
I'm from a small town in Northern Scotland and these towns all reminded me of my home, (which sadly has been neglected due to terrible politics but I shall not go into that)It's exactly the type of place that I would like to be if I were living in the states. It looks beautiful
Many Scots help settle an abundance of eastern coastal Maine towns and cities.@@nuancematters
Good for you but when the kids become teenagers they will leave if they have any common sense.
l've let my children play out side for years !!! But still no one has managed to run them over !! 🥲🥲🥲🥲🥲🥲😡😡😡
I don’t think ppl realize just how massive of a state Maine is. Northern Maine near Canada always felt like it’s own foreign country to me than part of the US.
Yes, The County is almost a country in itself! Maine, the two states in one with a red north and a blue south. He just hasn’t seen anything yet! He should visit in the winter with sub zero temps and blazing snow fields!
@@loa81I was stationed at Loring many snows ago! That's all I'm gonna say. Well, I was 19+ it was pretty dead up there. We did go to Quebec for the Carnival, saw Sammy Hagar with his old band in some outdoor field; oh well. It was a nice place to live for a year.
north Maine is seceret military country... shhhhh ;)
literally 💀💀. like some things i see people apply to americans like diversity do not apply to me someone from here. like it’s all white people lmfao what do they mean when they talk about diversity in america. los angeles? and new york city
It actually was a foreign country. Northern Maine was New France and the province of Acadia. Southern Maine was part of Massachusetts.
My Dad grew up in Millinocket in the 60's. He worked a year in the mill and then joined the Navy. He didn't want to do that for the rest of his life. He was always telling stories of all the hunting, fishing and camping they did. The boy scout troop was run by a bunch of WWII vets and their camp outs were fantastic. He had endless stories about Mount Katahdin and Millinocket Lake.
Millinocket known as the "Magic City". Once a huge manufacturing city. Built around the Great Northern paper company that existed from 1897 to 2014. I bet your Dad worked for them. At it's peak employing 7000 workers.
We used to stay on Lake Millinocket. There was a store there that had a breakfast sandwich called an "EggMcBacon" . When we pointed out that there was no bacon on the sandwich, just egg and cheese they said "no our last name is Bacon"
In the fall of 2005, a buddy of mine and I decided we wanted to go to Maine (we were in New Brunswick for work). So we cross the border and drive into downtown Houlton. We park and are walking down the street when an older couple pull up next to us and say, "You guys aren't from around here are you". I just reply, "no ma'am" and I was expecting the worst. The lady proceeds to say, "well come down this street to this address, we run a museum in this colonial house, and we'd love to give you a tour"!
So we went to the house and proceeded to have an amazing experience as a history buff. Highlights included:
Boots worn by a Revolutionary War general (with a hole where he accidentally shot himself in the foot).
Blankets used as signals for the Underground Railroad.
Kaiser and Doughboy helmets worn by WW1 soldiers.
And paintings created by German POWs in WW2.
It was an awesome experience I am still grateful for.
They immediately know if someone is from around there or not!!
Good for you. We are in a time where we need to see more of this!
How much was admission?
@catherinesanchez1185 Exactly. Those ppl are full of it up there. & intolerant of black folks. I went up there in 2001, met a girl up there & nobody would give me a job. I went to East Millinocket/Medway. I went back to Lincoln, Me for work in 2018 & had a laugh! It had flipped from heavily gop to Democrat, the beloved paper mill had been dismantled & parts sold to China. It was like they "reaped what they sown " or something. I didnt feel bad at all. Didnt feel like I missed out on anything. Simply "too bad".
Wow! What a great experience!!!
I lived in MIllinocket in the early eighties and worked for Great Northern Paper. I am very surprised there was no mention or view of Mount Katahdin. Mount Katahdin is the highest mountain in Maine. It can be seen throughout the town and is very beautiful. It also marks the ending of the Appalachian Trail.
Katahdin in my opinion is the prettiest mountain east of the rockies.
I have been to Baxter state park and Millinocket as well, from what I was told the paper mill specialized in the slick glossy paper that was used for catalogs.
@@woxyroxme I cannot say I am an expert in paper manufacturing since I worked in IT, but GNP made a variety of papers including newsprint. Their newsprint was very high quality. Newspapers would use GNP newsprint for the front pages and use a competitor’s product for the middle pages to cut cost.
''It also marks the ending of the Appalachian Trail.'' The international Appalachian trail picks up from there, goes in New Brunswick , Canada and ends at Gaspé in the province of Quebec. It is also the end of the appalachian mountains themselves.
And it is where the Appalachin trail starts or near it. Its a gorgeous mountain!
I love Maine and always will. It's the only Northern State that feels like the South. Great people, great traditions, beautiful wilderness.
Thats why they are going to ruin it.
@@oswaldmosley6179 how so?
@@AB-ol5uz The are importing 10's of thousands of migrants.
@@oswaldmosley6179They ruined my home state of Arizona. Left for Idaho. They’re now coming for Idaho. Thinking of moving to New Hampshire or Maine.. only a matter of time till the whole country is lost.
@@Devin7Eleven Abandoned towns and very rural areas will be the only somewhat safe places eventually. Migrants want to be in cities.
The Millinocket area is a major playground for nature lovers. You have to head about ten miles away from downtown to fall in love with it.
I moved up here to the Presque Isle/Caribou metropolitan area from Austin, Tx a year and a half ago. It's rural and beautiful. I'm really happy with my decision.
I had car trouble a while back, and while I was waiting for my mechanic who jumped at the chance to come rescue me at 8:30 pm, a car stopped to check on me and ask if I needed help every two minutes (basically every car that passed). A police officer showed up just to make sure I was good and had help on the way. This would not have happened in my native SF Bay Area or my decade in Austin.
I'm 53 and can get by on a full time pizza delivery gig. This includes rent, bills, and loan payments for the 15 acres up north that we bought to start a small farm.
There's a sense of solidarity here that I've rarely felt. People might be gruff and grumbly, but they'll grumble while helping you get through whatever hump you're trying to get over.
Financially struggling and Walmart and Amazon are killing the small businesses, yet downtown PI is going through a renovation with new shops opening in the empty store fronts monthly.
I only wish I had known in a rural town kind of guy much earlier in life.
What a great travel story thanks!
What pizza delivery gig is that?
It's what the Finns call Sisu. Self reliance so you can help others.
I grew up in Washburn near PI and I've been living in the south almost 15 years. I remember cars always stopping if someone had trouble up there, or we stopped to make sure they were safe. Down here in the south when I had trouble on the road it would be dozens of people passing me before one bothered to check, if that lol. I heard it described like this once, "People up north are not friendly but they're nice and people down south are friendly but they're not nice"
LOL I'm from Caribou and moved to SF.😂
My family is from outside Houlton. (As a matter of fact, a relative founded it, Joseph Houlton) When I was a kid it was a happening place. The mills went out and farming isn't what it was. People in "The County" are good people. There is much civic pride. There is a simplicity that can't be beat. Our little towns in Maine are just waiting to be rediscovered. Internet jobs are the way to go... Safe, clean, lotsa love. Please come see us and share our life. We have so much to give. The Amish have discovered us. You can too!
@@presidenteden6498Make sure to visit Maine around January into February to really figure out if it's the right place for you to live. What's the average yearly snowfall in Germany where your from?
I am heartened to see the many responses from residents of Houlton. I lived in a village ten miles south of Houlton, and for us it was "town," the place where you bought groceries, feed, tools and materials, went to the movies and to church, etc.
Houlton is the county seat of Aroostook (Ah-ROO-stook) County, which is why the courthouse is there -- and the jail next to it.
Some history might help you make sense of the beautiful homes you drove past: at the turn of the 19th-20th century, Houlton boasted more millionaires per square mile than anyplace else in the country: people who had made fortunes in lumber and potatoes. The bottoms fell out of both markets around the late 70s to early 80s, and the town has become increasingly a shadow of its former self.
Many of the youngsters leave to find work and livings elsewhere, and that's a pity, but it's the reality of life in northern Maine.
Thanks for the history~The houses are beatiful and HUGE! I suppose in the day of glory what those houses could say. God bless.
With Climate change now a sure thing, the Maine dominance in potato production will return. Idaho, California and other places that depend on irrigation are facing drought. Unsure crop yields, the expense of irrigation and water are making their potato crops too expensive and not dependable. Those dark green plants with the tiny purple flowers will return.
I feel for you guys. I'm from Eastern Kentucky and a lot of the young folk are moving away to Lexington and Louisville. Both northern Maine and Eastern Kentucky is one of the most amazing places in America. I hope both are homes can get some economic revitalization in order to keep our population steady.
I’m fascinated by these old towns that look like they’re stuck in the 50’s. Industry died off and time stopped for them. Old buildings closed and the only things left open are restaurants because people have to eat.
We’ve been living just south of Houlton for nearly two years. It’s an amazing place! Fun Fact: Temple Theater is the longest continuously operated theater in Maine. It was slated to close in June but was saved by the owner of the local radio station.
The crime rate is high. Why?
A lot of things I can live with but That is a deal breaker.
@@streaming1950 most likely drug related crimes, all it takes to get high numbers is a Sheriff who wants to be "tough" on drugs. MAine up there gets really cold in Winter and heat is a significant expense. If you have a "mediator" type sheriff then you get really low crime numbers. Small town numbers. (ironically I lived on School Street in Freeport)
$264K for that house you were looking at, Joe.
I lived 8 months in ME, the north parts are really more of Canada South - they tend to do business to the north. The other main border area is down at Calais,I went through there -- its more remote on the US side but more active on the Canada side. (really Canada is "east" but that just confuses people)
It’s not major crimes. This guy makes it sound like we have a lot of major crime when in fact we do not.
@@AL_YZ the statistics are skewed! The area is tough on crime. It’s all petty crimes. I’ve never felt safer ANYWHERE in the US than I do in this part, if not all of Aroostock County, Maine. It’s truly a special place.
@@cristionagabhann-st8zn he didn't say either way -- you are reading into it. He reports the same statistics everywhere he goes.
But when its X/1000 -- and the population is under 10K it is easy to skew numbers. Some places under report crime, especially if the local law is lax.
Like do they arrest the guy that they KNOW has no license for riding a small motorcycle/moped to work. Technically he needs a license, but you can't NOT have a vehicle out there. They are the ones that TOOK the license, they know well who he is.
Or do they let him "get away" with it since he has a family to feed and he isn't drinking anymore. If they are "hardcore" about it they could get 2-3 more arrests before he gets jailed. A high crime rate in a small city isn't pointing to a "crime" issue -- its pointing to a very active "hardcore" sheriff.
The Amish have definitely moved into northern Maine and have been a great addition to saving these small towns. The population decline is due to the closure of the mills and manufacturing being moved offshore. Yes a lot of paper mills but sneakers, clothing and fabrics were made in these small mill towns.
Thank God for the Amish. They contribute well to any location in which they choose to live.
Quite a few in Whitefield in the mid coast. Great people.
One famous shoe-sneaker line is New Balance, made in Maine. I used to buy Dexter shoes for years--also from Maine.
Also potato farming has declined, and most farms have been consolidated with fewer owners and fewer family run. Also around 50% of the farmland has grown back into forest.
the BEST shoes I have ever owned (casual) were Dexter Shoes, made in Maine. Sadly, the company either closed or sold out to some big shoe manufacturer.
I grew up about 45 minutes north of Houlton in the area of Presque Isle. Hard to see a future in the area unless you're born the son of a farmer, work in the medical field, or are proficient in a trade. Young adults are moving away from the area pretty fast, but there's a lot of newcomers coming to the area for its isolation, as well as supporting the agriculture industry and some light military significance.
From what I have heard, things were a lot brighter for the area when Presque Isle and later Loring Air Force Bases were operational, but without much military interest after the end of the cold war and the expansion of the Bangor base, things have stagnated. I'm going to school in the Bangor area now, and have gotten to know the area surrounding the city in about a 30 min radius fairly well, and I can say that the more "urban" parts of northern Maine resemble the smaller towns of the Bangor area fairly closely. The city of Old Town's downtown actually seems pretty similar to Presque Isle, but with a much larger college population.
A large ongoing struggle with the area is obviously the poverty and correlating substance abuse issues. There were many classmates of mine whose families struggled with poverty and substance abuse and ended up in pretty much the same bucket as their parents. If your family doesn't have enough money to send their kids to college, it's hard to get a good job in the area and you're basically relegated to retail, dining, or working for a farmer.
My wife is from Presque Isle. Her family left Presque Isle in 76 and moved to Augusta. She was 12. Last time we were up there was 2012 just to check it out.
Class of 97 Presque Isle. Presque Isle generally has more people because of the two Colleges.
My mother lives outside of Houlton and it’s okay, lots of law enforcement. Definitely had more money and people back when The County was developed, mostly due to lumber, potatoes, and the extinct ice industry.
It’s the county seat(capital), but I would move back to Presque Isle before any other place there is.
You forgot underpaid trades bro
@@justinmaine4932 i can tell you with confidence presque isle has gotten way better in the last 10 years. The town got its act together and is acting out on a massive infrastructure plan and major drug enforcement. It feels like a different place!
@@polarisswitchback2683 truer words have never been spoken, but I’d bet you make a couple cents more than a studying Audio Engineer, assuming you make a couple cents a year (which is probably too high an estimate due to inflation)
Lowell reporting in. More bears than people out here. Saw 2 moose coming down my driveway not long ago. I frequently wake up to deer and turkeys in my field. Absolutely love it out here. Friendly people (mostly) and beautiful wildlife. More places to hunt and fish than you could ever explore in one lifetime. Love Maine ❤
Being a native Mainer I was curious to watch this. Baxter State Park is near Millinocket, and Bangor is the closest large city, (approx. 32,000 pop.) it's a little over an hour drive, bus or car. There's an airport there as well.
My sister lived in Old Town when she attended the University of Maine, just minutes away, so there are a fair amount of college students living there. There's another section of downtown I didn't see. The Penobscot Indian Reservation is close by as well.
More and more people from other states are moving here, during covid there was a massive influx and it hasn't slowed much. Where I live, on the mid-coast, it's impossible to afford a home even with a glimpse of water without having half a million, the house I grew up in would likely sell for close to 2 million since it's right next to the ocean. I likely couldn't afford to live in the village I grew up in since even though almost half the village was owned by my father's family back in the day, it isn't anymore, sadly.
Locals can't afford to live in their own state. Rents have risen to impossibly high rates, while wages remain low. In Rockland I've seen buildings getting bought by out of state "investors" who evict the tenants, add contractor grade materials to "upgrade" everything to resemble the boutique hotels or suburban homes from where they're from, then charge upwards of $2,000/mo. for an apartment. People are becoming homeless from their greed. It's sad.
Thanks for your video. I realize this post is a bit long...oh well😁
Me too
I had heard that corporations were buying out homes all over the us and thought they r up to something.
😢
How awful. Natives have to get legal defense.
This guy has his head up his arse…in case he hadn’t noticed, Maine is a RURAL state and our economy - like all across America - has changed. He leaves one with the impression that Maine is not too desirable a place to live. He should try living in Philadelphia - where I’m originally from - and walk down the drug infested streets in the Kensington section. Branding itself as the city of brotherly love is a real crock - that’s one of the reasons I left. BTW, the nearest big cities to Houlton and Millinocket are Bangor and Portland, fella! Big is a relative term in this state. Finally, I-95 is a pleasure to drive compared to the mayhem that exists in the “big city”.
I’m originally from Maine. The more you go up northern Maine the less there is. The poverty can be high. I grew up in Biddeford. We grew up in poverty. The thing is you don’t realize you don’t have much. Thank you for showing Maine. Brings back memories.
Went to UNE. Beautiful area.
Excellent tour thanks for sharing. At around 16:55 in Millinocket, you mention "the nearest big city is Boston which is 6 hours away." Well, yes from a myopic American view. BUT, don't forget about Canada, if you're in Houlton, you're only about an hour from Fredericton, Canada. Fredericton is about the size of Portland, Maine, actually bigger, and go another hour or so south, you have Saint Johns, also bigger than Portland, Maine. People tend to treat the border like an invisible wall.. Go about an hour further east you have the city of Moncton, which is about the population of Bangor. Halifax takes another hour it's a big city, maybe not as big as Boston, but close to. Just a reminder, the humanity don't stop at the border.
We lived in Jackman and used to up Rt 21 to the Frontenac in Quebec for special suppers. About 1/2 of our town were French speakers and Catholic, the rest were old American and Protestant, there were times of light friction between the two. Lumbering was a frequent occupation, most of the lumberjacks were single and spent the season in lumber camps out in the Allagash wilderness.
My mom's family came from Old Town, where my grandfather was a logger, using a horse to pull logs, I believe in the 60s. He supplemented the income with lots of hunting and fishing. This video has given me a nudge to go explore it, and the surrounding towns!
Edit: and for a Victorian, the more colorful, the better!
It looks like you drove right past my hometown of Lincoln, Maine (between Millinocket and Old Town), and its giant loon (photo op). It's also where my classmate, Gary Gordon is buried. He is a Medal of Honor recipient, and he died in the Battle of Mogadishu. A movie was made about him and that battle. It's called 'Blackhawk Down'. There's also a statue of him in Lincoln as well.
My family were some of first settlers in Houlton. They built the first saw mill and their home that they built themselves still has the foundation visible. Later they moved up North just a little to Mars Hill where they became successful potato farmers. When Idaho starting producing potatoes, the market collapsed and it became unprofitable to be a potato farmer. My Dad went to college and never looked back. There are a lot of Amish up in that area of Maine.
Fascinating comment! Your family must just LOVE Mr. Simplot.
Thus that explains the Amish looking people on the bridge.
I love Maine and it's people! Thanks for all you do to share all of our great country in your travels!
Very familiar with that area! We made many a cross-border beer run in the late 1970s to Mars Hill/Presque Isle and Houlton - because back then in NB the only place to buy booze was the liquor stores (which were only open Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm) or the back-woods NB bootleggers who charged a 100% mark-up. WDHP was the go-to FM radio station for the entire area. As for Potatoes, in NB we had McCain Foods buying up much of the crops, which kept many farmers in business. But I was unaware that Maine's potato industry had taken such a hit.
They're not Amish they're Mennonites.
My mom was raised a few miles southwest of Houlton and the people survived as potato farmers, lumberjacks and associated vocations with the land i.e. saw sharpeners, game wardens and guides (fishing or hunting) She would tell me she and her sister would walk to school in snowshoes during the hard winters. Life was not easy, but family, friends and the church kept them strong and most of her family lived long lives.
This video really hit home for me. I grew up about 30 minutes south of Houlton in a small town called Patten. I probably saw around 30 movies at the theater in the 80’s. Great town. My dad worked at the mill in Millenocket for over 30 years so that place also hold a lot of memories. Lastly, I worked as a pharmacist on Main st in Old Town for a couple years before movie out of state. Maine is an incredible place and you nailed it with this tour. Nice work.
My dad grew up in patten in the 70s-80s
Great video and thank you for sharing. As a Brit I lived in Maine 20 years ago when I worked and lived in Portland. I travelled extensively throughout and visited the places on your trip. To be fair it looks like much has not changes, I95 was always empty. I loved the whole state, so interesting to live and breathe it as an outsider. Always vow to return and regret moving back to the UK. Thanks for refreshing my memory!
Once you've lived in Maine, and really spent a significant amount of years there, it is always in your heart. I lived in Maine for many years as well. I'm from New Hampshire originally and returned to be near family. It's just something that cannot be explained unless you talk to another person that has also lived there and had to move away. My heart will always be in Maine. ❤
Hey I had some medical tests recently in Houlton, and one of the techs was from Britain. That accent is not something I hear every day! 🙂
One thing to note: I-95 in Maine is Maine....no State East not South not North. One reason no traffic no competition no inter-state drivers just Maine. I lived in Maine in the 80's and it was like that then too. Don't leave out all the picturesque towns along the Atlantic Coast of Maine like driving through a dream. Large homes large porches well painted. Friendly hard working people most out on boat's getting lobster and other seafood. Church suppers with real homemade bread and beans among many other items. Thick dark pine forest through the State, logging a big industry as well as Christmas Trees. Maine is rugged you have to be a surviver to live there but having driven up the Coast through the center and eating my share of fresh off the boat lobster it's paradise.
wait a minute, what 'bout potato? I love me some Maine taters
@t.s.butler191 OH My Gosh YES!! Best baked potatoes ever!! I've been in a nursing home the past several months stage 4 cancer which paralyzed me so forgotten REAL FOOD but you are so right!!!
@@virginiawestcot3111 I was waiting for somebody to mention Maine potatoes! Wishing you all the best on your health journey.
People think of lonely freeways as the desert southwest where there's no speed limit half the time. I did travel that stretch of I-95 in Maine once many years ago and (I think the statute of limitations has passed) I may or may not have hit triple digits on the speedometer. I know, I was young and dumb then and had a bit of a heavy foot.
@joycelebaron2582 thank you I appreciate your sincerity it's a slow process. I must have had it for years before I realized then it spread fast. I'm so glad for RUclips from Chateaus in France to California and everything in between helps keep my mind off pain and worry. Enjoy Every day!!
Millinocket was a wonderful town to grow up in. The mill took care of the town and the children. We had a rec center, huts over different parts of town you could go craft, lots of fun things to do. I loved growing up there. We were free
My husband is from Lincoln but lived in Millinocket. I’m running the Millinocket Half Marathon in December. The traffic from the marathon/half marathon give the local economy a boost. Beautiful place. I love traveling to Maine to visit my in-laws but luckily they live near Bar Harbor now 😊
How is East Millinocket these days? I was up that way in 1972 to climb Mt. Katahdin.
Interesting to note, the Millinocket Marathon actually has FREE ENTRY, in order to bring people into the area to support local businesses. The entire community gets involved. And, it's in the dead of winter! I'm hoping to do it this year or next. Good luck!
@@campbellrob1919 kiss me where it stinks 😂
@@skrink1981😂😂 good ol stinkin Lincoln.
I ran the half last year, my girlfriend the whole, and she did the half the year previously. We love it so much we almost bought a house there. But, no jobs. We would be there this year but our car has a broken axle we can't get fixed in time. My gf is an ultra-runner aiming for a 100 miler, I'm just a 'normal' marathoner. We both LOVE Millinocket's marathon. The first 3 miles will trick you up. Have a great time!!
Highly recommend hopping off 95 near Bangor and heading up route 15 towards kenduskeag, corinth, dover-foxcroft, and Guilford. Take 23 back down towards Dexter, Corrina, Newport/Stetson. Beautiful drive and some lovely small towns, one of my favorite areas in the whole state.
I hopped off I-95 near Bangor once and took Route 9 all the way to New Brunswick for a tour of the Eastern Provinces. Beautiful ride!
I live in one of the small towns that you listed, and it really is a beautiful area!
If you make it as far as Guilford keep going 20 more miles to Greenville.
@@piratecat5649 After Greenville it's very rural , Moosehead Lake and the Golden Road then the Alligash ( sp) .
I live on an old potato farm in the area you describe. If you take that route you can see two covered bridges as well as many many historic old mills whose time has come to remove the dams associated with them.
The far northern tip of Maine has a fascinating history. Acadia was a French colony from the 1600s in Nova Scotia, separate from the French in Quebec. In the 1750s the British took over and expelled them. Some Acadians went to Louisiana (where the word Cajun comes from) while others went to what is now the northern part of New Brunswick and Maine. The portion of the US/Canada border in the area was drawn in the 1840s, over 20 years after Maine became a US state, and split the Acadian community on both sides. Today they are a distinct subculture in both countries and even have their own flag. In the town of Madawaska one is likely to hear people speaking both English and French, sometimes switching in mid sentence 😀 I remember going through there in the early 1990s on my way from Boston to Quebec City. Very cool place, but I don't know what it's like today.
Thankyou for the historical facts. Proud ppl, those Acadians (both sides of border) It's a history that I often think that could be brought back to some of these dying old towns via tourism. Perhaps wall murals depicting it's history throughout the downtown. The purple house; historical bordello. :) wink wink.
Thank you 😊 for stating this , I’m Acadian French , my mother did our genealogy 🌿🍁💯
My first Duty station was Loring Maine , AFB , when the base closed , the local area suffered 😢
In 1755 the British rounded up and forcibly put onto boats the Acadie population, and randomly sent them to New Brunswick/ Southwest Louisiana. This event was called Le Grande Derangement and at the time Louisiana was the most inhospitable place imaginable. The Cajuns as they were to become known, asked for nothing from the French government, just to be left alone. Cajuns are the strongest, warmest and most resiliant ethnic group I have ever met. Proud of family, tradition, music and food.
indeed, COOL!
I had a flat tire outside of Houlton @ 2 AM with no cell service. It was a very winding road, pitch dark and the side of the road was soft dirt.
This wonderful mainer, pulled over and helped me. She drove 30 minutes there and back to her shop to get a piece of plywood so I could change the tire.
I love your presentation style and easy going attitude.
What a beautiful town Houlton is! I would love to live there, it looks so peaceful.
The crime is actually pretty high especially attacks Houlton has no real economy and most young people ha e to move away because there's nothing no mall no Walmart target and drug use in this state is unbelievable
Enjoyed the video, but some of those far-northern Maine towns are sad. You can sense the hardiness of the folks there -- right after you said it was 64 degrees entering Houlton I saw a father and son walking down the street in shorts and short sleeved shirts. In Florida people are bundled up in parkas and gloves when it hits 64. I vote a resounding YES to the magnificent Victorian painted lilac and purple in Old Town. Winters are incredibly long, dark and cold up there and a house painted lilac is cheery and fun, much needed in those months.
I liked it a lot too. It wasn't really purple, more a light pastel color. Gorgeous house.
LOL!
From Louisiana to Maine you still can't pronounce names
@@geradpelletier478 I lived in New England for many years and thought I was pretty good at names but even "I" fail many times! LOL
@@rmf9567 I did not say people who live in Northern Maine are sad -- I meant the towns seem a little sad simply because there are closed stores and empty houses due to shrinking population. But I'm sure most folks who live there like living there and are happy.
There are a lot of huge old houses all over Maine. Since it is so costly to heat such large homes, and they are simply too big for an average-sized family, many of them have been divided into apartments. I live in midcoast Maine, in one of those kinds of apartments. It's in a house that was built by a wealthy shipbuilder and banker around 1847. His grave in the town cemetery has a huge statue of him. He and another wealthy individual were this town's most prominent businessmen in the mid-19th century, and some of the country's first millionaires came from Maine. Well, anyway, the thick plaster walls of my apartment make it very quiet and I don't need air conditioning in the summer. I only moved to Maine three years ago and have not explored much of the state outside of the midcoast, but I plan to see and experience more of Maine.
A Maine author, highly recommended:
In copyright date order:
The House That Jacob Built, John Gould [1908-2003], Illustrator Unacknowledged; William Morrow & Co. (1947 hardcover) --- And One To Grow On, Recollections of a Maine Boyhood, John Gould [1908-2003], with Drawings by F. Wenderoth Saunders; William Morrow & Co. (1949 hardcover) --- You Should Start Sooner, In which widely separated topics are strangely discussed by an old cuss, John Gould [1908-2003], with illustrations by F. Wenderoth Saunders; Little, Brown & Co. (1964 [1949-1964] hardcover) --- Last One In, Tales of a New England Boyhood, John Gould [1908-2003], with Illustrations by F. Wenderoth Saunders; Little, Brown & Co. (1966 hardcover) --- Europe on Saturday Night, John Gould [1908-2003]; Little, Brown & Co. (1968 hardcover) --- The Jonesport Raffle and other numerous Maine veracities, John Gould [1908-2003], with illustrations by Edward Malsberg; Little, Brown & Co. (1969 hardcover) --- Twelve Grindstones ["Folklore"], Joe Gould [1908-2003]; Little, Brown & Co. (1970 hardcover) --- Glass Eyes By The Bottle, Some Conversations about Some Conversation Pieces, John Gould [1908-2003]; Little Brown & Co. (1975 hardcover) --- Stitch In Time, John Gould [1908-2003], with Illustrations by Consuelo Hanks; W.W. Norton & Co. (1985 hardcover).
I enjoyed this video. I live in Millinocket. The town is struggling and the drug problem is heartbreaking, but it is a great little town with amazing people.
I loved Maine in the 80s
So peaceful.
So safe
Wonderful people
Not so safe anymore!
I think all the New England states rank in the top 10 safest when it comes to violent crime.@@Westhamsterdam
I lived in Maine in the 80’s. Wasn’t a fan. Boring, cold, and not many good jobs. Left for good in 91.
@@jeffneptune2922Maine, Vermont and New Hampshire are the top 3. I couldn't believe my home state (NJ) is number 5.
@@FixIt1975 NJ has the lowest level of gun ownership, and go figure NJ is among the lowest for crime.
I live in NH, and spend allot of time in Maine. It's great that you are doing these videos. Hopefully, it will bring some attention to the beauty and people of this area. They could use it. Perhaps some companies may see the value of bringing back some manufacturing jobs to this area.
I ❤ Maine, and New Hampshire!
from a New Brunswicker 🇨🇦
I'm from the Old Town Maine area, I love this town!
There are so many things you missed about Old town and also Orono their like brothers. They feed off each other well and help each survive. It's a family and plus collageville, it's where the biggest collage is, University of Maine!
Bangor is the problem city where drugs are everywhere. These little towns are great places to raise kids safely.
I also think you missed another opportunity.
If not going into LINCOLN MAINE. It has its own sandy beach, new playground, Waterfront properties, small down town and has its own Walmart, mcds, Hannafords grocery stores police station little down town city. Don't forget to come back to visit! Let me tell you, fall is the best time to come back and visit too! ❤️
Houlton is also famous for their HOULTON chocolate milk and ice cream. I hope you got that homemade opportunity! If not you missed out on the best product 😮. Come back and have some locals take you around these towns again and bet you will find more interesting things you will love about these towns you may have missed. Hope you come back soon!!❤😁
09-30-23: "Collageville": Where collages reign supreme. Where you an art major?
No but I definitely love art. 😊
There is another idea to spruce up business, a tour station, to show folks around.Then you are gonna need some restaurants, good healthy food,& a motel or a place to spend overnite...There is an alternative to Air b & B which has corporate management & is better in my opinion than Air b& B
A bit of trivia for the comment readers : The I-95 ends in Houlton. Maybe they've extended it since the last time I was there, who knows. Millinocket is south of Houlton, heading back towards Bangor. Old Town is the small town north of Bangor. The University of Maine at Orono is east of it, and on the other side of the campus is the town of Orono. Many ppl from the surrounding area work for the University. People who've lived on the reservation or their parents did (Indian Island) get free tuition at any Maine university. AND, Joe wondered about the boys on the bridge? The Amish are quiet and secluded, but they co exist in communities here and in the Midcoast area. So yes it's possible those youngsters were Amish boys fishing off the bridge. TY for your visit to see the northernmost state, and also the only state in the US with a one syllable name! PS You did good with Houlton and Old Town, but Aroostook sounds more like "R-oos-took".
I’m an Aussie and in my big trip to the USA I caught the train from Boston to Portland on a day trip just to see a bit of Maine. I’d come back just to see the mountains. One of my fave books as a kid was “Mystery back of the mountain” which was set in Maine.
Good that you made it up here, but too bad you made it to the armpit of Maine. You missed a lot.
See the real Maine next time, not the Massachusetts style Portland pit at the extreme south of the state. Next time, head north, see the coast of course, but head inland and see the North Maine Woods.
I love Maine . I ve Made the drive up to Jackman Maine from Pennsylvania almost every summer for the last 15 years. I used to stay a a small, privately owned group of 5 cabins for a month. It had its own private trails, each cabin was on the lake, there was a trail leading to a different part of the lake that was absolutely stunning. You could take a boat into town. It was very close to the Moose River. The closes “Town” was called “The Forks”. It consisted of a general store, hotel, gas station, bait shop, and an ice cream shop all owned by the same person. Sadly, the couple who ran the cabins retired and sold them off. I’ll miss that place. I used to wake to the moose eating by the lake, and fall asleep to the cry of the loon. On a clear night, you could see the milky way scattered like shiny dust across the sky. If I ever get the money, I want to buy 50+ acres up there. I can close my eyes and still picture every inch of the cabin and surrounding area. It had a private spring with hoses connected to it that ran up to each cabin, so you can drink the best tasting, fresh water straight from the spring.
I love the drive up to Jackman, it really is idyllic. My brother and father go up there during the fall to hunt. It's funny to see the road signs start showing both english and french as you get closer to the Quebec border
It really is. I love the drive as well. As soon as you get into Vermont and New Hampshire the traffic practically disappears. One summer in Jackman, right before Canada started requiring US citizens to have a passport to enter Canada, I took a day trip and visited Quebec City. It was a good time. I remember seeing the French signs as well, and you are so close to Canada that you can pick up french radio stations. The place I used to stay at was called “The Last Resort”, and it was practically on the border. The cabins all had a wood burning stove, and the owner would let hunters rent the cabins in the winter. If I knew she was selling and had the money, I would have loved to buy one.
Keep looking for cabin rentals, might not be the same but there is availability. Camping at the state park is nice too
If finances ever allow, I’d like to buy some land of my own up there, or at least in one of the New England states. I’ve always wanted to camp at Baxter State Park, so I definitely will be making that happen in the future. The only problem is that i’m unwilling to drive that far unless I’m staying for 3 weeks, minimum; it’s about a 13 or 14 hour drive from where I’m living, if I recall correctly
Check out Bulldog Camps - in that same area. You won’t be disappointed and will have a new favorite place 😊
New England is so beautiful, and it’s a shame I don’t explore it more. I live in New Haven, so my scenery is a bit different; but I appreciate all of the quaint family oriented towns. When I visit in Montreal next spring, I’m going to take the scenic route.
Montreal is the best
Go to Quebec City too
this video makes me miss maine. ive been wanting to go back for a while now. I first went towards Presque Isle for the eclipse a few years ago.
Being an Airforce Veteran as well as my mom. Every time I hear about Maine I remember my mom telling me about Loring AFB Maine (It closed before I joined) and how remote and cold it was.But I always heard the people from the area were some of the best people you could meet.
I too was stationed at Loring AFB 1970-1973. People in Caribou, Limestone, Fort Fairfield were great. Yes, winters were indescribable… coldest ever. One flight a day into Presque Isle and during the winter one a week IF we were lucky.
I can echo the warmth of the people in the northern Maine communities of Presque Isle and Caribou; I was stationed at Loring AFB from 1982-1985. We had more than 200 inches of snowfall my first winter. Yikes!
Spent 6 years at Loring AFB. Loved the area. Originally from Montana and I found the small town atmosphere much the same. Winter weather was better in Maine.
Meaningless is there is no economic activity, or population growth.
If you are angry with Northen Maine sounds like Florida is more your speed. Hit It dude. @@ViceCoin
I love your channel and your delivery. I was a professional community planner who has lived in Maine, NH, and Upstate NY since 1973. I married a girl from Barre, Vermont 50 years ago and we now live near the Finger Lakes in NY. It is not surprising then that as I watched the Erie Canal, NY, Northern New England videos of your trip I was excited. I was particularly attracted to the Maine segment because my first professional job as the Director of Planning and Development in the early 1970s was in Houlton. I was the Clerk of the Works for the redevelopment of the Town Hall and the Fire Station you showed. I also got Market Square (Downtown) poised for National Historic District Designation. I also proposed the building of that pedestrian bridge downtown before I left my job in 1978.
However, the most significant thing that you showed in the video was the neighborhood house tour. The large house that you showed (toward the end) of the Houlton segment that was missing its front porch and had weeds growing on the stub of its old roof caught our attention immediately. That house is 15 Weeks Avenue. You said was in rough shape and you were right !!!!. My wife and I lived in that sprawling old gem when we lived in Houlton in 1974. It was in beautiful shape 49 years ago, actually almost elegant LOL. It was owned by the couple across the street, they were redeveloping it. It made my wife so, so sad to see our old house falling down around its ears. However I love your videos and the channel. Keep it up
Remarkable how a youtube video can make such a connection. I appreciate your sharing your story. Kudos on that pedestrian bridge!
@@travelfeet I know . I have seen things on YT that we have visited and seen but this was a first. Seeing a house that we lived in was really special.
You know how thousands of people flock to foliage, I assume that this part of Maine hits peak early? Is it a foliage destination or could be marketed as such?
I live in Old Town and I've enjoyed watching your videos for a few months now! I'll admit, It was a bit sad seeing how desolate our state appears in the video. I can say we are proud of our state. And although northern Maine's population is becoming more spars as time progresses it's beauty and tranquility will always be constant. My curiosity begs to know if the high views on this particular video came mostly from the residents like yours truly 😊.
Now I'm curious if a high ratio of views on all your videos come from the state your visiting 😂. Just a neat little thought.
Keep em' coming!❤
Maine is one of the most beautiful places on earth. I’d love to visit again
Don’t be shy, come on back .
I'm from NJ but I remember driving up to Limestone, Maine around 2005 to see the band Phish play at an airfield up there. I was amazed at how I-95 changed the farther north we got. Yes, it's truly a little lonesome highway up there. So lonesome that thoundsands of people actually ended up abandoning their cars on the side of I-95 when Phish announced on the radio that it was too muddy to get in. Everybody left their vehicles right where they were, and walked/hitch hiked, riding in the back of locals' pickup trucks, etc. And when it was all over, their cars were still there. Ours was still there. The police had left them alone. We just got in and drove back home.
Yup..I've seen the Grateful Dead there a few times...
We're also from NJ and when our son and his family moved up to ME, we'd drive along I-95 for what seemed to be forever. Since this was in 2004 or thereabouts, the highway wasn't crowded at all. The tolls were annoying--you just get out of New Hampshire by paying a toll, and a few miles up the road is tollbooths for Maine.
Coming from Jersey--who is "toll" crazy, it was a little annoying, but on the other hand, someone has to pay for the roads.
i remember in the 90s driving up 95 for work. it was no joke traffic stopped all the way from old orchard beach maine...4 hours up to loring afb, i took that day off, and sucked down some nitrous for fun and conversation with some stuck travelers going to that show. it was quite the parade
I was born and grew up in Millinocket, and my great grandparents were among its earliest inhabitants. The 70's were a fantastic time, at least from my then childhood experience. Even the early to mid 80's, when I was a teen, felt like a great time. I have lived away for decades now, but brought my grandchildren up last Summer and was depressed for weeks after. At least Katahdin continues to be beautiful.
I live in New Brunswick and still cross border to go to some of the border towns. I think Maine is beautiful and peaceful. I was surprised at the crime rates. Prior to Canadians having to get a passport to get into Maine we flocked there for shopping groceries and Grandmas restaurant. Many Canadians were upset by the passport change and stopped going into Maine. Many of the bigger stores have closed now. Also you saw more Canadian license plates in parking lots than Maine plates. I95 was never crowded but did have more traffic than now. The people are super friendly and helpful there and its a shame to see that younger people have to move to make a life for themselves and their families.
Grandmas restaurant is absolutely unmatched! I’m from newbrundswick as well your comment hit home for me
I've always wanted to visit Maine. The weather is very appealing to me. I live in NC where it's humid and miserable most of the summer
Those are some huge homes in that tiny town! It would be interesting to see how the town looks and feels in winter.
The majority have been converted into apartments. Lots of pretty architecture but it’s very rare for them to remain single family homes here in Maine. The homes shown in old town, for instance, were college student homes with the exception of the lilac house.
Cold AF
You didn't go far enough north. To Caribou, Fort Kent, and Presque Isle. The small Swedish settlements of Stockholm and New Sweden where Swedish settlers came to settle in the 1800's. Or Limestone where there was once an Air Force Base that has since closed. Hope you can make it further north and meet the proud, friendly people who are proud of their heritage.
As mentioned in an earlier comment, many potato farmers moved away. Some to Southern Maine and many moved to New York State.
My dad left after WW2.
My uncle and cousin still farm potatoes. My grandfather was a farmer as well from the Washburn/Caribou area.
I used to live in Stockholm
@@robertpare2702 My grandparents lived there. Eddie and Ida Bossie . They both passed a couple decades ago. They lived a five minute walk from the general store. They had 5 kids : Sonny, Joan, Betty, Maralyn, and my mother Hilda. If you knew them , I'm going to flip!! LOL!
@@catherinesanchez1185 I lived a short walk to Anderson's store also. On School St I don't remember the #. It was a long time ago.
I was stationed at Loring AFB in the 70’s. We flew up to goose bay Labrador.
Was stationed at Loring AFB in the early 90s. Would drive from NY, usually stop in Boston for dinner and to refuel. If I did the trip in one shot it was just over 12 hours drive. Yes, after Bangor you don't see many cars on 95. Lots of snow, very small towns, Limestone, Caribou. Great fishing. Made a couple trips into Canada. They closed that base sometime around 1994, there are few if any Air Force bases left in the Northeast which is kind of sad as New England is a beautiful part of the country. I remember my two years there mostly happy. Very peaceful place.
From 1954 to 1962, I spent my summers in a small place called Norcross, which is 7 miles from Millinocket. The Great Northern Paper Co was the big employer in the area and it owned a lot of land in this part of Maine. We did our shopping in Millinocket and it was a very vibrant working class town. To see Millinocket the way it is now, is heartbreaking.
Both Presque Isle and Caribou (60-70 miles north from Houlton) are bigger and even more isolated towns. Houlton is only about an hour and a half north of Bangor. My wife's parents lived there back in the 90s.
Millinocket was a paper mill town. There are quite a few town in Maine that depended on now closed paper mills.
Paper Mills poison waterways with effluent. People suffer for generations in that occurrence.
They had a paper mill in Lincoln, it gave the town the name “stinkin’ Lincoln” I have a friend who is a police officer there, he said he does nothing all day, he moved there from Camden NJ, he said if he didn’t respond to at least one shooting every shift that he felt like he was cheating the taxpayers. Maine may have problems but violent crimes is not one of them.
So was Madison
Looks so peaceful. I would love to visit Maine.
Please do.
I love small towns but the lack of major medical facilities is concerning to me. Especially the older you get. Even in the event of a freak accident. It's a risk.
Millinocket has its own hospital, and an airport a mile away. Also, a few other medical places, as 25% of the town is elderly. Not huge like Portland's 2 hospitals, but good. Sadly, the State vetoed giving money to help the airport expand, which would have also provided jobs. But, they do have
a national problem. In the desert BFE areas of the Western states too.
Wow. Yup that’s the Interstate in Maine. Beautiful place. Can you imagine what the winters are like here? Without barely any industrial activity it’s hard to keep a population going. That’s the sad part of it
I have no home and wander out of the US, but if I was ever forced to go back, it would be Maine for sure. I spent year covid there (trapped in the US as it were) and hiked over 1,000 miles, right through the winter at Bucksport and thankfully the snow was light that year so I did not have to resort to skis or snowshoes. Went all over the state. Really like the entire coast past Portland. But loved Greenville, Caribou and Van Buren too !! Best place in the US, for sure.
u ok
@@crazychicken8290 My life has never been better. Retired very early. Just travel the world now. Met a great woman in Colombia and am traveling with her now in Argentina. We fly to Spain soon.
This sounds like a dream! The hiking AND the travel!! My goal is to retire by the time I'm 50 so that I can do all of the active things I love. I think I'll make it! Enjoy your adventures with your partner! ❤
I have relatives in Van Buren and had them in Caribou, I know those towns well. I love hiking too and used to snowshoe in the winter. I think I put it more miles on snowshoes than boots. It's fun!
I visited Belfast Maine last month. Maine is a beautiful place the people are so friendly and warm it's also very peaceful. Great video !!
I visited Belfast in the next video! It is beautiful there.
I find that people are usually friendly and warm everywhere you go if you're friendly and warm to them. (usually!). Actually Maine has a reputation of the people being standoffish but I don't think so.
I had my best lobster roll experience in Belfast! Picturesque area.
@majorkade I Agree Belfast Maine has Fantastic Seafood everything is Fresh from the ocean.
You just missed the ducks!
I stayed a few days in MIllinocket after hiking the Appalachian Trail in 2006. Some of the realest people I've ever met. Had a lumberjack try and pick a fight with me for no apparent reason, and it turned out it was just him and his friends messing with hikers. When I stood my ground, there was a moment of silence, then a cheer, and they bought me a beer and we played pool all night. I'll never forget it.
I had heard that the lumber mill closed in 2014, and I wondered what the town is like now. Such a beautiful corner of this amazing country.
I was on that very lonely stretch of I-95 back in the summer of 1972 on my way to Mt. Katahdin. It was truly remarkable how few cars there were north of Bangor!! It's so scary to think of being there, say, on a bitterly cold night in January at 2 AM., especially in those days before cell phones.
I saw you and Nicole headed down I-69 in Michigan. I wanted to honk, but thought it might be rude. Hope you enjoyed your trip here. There's so much more to see than you can imagine.
It’s not dying , it’s going back to precious nature…. ❤️
I love your comment.🐺🌲
From Houlton originally, long ago. It is the southern tip & county seat of Aroostook county. It's not the biggest town in the area. It's a crossroads border town. If you go north up US 1 from there you'll see some bigger towns and some outstandingly beautiful farm country. Or do Maine Rt. 11, even better, a scenic highway. But watch out for moose crossing the road, you would not want to hit one. It happens. South on Rt. 2 brings you through the Hainesville Woods, the old truck route before I-95 was built, said to have "a tombstone every mile, " a long haul through nothing but woods. Aroostook, "the county" is remote, desolate doesn't really describe it. It's also very much a northern climate. That's where your broccoli, peas, string beans, potatoes and etc. come from if you live in the Northeast US or NB Canada. It's pronounced "meh ducks' na keg" or just "ducks keg" lol. Enjoy!
It is absolutely delightful to see such wonderful architecture !
Yes, the days when pride in ones work was more important then profit.
Another great video !! Nice quiet towns, and I love the idea of an old theatre that shows old movies, awesome !! The cat looked very content and relaxed. Thanks so much, Joe and Nic, very enjoyable and interesting, as always.🥰
@@JAMES_III Goodness gracious @ mention of The House of Wax- with Vincent Price? That's going back, way back. lol Very fond memories with me & siblings. thx.
@@zoidmo3388 Vincent Price! Yes! I'm not a big fan of horror movies but I always loved Vincent Price!
@@joycelebaron2582 I grew up with the horror show hosted by Vincent Twice. Vincent Twice.
@@WyldStallion-bs9oo lol, yea, anyone from Portland is basically a Masshole, am i right?
The entire northern half of Maine except for the I95 corridor is divided into townships and ranges. They vary from 12 to 20 square miles with some exceptions. The majority of them have zero full time residents. Easily a quarter of the state is unpopulated. You have to go west of the Mississippi River to find a comparable area.
I think Nothern Maine is unpopulated basically because there's still plenty of land near the coast. That, and the cost of maintaining roads up there that cars can drive on in winter, while not that high, makes it not worth it
We spent the summers of 2020 and 2021 in Millinocket and LOVED EVERY MINUTE! I don't think those towns are dying, they just aren't the hellholes that are Portland and Bangor. Beautiful quality of life up north - we are from the West Coast and would like to retire in the North Maine Woods.
I live here in Millinocket and this video seems to highlight that downsides of it. There are lots of beautiful homes and it is a beautiful area to live and lots of different recreation activities! I am not impressed with his perspective and how he views our Town!
@@nancytheriault3260 Aren't you a real estate agent up there?
Thanks for the great video on Houlton, Maine. I've visited Houlton several times; it's a lovely community. I'm surprised you didn't recognize Stevie Wonder's "Place In The Sun" that the woman was doing a great job with.
I'm the one who commented in the Syracuse video. I live in Maine now and have for 50 years. Maine is the whitest state, it is called "Vacation Land" It is also one of the poorest. The lost of the lumber industry and factories has brought the population down. One in 4 kids don't know when their next meal will be, so the schools feed these kids breakfast and lunch and send supper home with them. There is quite a number of homeless kids also. Lots of drugs up here, lots of Amish families, and lots of seniors. Houlton is in Aroostook county and is know for commercially raised potatoes. In the show American Truckers my flight instructor was hired to fly a Bell Jet Ranger helicopter side ways in front of these truckers to film them. He said it was the one of the most dangerous jobs he has had. He had to estimate the speed they were driving while not hitting the tail rotor on the trees going down these gravel roads. By the way these truckers will not stop for you. They drive fast and are loaded with a lot of trees; they wouldn't be able to stop anyways! Maine is beautiful, but you don't show the beautiful countryside. Maine is 94% wooded with many glacial lakes. Have a safe trip and enjoy!
Great comment, thanks! I had heard that the paper companies owned most of the land in northern Maine. I don't know if it's true or if it was, if it's still that way.
If you want to see some interesting towns in Maine, drive Route 1 north starting at Ellsworth along the coast up to Eastport. There are some towns in beautiful locations that are trying to come back from the closure of the sardine canning industry in the 20th century. Eastport itself is in a beautiful location. It is well worth the drive north. I would look at Machias, Lubec, Eastport and also make stops at towns like Cutler.
I love MAINE, and our favorite area is DownEast, areas around Machias up to Eastport in particular. Simply stunning, peaceful and great people.
I never knew Maine had a sardine industry. Thanks for the info!
@@joycelebaron2582 the sardine industry was big on the Maine coast. Where I live on Mount Desert Island there were canneries in Southwest Harbor and Bass Harbor. The old docks are still there in both towns and the cannery building is still there in Bass Harbor. The last cannery, in Prospect Harbor on the east side of Schoodic closed in 2010.
@@TheSquirrelgirl55 Eastport and Lubec have beautiful scenery.
@@TheSquirrelgirl55 Machias is interesting because it is very old with a number of houses from the 1700s.
Ironically I worked in millinocket when that place closed... I worked in a crew that closed the place down...
They had huge oil tanks that needed to be drained, so we were there to empty and clean them...
There was 2 workers left who were such awesome guys... Mike was one I can't remember the other guys name...they both bought their houses for 30k. It's a weird place but I liked it...back then I drank and had a lot of fun in the bar near our hotel...now that I mention that the guy Mikes family owned the hotel in some sort of way..cool guys they were so welcoming to us and willing to show us around the local culture, which mostly included identifying different animal dumps..
No traffic or people is what we are definitely looking for. With everyones brother moving to middle Tennessee and this freaking heat my husband want out! So we've been looking to move to upper Maine in the next few years. As the years go by and the hotter it gets each summer in the south people will eventually start moving north again to get away from it.
We lived in Texas and then Oklahoma before re-locating to Maine 5 years ago. One of my concerns was, would I be able to handle the winters. Make sure you house has a good source of heat, make sure you have the right clothing keep your car in good order, and you'll probably love it here. I do. If I ever have to leave Maine, it won't be because of winter. I was driving in Calais the other day and had my daughter with me. I was sort of complaining about the "heavy" traffic while I waited at the stop sign...all 4 cars of that "heavy" traffic.
Same here.....middle Tennessee boom area....
I’ve been saving for years almost ready too purchase a house in Aroostick county, a place the world hasn’t ruined yet, much love friends
I know a lot of people from Maine that have moved to Tennessee over the years.
Calais is the "big city" to me! 😄Well, I guess it is a medium city and Bangor is the big city for my purposes. I drive to Calais to get groceries. I used to live in Oklahoma too (OKC), and don't miss the tornadoes. I also don't miss the road rage, congestion, and hot summers. I retired to Washington County five years ago and it was the best decision I've ever made. What a beautiful place! @@geraldrhodes4114
❤maine and your videos. I distinctly remember that stretch of I 95 north to Houlton♾
Your opening comments struck me funny! One whole hour and not seeing any other cars is not unusual on I 95!
My first experience driving north on I95/US Route 1/89 was in 1978. The interstate was not completed yet. Frequently I went form interstate to a two lane road. From Portland north there was definitely a dearth of traffic! Sometime during my 3 assignments , USAF, at Loring AFB, I 95 was completed to Houston. After my military duty, the interstate was completed all the way to Canada.
As students at UMPI, we’d often joke about our trepidations driving north through Bridgewater and other small towns at night hoping we did not have car problems because the zombies might attack!
Loring AFB closed in the early 90s. The economic impact was terrible. Some places ceased to exist. Ft. Fairfield, Mars Hill, Presque Isle,Caribou, and Limestone all were economically devastated by loss of diversity, population, and any real future. This is because
LAFB was the largest employer up there and financially all this area and on down further south were hit hard by the base closure.
One of my children is a postal worker in PQI, another lives in the Old Town area near Bangor, my last child is in CA as a computer tech at UC Davis. Job opportunities are almost non-existent in Northern Maine.
The black flies after Memorial Day are horrible! I grew up in Arkansas on the agricultural rice, cotton, soya beans SE. The mosquitoes were horrible there, but you can dress for that! Black draws black flies. I now live in NM and finally wear black again!
Outdoor activity opportunities are great there for snowmobiling, cross country skiing, fishing, camping, and hunting and much more.
Old Town and Houlton look like the Ritz compared to the True North in Aroostook County, often referred to as The County.
What?! I just watched the end of your video and you mentioned going to Augusta and other southern Maine places. You missed the best of the impoverished parts of Maine by omitting the North and Washington County!
Thanks anyway ,
Regards…
loved seeing the footage of my hometown - Houlton. Thank you for sharing.
As a Southerner from the foothills of North Carolina, I lived in Madawaska, Maine for eleven years. . .ten years and nine months too long. Thankfully, I am back home! Though striking and ruggedly beautiful, the St.John Valley is a very closed and isolating community from the Allagash to Fort Kent, Frenchville, Madawaska, St. David, and Van Buren. They are understandably protective of their heritage and their language. It was made abundantly clear to me within a few months of having moved that I was "from away" and would always be "from away". So. . .yes, the towns are slowly, painfully dying. I found more welcome and acceptance when crossing the Canadian border into Edmundston, New Brunswick, despite my Southern voice! Should you venture to Maine again, there's a beautiful, artsy little town called Monson, Maine at Lake Hebron---not far from Moosehead Lake and Greenville, Maine. . .you have the beauty that is Maine as well as the kindness and welcome of the folks living there. Thank you for sharing your travels!
No offence intended but you rebs cost almost an entire NH regiment at Gettysburg! :-)
@@wa1ufo no offence man but this 😊 is what we use now instead of this :-). 😂🤣
No offence taken, sir. That was a tragic time of great, heartbreaking loss in the history of our country. @@wa1ufo
Thank you as I was wondering how welcoming a beautiful place like thud would be.
Dont feel too bad they feel the same way about the rest of Maine as well. I was born in Houlton and grew up in a town about 45 miles south of there and they would think the same about me. Even though my grandfather and grandmother came from up there. Dont take it personally.
Was waiting for a video to pop up today! Always makes my day! Amish or Mennonite - $264,900 on that house in Houlton
Hello fellow Texas 👋Don't expect any southern hospitality here 😢
Houlton is a small town but much bigger than many in this state. Houlton has one of the best restaurants north of Bangor try The Vault ( reservation required) Maine in general has a very high poverty rate, food insecurity runs ramped here 💔and the medium age is really closer to 70. There are more women than men. Not many smiles but the freemasons are a staple and love to show off in the yearly parades. What Id really like to see is the Masons helping the less fortunate in these northern parts, where help is much needed ....🙏🙏🙏
Paper and other such mills destroyed the land and the water quality , now that they are closed down Northern Maine is left w little money and a toxic Cancer filled environment 😢
Thank you for this tour. Enjoyed every minute of it!
I like this video. I am an Amazon employee, with the odd hobby of...reading our labels. I like to see where goods are headed. I'm in Michigan and can find a town in Michigan I've never heard of fairly frequently. I like to see if I can find packages to every state in a single 4-5 hour shift. Anyways, this video made me think of how...the same places seem to be. I sometimes take a walk in towns via Google Map. I once owned an Old Town Canoe and was grateful that Old Town was included in this video. I suppose talking to and interviewing people would be problematic for reasons I don't know. Those lonely vendors at the farmer's market might have enjoyed a chance to chat about their burg.
Maine and Michigan are similar. Not in all ways, but Washington County, Maine is similar to the (wonderful) UP of Michigan. Poverty in Washington County is bad, but the old money is still there, looking down their noses at everyone they did not grow up with, anyone who is not rich, or anyone NOT from Maine.
They would have loved to have a chat. Out of all the places I've lived and been to in the us/ world; aroostook county maine has the friendliest people I've ever encountered. Life is super simple there and people like it that way. It's also usually not as dead as this video portrays, this must have been early in the morning.
I grew up in the UP of Michigan and currently live in Millinocket, Maine. I moved here because the northern part of the state is much like the UP when I was growing up.
I find that interesting.. with all the towns..if I find a place I’m not familiar with, would be interesting where it’s at
I think the oddest name of town in Michigan is Hell, MI 😂 that’s a nice beautiful town though.
Passed through northern Maine a few years ago en route from Toronto to Halifax NS. Glad to escape an unfriendly Quebec into this relaxed part of the US.
Mad a won keg. River
why do you think quebec is unfriendly ?
Well not a language problem as I can get by in basic French. Certainly very offhand service and manners I've never experienced in other parts of Canada, the US and a large chunk of the planet I've wandered over. Could be the English accent but I travel low profile and never talk politics. Funnily enough the only part of Canada where locals told me they wanted out.
A lot of people from Quebec come to Old Orchard Beach, Me for their vacations in the summer. They can be rude. But so can people from here.@@freebird1ification
@@freebird1ification I know they dont care for Americans
Thanks for your video. We lived in the southern part of Maine for over 34 years and never really got further north than Boothbay Harbor due to work and most vacations were spent out of state to visit family. Really enjoyed your video and kind of made me homesick since we now live in Tenn.
You are correct about the drive from Bangor to Houlton on I95 having sparse traffic, but the scenery is so beautiful. I make this drive every year to see friends in northern Aroostook County (aka "the County") and look forward to the drive. Little traffic, no billboards, and signs with hard to pronounce names on water ways and off the highway towns. Remember to get gas and food before getting on this stretch. The only time in 30+ years of driving this road it was more scary than beautiful was in a January snowstorm. Maine is almost two separate states -southern and northern - attitudes, culture, population, and even the language (many northern are bilingual English/French). I love the slower pace of The County and the small-town culture. I lived there for two years but needed a better paying job. It is a good place and worth the explore.
Totally agree. It was a beautiful drive.
there at ;east two maines...i am glad to see you in the interior
Even with economic stress, the towns seemed VERY clean!
I've been scrolling through the comments and that's a point many people have been making1
I grew up in Woodstock, just across the border in Canada. Visited Houlton many times, had past relatives that lived there. Been in the theatre, recognize the downtown, town was more of a going concern in the 70's. It was a quasi college town back then, we used to play pick-up basketball games with the students. Brings back memories.
What a wonderful video of the great state of ME. Lived in the southern part of ME in the late for a bit. What amazes me is that some towns that struggle with increased levels of poverty after a single industry closes find a way to maintain their homes and downtown business sections; while others allow "everything" to decay with higher levels of violent crime. Why is that? Safe travel, Cheers!!
That house in Houlton is at 60 School Street! Oh it's gorgeous on the inside, all remodeled (built in 1900, which was my guess on that other house down the street you asked about) with workshop, etc, my dream house!. I would have gotten in the van and raced up there to place an offer if I thought I could stand the Maine winters and being ... (from that line in the Shrek movie you talked about...) "Far, far away, Man!" LOL!
Oh I forgot to tell you, it's $265. Somebody will snap that up and use it as a second home, IMHO.
Can’t believe you gave us a tour of Millinocket without of view of Mt Katahdin! 😱 Hope you at least got to see it. Magnificent ending to the Appalachian Trail ❤
I was so hoping you were going to Millinocket!!!!! Went there when I younger with my father to go White Water rafting on the Penobscot river. Remember we stopped at a diner and had Lunch. An older women greeted us in there named Flo. Remember she was dressed like a 1950 waitress. Place was just really different. I remember telling my dad "don't knock Millinocket!" Was great memories
I love taking a day trip or longer to visit and support these type of places. I get to meet nice mom and pop store/café owners. I also enjoy learning about the history of places. They need to be seen before the loons take away so much of it and change the facts about history. I've already been places where half of what I wanted to see and learn about was removed or defaced. It is not all all like it was when I was growing up and kids learned about history and got to actually see things and learn respect. Thank you for showing us these towns and appreciating them even when it's not always the pretty side of reality.
Who are the loons? Birds or Canadians?
Probably talking about leftists. The original poster is probably a fox news viewer. Tends to rot the brain.
Maine put signs up in the 80s in the Moosehead Lake area " The cry of the loon is no laughing matter" to discourage their being killed . Lovely bird .
I completely understand how you feel. Nearing 75 years of age, and having traveled a lot growing up in the USAF, it breaks my heart how our country has been and is being stolen from us. Brainwashing the children is high on the list of Global Elites' priorities.
I looked up that house on School St. for $265,000 as it's a nice house with many new upgrades, but I wouldn't be feeling that house for that price in that area if I was in the market to buy.
Quick comment - the wooden bear isn't Smokey the Bear. Smokey the Bear always wears a Forrest Ranger's large hat. 😉😢 I've saved this so I can watch it later. These towns are heartbreaking. I've been to Lubec several times. It's wonderful but it's been going downhill since the sardine fisheries/canning closed.
After seeing so many deserted towns, it feels good to see a thriving town like Houlton. Watching from India.
A few notes on old town, it may not look like it but there is a bit of a resurgence going on in downtown. The university in Orono brings in a good anount of traffic during the school year, downtown gets much busier during the fall and spring. Alot of those large houses are all converted into multi families for use as student apartments. if you continued down Main St/Rt 2 you woulve passed the ND paper mill. The mill was on the verge of dying for quite a while until it was bought out by a Chinese company, Nine Dragons. They poured a lot of money into it and brought it back from the brink. A lot of people didnt like foreign investors taking over but if they hadnt Old Town wouldve probably seen a similar fate as Millinocket.
Fun fact, theres a large cemetary just outside the mill, youll notice theres a large wall between the cemetary and main conplex. This didnt use to exist, the Chinese investors paid to build the wall beleiving it would keep out all the bad spirits from the mill lol.
Anyways, the mill resurgence and university is sparking some interest in downtown. A few new restuarants have gone up in years passed, Kańu is most notable and feels a bit out of place given how upscale it is. I havent been up there in a few years but last I heard they were planning on building up some live performance venues along the Penobscot river landing near the waterfalls. Not sure whats going on there now but happy to see my university stomping grounds featured!
Yeah a lot of university students and employees live in Old town, it’s cheaper than Orono (where Umaine is). Also Old Towns only 12 miles or so from Bangor so a lot of people commute to jobs there. My dad was born in Old town. We visited in the 70s and found his childhood home was replaced by a gas station.
great information!
Paper Mills are toxic to Human life. Just sayin'.
Glad you mentioned this.
New Brunswick to Damariscotta are places where they are still living the dream. Great little towns . Maine is what it is and hopefully remains as is. Hope you 2 get to Damariscotta. Downtown is bustling. Still the season.
Used to live in Bristol loved the area in general!
@@jamesvanover82Great oysters at Scully Sea Products
Love all the fresh oysters in Damariscotta!