Category: Aroostook County

Fall Foliage Colors In Maine

Fall foliage colors in Maine.

The explosion of leave color brilliant orange, red, yellow, brown and a zillion hues of green when the fall season rolls across Maine. Some years the leaf peak of mixed fall colors get robbed by high winds and the second bloom explosion never happens. Other fall seasons the crazy colors get to the peak detonate to achieve the pinnacle because winds do NOT huff and puff. Mother Nature controls the timing. Not you or I right?

Peak Fall Foliage Colors In Maine. The Maine.gov Site Says My Region’s Peak Is This Weekend!

In Maine, as one by one leaves slowly fall to the ground outside your front porch or tucked away inside a woods cabin.

Next year’s wood supply for the kitchen cook stove is processed in fall. The Fisher yellow plow is hooked back on the unregistered tired four wheel drive used for snow removal after a Maine snow storm. Canning and preserving happen in fall. Cider making all these apples in Maine is cranked out for healthy all natural drinks. We think of harvest, working for area farmers or getting the crop in on our own spreads. Whether large house gardens or rolling farm pasture fields, fall harvest and being outdoors energizes the soul. Getting prepared for the change of seasons as the days tick off living in Maine.

This year in Northern Maine, some hurricane weather map from the south did tail wind up in the belly of Vacationland.

Stripping some of the leaves before they could hit the high notes of fall colors. Prematurely pulled off the trees, these leaves of all colors line the dry countryside of Maine. The stream, brook and

Long Views, The Kind In Maine Where Conversation Stops, Jaws Drop.

river beds that lack water are now carpeted with fall leaves. Healing the scars and covering up the lack of water ravages due to the Maine drought of rain. Local Maine farmers are harvesting small yields. Worried about keeping what they do pull up and out of the ground safely packed away in storage bins. To draw from over the months ahead to pack, stack and head on down the pike to southern produce markets.

Growing food, making it farm to table is a noble Maine profession.

Fall is a busy time on a Maine fall farm acreage spread. You gotta eat. You and I are what we eat and knowing where the food came from is key. Grow your own takes away the mystery of how it was grown, where it is from and what it was treated with or not.

What You See In Outdoor Picnics In Maine. Wildlife, Pure And Natural Scenery.

This year, fall colors that are usually a big draw for vacation leaf peeking tourists is missing.

Their absence blamed on COVID19 hanging around in the background that derails the usual numbers faithfully flocking to Maine. But what about the leave colors? Let’s take a look at what the experts say about leaf color in Maine and all the variable. Does the dry fall in Maine weather conditions impact the foliage color intensity? A lot of how intense the colors are depends on what’s going on inside and around you in life.

Just Hanging Around, Tramped Up On A Wall Collecting Dust. But Not Able To Sneeze.

Maine is all about being pretty much living outdoors all four seasons.

And the impact of whatever fall leave colors we get up here in Maine can ebb and flow higher due to how’s life treating you. Fall is hunters on the prowl and wildlife a little antsy. Just like COVID19 has made folks a tad edgy, the Maine wildlife get tired of hide and go seek to stay alive. To avoid being moved to a chest type freezer and part of body hoisted high and placed on a wall as a trophy reminder of the fall hunt up in Maine. Have you been to Maine to sneak a peak and play the hunting game of hide and seek chasing game birds, white tail deer, black bear and maybe a picked by lottery game of chance Maine moose?

Heading North, Hitting The ITS Trails In Maine.

I think the high notes of bright red and high voltage yellows are missing in fall foliage this year.

The lack of moisture did not crank up the color wheel brightness and lack of moisture is not the only variants. Temperatures can play a hand in what fall leave colors get rolled and displayed too.

Chilly evenings, cool mornings are part of the leave color recipe.

As we warm our hands and heart by open fire pits. We start thinking of winter snowmobile trails, getting on a sled and riding to places you can not get to by car. Where a blanket of new white snow is the roadway and carefully groomed to ease the in and out to access the wonders of Maine not everyone gets to experience.

The farmer’s almanac says just light affects fall leave colors.

The Maine forest is inhabited by lots of tree species. Each type of tree around us in Maine has its own sheet music to follow when fall happens. Yellow and orange that dominate the color scheme are the instrument of certain tree types.

The scarlet and variations of green hues are the product of other timber variety out in the Maine woods.

And it is not just trees that Jack Frost uses to change up the color scheme of nature’s surroundings up here in Maine. Bushes chime in with adapted colors as their contribution to the rich fall colors in Maine. We can all agree that fall foliage is dependent on chemistry to happen. Day length and temperatures are a big catalyst for Maine’s fall leave colors. These two factors provide the memo to trees to get ready for winter. To back off the summer food making and shift it up.

The View From Peekaboo Mountain’s Fire Tower. Welcome To The Harvest Colors Of Maine!

Stop the production of green chlorophyll and prepare for snow fall and let go of your leaves boys and girls.

The chemicals carotenoids and anthocysnins roll in to rush to the tips of all the tree limbs that cause the red, orange, yellows and maroon color shades. The sky color can impact what you get for the fall leave foliage experience too. Just like wind can strip trees of leaves to display colors of any kind, the cobalt blue or meh gray and dirty white shades of the sky create the help or hurt canvas of fall leave display intensity.

I’ll tell you one other variable in fall colors in Maine is the display around the Maine waterfront.

Take a smooth as glass ripple free lake to reflect whatever fall colors you do get. That mirror adds to the fall leave color dimension and spreads the colors in a natural amplification.Warm weather temperatures across Maine impacted our fall leave colors this year. The warmer than normal degree readings and lack of dips into cold sections of the thermometer early and late in the day made for more plain jane fall colors. Or the coronovirus impacting everyone’s life could be part of the problem.

The Vivid, Exciting Colors Of Maine Fall Leaves! Head To The Woods, Experience Fall In Maine Where Social Distancing Is A Snap To Maintain.

Mainer’s are wondering about how do you safely socially distance trick or treat in the approaching Halloween ahead?

Worried if school and sporting schedules will hold and continue. It all depends on the virus spiking or not in rural small town Maine where we seem to have more of a fighting survival chance. Cheers (clinking cold mugs of freshly pressed apple cider and pumpkin flavored local micro brews) Maine is wonderful any season for any reason. Those that work virtually and remote online up in Maine are happy about the continued warm temperatures. But also thinking ahead and wondering how winter will treat them as they hunker down and telecommute up here in Vacationland.

Fall foliage colors in Maine.

Thank you for stopping by the Me In Maine blog post today! Where to visit, when to come to Maine for the peak leave colors. What does history say on the peak colors of fall in Maine trend? It is indicating this weekend is peak leave color time for Northern Maine’s section seven. Check the link for more on the leave colors of fall foliage in Maine.

I’m Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers, ME Broker

207.532.6573 | info@mooersrealty.com |

MOOERS REALTY 69 North ST Houlton ME 04730 USA

October 4, 2020
Barns In Maine

Barns in Maine, there was a time when every family farm had one or more sitting in the center of the agricultural enterprise.

One at a time and not mass produced, the original Maine barns built for farming, not wedding events. Yesteryear small growing Maine rural communities rallied together. The local farm families stepped up to take their turn. Much like our Maine Amish communities do one day a week. Thursday is community day which means everyone pack up and meet over at this week’s location to pitch in and lend a hand. All expected to step up and come together over and over like the original farm family settlers. To systematically help create each unique hand built barns in Maine. Built to last, slowly constructed one by one using many hands. To get your very own barn building appointment meant first helping several others put together their farm barns.

The Barn In Maine On A Family Farm. That Barn The Tallest, Biggest Structure With All The Others Surrounding It. Barns More Important Than Your House.

Every family member with a specific role in the barn building on the Maine farm.

Large amazing spreads of local food needed to fuel the hard working hungry builders of the farm barn. Barn raisings to piece together the post and hand hewn beam behemoths took the help of many.

The big stately working barns in Maine each secured with mortised joint dowels to create the amazing structures. Slowly constructed to serve the Maine farm families for generations.

Some barn workers in charge of finding the trees, cutting them down. Others shaping the long timbers needed for the skeleton frame of the barns in Maine. Lumber of all dimensions whittled out of whatever the team of horses twitched in from the woodlot sections of the Maine farm acreage. Still more deputized to create cedar shingles, clapboards, board and baton or whatever exterior covering to be applied to the farm barn exterior.

Scaffolding to protect the barn building workers did not remove the dangers being that high in the air performing carpentry maneuvers. You climb, you fall, you would die. That simple. I know of a local roofer who did just that from high a top a barn in Maine being shingled when a fatal accident happened. The staging plank snapped and still shudder thinking about the Maine farm barn shingle roof repair accident.

Roofing, ventilators and cupolas to bring in plenty of natural lighting and air to remove the moisture of newly mowed hayed to be stored in the barn in Maine.

Sills, rocks foundation supports to work best meant selecting a high and dry location with good soil drainage. Hemlock flooring to support the livestock, whatever to be stored in the large capacity farm barn meant another team of individuals hammered each plant in place. Finishing off the hay mow lofts, the standing and box stall pens in the inside of the Maine farm barn. Laughter, singing, hammering heard while installing windows, the weather tight trim boards.

Crafting and hanging doors on blacksmith created hinges and opening hardware another role in the barn raising.

Creating trap doors, upper openings to aid the efficiency utility of the Maine farm barn. Adding pulleys and ropes to help whatever to be stored inside the big farm barns in Maine. Dormers for ventilation and natural lighting because no power. In later years, stringing metal to connected roof top lightning rods. During approaching thunder storms, you better unplug the pasture fence charger quickly. Or you could be the lightning rod during the frantic unloading into the dry barn operation. (more…)

April 9, 2020
The Trip To Bangor Maine When You Live In Aroostook County

The quick down and back trip to Bangor Maine when you live in Aroostook County.

Maine is a big state. When you live here, the exploring it in bits and pieces small bites is enjoyable. Living full time based in Northern Maine, taking a little mad dash escape south out of Aroostook County is a treat.

Interstate 95 Traveling To Bangor In The Winter. Roads Bare, Plowing Done Right For Clear Sailing.

The length of time you are away is not so important. What you do in say Bangor Maine is not either. Could be a sporting event, shopping, picking someone up at the airport, or passing through to points further south. But just a change of scenery and getting on Interstate 95 to head to a little more populated area of Maine does a body and soul good. Small rural Maine living is peaceful but the cobwebs from house bound cabin fever take their mental toll during the winter months.

Keep Your Eyes Peeled For Deer, Maine Moose. They Like The Roadside Salt Used To Melt Highway Ice.

Before I-95 was clear cut and the highway added to the landscape, US RT 2A was the “Bangor Road”.

You’ve maybe heard the country classic song about all those truckers buried up in Maine along that cold, lonely stretch of highway through the Haynesville Woods? If you look close, there is a tombstone every mile according to the Fort Fairfield county boy who penned and sang the song wearing the patch over one eye.

This weekend, Meg and I climbed into the car, buckled up to zip down to Bangor Maine from Aroostook County.

A pair of tickets in hand with a bar code to scan to see the Penobscot Theatre live stage production of Don’t Dress For Dinner. Sitting close to the front in the center aisle section for one very good live community production perch. And after the show on the stage up the hill, then wandering down to Paddy Murphy’s Pub at the bottom. Study the menu and time for a bite to eat in Bangor Maine.

In a few past play runs to see a show in Bangor from Aroostook County I rented a 15 passenger van from Wayne’s Auto for the day. To take the local community actors group down to the Penobscot Theatre. The popular place to eat for that crew was the Happy China Buffet. It was not eat and run and when the crab legs make their entry, other delicacies were all expertly predicted by regulars who knew the routine.

Good Food, Easy Prices, Friendly Staff And Setting. Paddy Murphy’s Bangor Maine Near Penobscot Theatre In The Downtown.

Both of us lived in the Bangor Maine area when attending the University of Maine at the Orono campus.

We can share stories of renting an apartment at University Park even though each of us lived there at different times in our life. That’s why we both enjoy the quick trip to Bangor Maine from Aroostook County that is always fun. Done around the year when the schedule can be opened up to nail it down for let’s head to Bangor Maine.

Lights, Sound, Cell Phones Off. Another Penobscot Theatre Production Opens In Bangor Maine.

Pretty familiar surroundings and my brother Stephen lived in Bangor Maine most of his life… born there, died there.

He was a big advocate of affordable housing in the Bangor Maine area working at Penquis CAP. Even if your family’s combined household income is pretty low, as a kid Stephen thought you should still be proud of where you live. Growing up in a housing project does not have to be a blighted or negative experience Stephen reasoned your surroundings treated with respect.

Opening Music Act For Jerry Lee Lewis When He Rocked The Bangor Auditorium.

Miss you Stephen B Mooers. He played the keyboard ivories and sang in lots of local Bangor Maine bands as a part time nights and weekends gig. His most popular Bangor music band probably “Bootleg” that played at local bottle clubs.

Bootleg opened for Jerry Lee Lewis as the warm up act when “The Killer” came to the Bangor Auditorium to entertain the music crowd who could get a limited ticket.

Brother Stephen’s music therapy as much for him as the patrons. He reminded the dancers I know some of you are going through hard times, it’s been a bitch of a week. But forget all that, leave it at the door. And for the next two or three hours let’s just shimmy and shake.

The instructions for everyone to fun laughing, dancing, slurping some favorite concoction. And more importantly don’t forget to tip your waitress who is working her heart out to make sure like the band members that you have one memorable time.

If you have never lived in Maine during the winter it is so easy to think the worse about what it must be like.

Tall snow banks, howling winds, all alone house bound and hibernation come to mind. When nothing could be further from the truth. Maine winters are a time when we get outside to play in the white stuff. Just like the other three seasons.

We dress to match the temperatures of the day in Maine. More or less layers happens. The highway department does a cracker jack job of clearing the roads. Big side wings direct the snow back to pave the way for moving around on open roads. No fear of being stranded, no reason not to take a quick trip south to see how the rest of the state lives. The trip to Bangor Maine from Aroostook County because of I-95 is very doable and affordable.

Stayed overnight at the Bangor Airport. No, not stranded sleeping on the terminal floor homeless many miles from home and hungry.

Going Somewhere? BIA Is There To Whisk You Away By Air In Bangor Maine.

But not climbing on a silver bird to go anywhere this time either. The Priceline price for Bangor Maine lodging picked just right for the Four Points Sheraton. Bangor International Airport is not that busy with round the clock flights where it will keep you awake at night.

Walked around a few stores Sunday, hit Home Depot to dream about household projects and get some ideas.

Spent way way too long in lighting. Too many choices when used to a small town Maine hardware store for selection of just a couple that work just fine.

Picked up a few children clothes items for the precious grand daughter who just turned one today and lives local where she is enjoyed so much.

Hit BAM for perusing books and magazines. Those usually help inspire the next Me In Maine blog topic in some shape or form.

The trip to Bangor Maine from Aroostook County via Interstate 95 is quick and painless.

Cruise control for 75 mph and sit back, turn up the tunes and zing. Next thing you know you are on top of the Hogan Road exit heading down from Aroostook County.

Where to eat, what to sample, washed the car, jiffy lube changed the oil and fueled up to head back to “The County”. The one day down, next day back mini-vacations are great for a change up of the setting during a Maine winter.

The Maine high school vacation week is approaching. The Maine basketball, hockey tournaments for the eastern, western, state title are on the line. No doubt will be making another abbreviated get away trip to Bangor Maine for a short return visit to hoot and holler for the home town team.

When we were kids, the potato picking money earned out in the Aroostook County farm fields was ear marked for the school clothes.

The ones needed to look neat and clean and to be warm heading into a Maine winter. You take better care of what you buy with your own money. You stretch those hard earned dollars too. We always bought locally whatever there was for selection. But when a store did not have something locally, it was fair game to get the best deal you could to find. To maximize your potato picking money down in the woo hoo big city of Bangor Maine.

The return from Bangor Maine on Interstate 95 as dark sets in and the row of red tail lights ahead are folks that just did the same down and back trek.

Who are now weaving their way north too from Penobscot up into Aroostook County. Less than a two hour trip from Bangor to Houlton and add on another pair of 60 minutes driving segments if you go all the way to the top, the Crown of Maine.

Tourists, in Winter The Snowmobiliers Flock To Use The ITS Maine Snow Sled Trails. Over 14,000 Of Them To Enjoy Helps The Economy.

The St John River Valley is two more hours up US Rt 1 or the back way RT 11. Heading up Interstate 95 after a trip out of state or just down to Bangor or Portland, there is nothing like seeing one sign. It always makes me smile and sign in relief.

The exit for Benedicta Maine which only got one northbound signals you are in Aroostook County Chummy.

Like the Hotel California, you can enter but never get on I-95 in Benedicta Maine to leave. Check in any time you like but you can never leave. Or just not without hitting RT 11 further north and then boomerang ricochet maneuver using the Sherman south bound exit to get back on I-95. Benedicta Maine, still waiting for the south bound exit to get constructed when the DOT highway folks finally allocate the funds to do the job.

When you see the Benedicta Maine interstate sign, you know you are back in “The County” of Aroostook. Maine, come for a day and end up staying a life time. It happens easily when she grabs you by the heartstrings and just won’t let go in her playful four seasons ways. Maine is big, beautiful.

How Much Snow Did We Get Last Night? Check The Bottom Of The Maine Home Back Door.

Lots of Canadian vehicle plates on the cars and trucks you see on the highways of Maine.

We are related to most of them if you took the time to go back through the family DNA. Plenty of snow sled trailers being pulled up and down the Maine pike too. Come on up, lots of snow to play in. It’s a winter wonderland play ground.

Traveling to Bangor Maine from Aroostook County! We do it a lot! Maine is Vacationland. Southern New England, Portland and Lewiston area snowmobilers flock to Northern Maine when the conditions are right to hit the ITS trails. Ice fishing in Northern Maine is big just like downhill and cross country skiing is too. Thank you for following our blog posts on living in Maine.

I’m Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers, ME Broker

207.532.6573 | info@mooersrealty.com |

MOOERS REALTY 69 North ST Houlton Maine 04730 USA

February 11, 2020
Maine Bees Busy Pollinating Vacationland

Maine bees, the busy buzz pollinating benefits to flower enthusiasts and vegetable farming.

There are over 270 native Maine bee species in the state. Honey bees are not native to Maine and European settlers introduced them to what is now affectionately dubbed “Vacationland”.

Outdoor Flower Arrangements. The Best Kind For All To See. For Maine Bees To Enjoy Too!

Honey bees, bumble bees and roughly 4000 solitary bee populations reside in Maine and are some kind of busy.

Making the rounds, these bees pollinate agricultural crops, vegetable and flower garden plots. All plants found in the wilds of Maine fields and woodlands. The Maine pasture field clover, daisies, black eyed susans, lupines and Indian paint brush wildflowers. All those wild flowers get a shot in the arm from Maine bees making their daily rounds.

Parasitic mites reduced the Maine honey bee populations by twenty five percent. Pesticides, herbicides, insecticides used incorrectly have further threatened the bee population so important to local Maine farming pollination.

Bees pollinating Maine farm crops and producing honey and wax is an important state endeavor.

Like The Mail Man Or UPS Gal, Making Lots Of Stops. Maine Bees Are BUZZZ-sy.

This University of Maine Cooperative Extensive Bee bulletin outlines why bees are so important. Also your Maine property can be made more inviting to the bee population and to increase pollination activity. Read more on how to make your yard more bee friendly.

The work of Maine bees helps others out in the natural wildlife setting too.

Flowering plants, shrubs and trees create seeds and fruit, vegetables for other wildlife to live. In their daily flights, bees, birds, hummingbirds, dragon flies, butterflies and moths all help distribute the important pollen around the Mane plant population.

I was always told as a kid by my parents, older brothers bees don’t want to sting you and just leave them alone.

The fuzzy bumble bee dressed like a Boston Bruin hockey player trapped and buzzing in the rear car

Attracting Maine Bees, Inviting Them To Your Flower Beds.

window of a parked vehicle when you are little can make getting away from them a little harder. Fear to happen. But respect and helping them get out of a building, a vehicle instead of using spray or something else to kill them was something I was taught growing up on a Maine farm. We needed Maine bees. They like the potato beetle that ate an aphid that was no good was our friend!

Planting a mix of flower shapes knowing bees have different size tongues, using perennials that bloom yearly is not a bad approach to encouraging pollination, honey production of the sweet nectar.

Hand broadcast those meadow in a can flower seed collections. Scientists report bees like best vegetation loaded with blue, yellow, purple flowers. Lots of hand broadcast wild flowers with these colors and

Maine Honey Bees, Bumble Bees, Lots Of Buzz Flying Around Rural Maine.

planted in abundance will help assure visits from bees that do so much good to the Maine environment.

More from the USDA Natural Conservation Service education and funding to promote farmer help for pollinators like Maine bees are.

They report one of our every three mouthful bites of food in this country are thanks to the work honey bee pollinators do.

Learn more about honey bees and their benefits spreading pollen to fertilize other plants, for collecting nectar.

Here’s another video that shows even more up close and personal what Maine honey bee do each day and why.

You have a whole new level of respect for Maine bee pollination and how they can transport up to a third their weight in their busy day.

To take the bee pollen trapped on their body and to carry the honey nectar nibbling on flowers and loaded it up for the quick trip back to the bee hive.

The Maine State Bee Keepers Association established in Maine back in 1976.

Get social. Like the Maine State Bee Keepers Association Facebook page. And Google “Maine Bees“.

What’s All The Buzz? Eye Candy And Bee Honey Extraction.

Sometimes it is good not to mind your bees wax.

Growing up on a Maine farm, with potato blossoms to pollinate and a Mom who had three different flower gardens, bees were around our family. The white and purple potato flowers with the bright yellow, hard to miss parts were popular with the local bee population.

The apple orchard, rhubarb patch, the strawberry and corn fields all depended on the Maine bee visits.

The all natural honey sweetness is better for you than sugar. The health benefits of pure Maine bee honey was known and it was part of our medicine cabinet along with cold liver oil, coke syrup, salt water for soaking wherever we were sore. Lots of other simple ailment remedies to get us back on our feet used growing up on a Maine farm up in Aroostook County.

More on the health benefits of Maine honey. The antioxidants help lower high blood pressure, diabetics are cheerleaders of Maine bee honey too.

Are you fan of Maine honey and the bees that produce it?

Maine Farm Fields Buzzing With Bees Collecting Nectar, Pollinating The Acreage.

Before we know it, the birds, bees in Maine spring will be active as the season changes.

Maine bees. Pure and all natural honey from Maine. Is it a big part of your daily life in what you eat, in how your protect as a good Maine stewards of the land? Do you think about protecting Maine bees and their natural habitat? Like the song birds, the Maine bees would be missed greatly if their buzz was gone. Thank you for stopping by the Maine blog post to bone up on your knowledge of Maine bees.

I’m Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers, ME Broker

207.532.6573 | info@mooersrealty.com |

MOOERS REALTY 69 North ST Houlton ME 04730 USA

January 27, 2020
Downeast Maine, Where Is It Exactly?

The location of Downeast Maine, where the region starts and stops is hard to nail down.

The term Downeast or Down East Maine has been used loosely since the word first appeared in a dictionary in 1825. “Downeast” is a sailing term too. The prevailing winds along the Maine coast blow from the southwest in the warm months, so ships from Boston were able to run downwind as they sailed along Maine’s north-easterly-trending coast. Or so reported like a true skipper Colin Woodard with his explanation of where the term originated in his book The Lobster Coast.

Ever Been To Downeast Maine? Learn More About The Region In Washington And Hancock Counties.

Woodard examines Downeast Maine’s complicated relationship with Massachusetts that combined with what else was happening almost a decade before the pilgrims spied and named the rock.

When European settlers were barely eking out a living along the rocky Maine coast. Where their weary, weathered descendants fended off aggrieved Indians, French raiders, self serving English lords. And greedy land speculators all had a hand in the forces forging. Shaping the unique lobstering communities of coastal Maine.

Downeast Maine is small fishing communities, a little less touristy than coastal sections closer to the Granite, Bay states.

The terrain is hilly, soils rocky, sandy. Nd not like the Caribou loam profile of Aroostook County, the garden of Maine. Downeast Maine is not easily accessed by simply turning on a right hand turn signal. No quick zip trek to reach from an Interstate 95 off ramp. It takes time to weave in and out along old US Rt 1. Like threading the eye of a needle. Downeast is more difficult to reach from land than from sea. During periods of fog, when it is snowing and blowing fluffy flakes or through a weather spell of freezing rain. Those batton down the hatches, zip up your rain or winter wear snuggly during a weather northeaster.

The distance, difficulty for travel insulates and protects like lots of far away corners of Maine.

Where on a day trip you just arrive and like travel to the Moon have to quickly shift gears and think about heading for home. Low on the fuel of precious time. That is part of what protects the craggy, rock bound coast of Downeast Maine. And why there are not easy directions for tourists when wanting a quick answer fix to finding tourist attractions and getting a slow, dry reply of “you can’t get there from here”. (The correct pronunciation “You caunt get thar from here-ah”)

Rough Seas Outside Maine, Come Ashore, Land Your Vessel.

When the native asked for the tenth time today gives up, because the travel help just causes grumbles about what a stupid way to lay out your town. When the locals have no trouble at all and like it just fine.

Downeast Maine is not like anywhere else, not trying to be and hangs tough to what helped it keep going and survive the storms of life.

Don’t expect cookie cutter like modern grid row communities and remember the terrain, weather, tight economics all add more wrinkles to the Downeast experience that defies zoning and does not seek perfect order. Clinging instead to the days before the steamers and when clipper ships, King pines, fishing canneries, maritime folklore of dance and music, rich sea coast history and tradition ruled the day.

So back to the drawing the dotted line on the cake of Maine to cut deep and carve out a piece of tasty Downeast Maine.

Downeast Maine, where exactly does it start or stop again? The tourist information people slice the watery eastern side of Vacationland to include “sections” of the Maine coast so the local merchants can focus just on their backyard. Because on a three day weekend, you are not going to be able to sample all of Maine coastline. Pace yourself as a traveler with only so much time. Focus on your area as a merchant not wishing to waste a drop of the expensive promotional dollars. It’s regions, not one of the sixteen counties easy to figure out the where the travel slide show is taking you today in Maine.

Hancock County has the longest coastline of any of Maine’s sixteen land sections. In Washington County no democrat has led the county since Hubert Humphrey back in 1968. What about the Downeast Maine lighthouses included in this northern most section of coastline? I know Cape Elizabeth’s Portland Headlight gets most of the press, but West Quoddy Headlight is one of the prettiest in Maine in her crisp, clean, dramatic red and white attire. She is the Eastern most lighthouse in Maine, the USA.

Float Your Boat To Maine. Get Here Anyway You Have Available. Cutler Maine Pictured, Downeast.

I think West Quoddy Headlight’s northern coastal location across from Maritime Canada, Campobello Island makes her a jewel the average traveler runs out of gas and never gets to see.

We took a little road trip down to Machias Maine, the county seat for Washington yesterday. Had some fried clams, fish chowder at Helen’s Restaurant and admired the Downeast setting. Less tourists, much snow than Northern Maine today, plenty of fractured ice along the waterways. A visit to Roque Bluffs State Park is one recommendation if you are in the Machias area of Maine. For the smell of salt air, vision of coastal eye candy and to feel the breeze that makes you pull up your collar, tug on your zipper.

Blueberries, one more word to describe Downeast Maine. Like Central Maine children collect eggs out of the hen’s nest, Northern Maine children pick potatoes out of the ground, Downeast youngsters and their families rake blueberries from the barrens.

Meg and I picked up the Quoddy Tides and Machias Valley News Observer after fueling the stomach with fresh Maine fish.

Machias Maine, County Seat For Washington Is Part Of Downeast Maine!

Front page insertions about food pantries, winter fuel heating assistance, volunteers sought to count homeless residents all show how Maine coastal communities ban together. To help each other, and leave no one out in the cold or overlooked. Especially during the darker, snow filled months, the stark off season tourist months. When folks hunker down and wait for spring. Your turn to deal in the cribbage board game Chummy. Pass the sardines please Bub. You going ice fishin’ this weekend? Heard the catch was wicked strong off the point. A yuh. Headin’ upta camp.

In both newspaper publications, towns grapple with local regulations for marijuana gets front page press ink in larger font type. Fifty two percent of Washington County did not support the latest pot referendum but Maine as a whole did by about four thousand votes.

Now talk about moving forward with how best to handle pot out in the open suggests moratoriums for a year. To figure out regulation, enforcement, penalties, how to guide best, how to test for sobriety and what about edibles that all on the table in small Maine communities. Who are looking to the Maine Municipal Association for guidance on legalize pot. Some towns in Maine reaching out to learn about how Oregon, Colorado and Washington state rolled out legalize marijuana growing programs to study for the private and retail sector.

Fresh Fish, Your Are In Maine Remember?

The veteran of the month is highlighted in the Machias Valley News Observer, the local Maine newspaper serving its region for over 160 years.

In the newspaper edition I held up, opened wide for the peek into Downeast Maine, a World War Two vet was the topic of discussion. Many in the audience no doubt somehow related to this service vet. Veterans are gone but not forgotten and remembrance is the least you can do for the many who gave some, the some who gave all. Amen.

Local sports teams like all of Maine towns are big news as thoughts of another or the first gold ball for the school trophy case are entertained by everyone young and old. ” The Narraguagus Lady Knights basketball team slays the Woodland Knights” the headline reads. Local photos from Steuben, Jonesport, Barney Cove in Beals, Maine all add to the literary seasoning of the local newsprint of Downeast Maine.

News highlights in the local Downeast press edition we scanned highlighted the Calais Maine hospital marks it’s 100th anniversary.

It shows a 1917 image from back when it was on Church Street. An image of Bohemian Waxwing birds flying in and out to feast on apples and berries was showcased for readers. New books at the Pembroke Library highlighted… one titled “The Kamikaze Hunters” by Will Iredale.

Maine. The Jewels Are Out In The Open, Glistening, Sparkling The Daylight. Not Trapped, Under A Light In A Locked Up Tight Display Case. Cutler Maine Island.

Contra dances, Celtic music, boat builders meeting, benefit suppers, bug delicacies tasting and education, senior socials, a beam raising ceremony, soul foot pot luck supper, mind reading, workshop on making sauerkraut, moon light snow shoe/ski/food hike. Everything happening in the local setting make the news announcements and gets coverage in the weekly papers Downeast.

To mark the new year, the Great Sardine pictured, dropping from the Tides Institute and Museum of Art building in downtown Eastport at midnight. Also a historic tug boat that parted from its mooring in St Andrews Canada because of high winds during a winter storm was pictured listing to one side on shore in Robbinston, Maine.

The 60 foot T.B. McClintic was built in 1932 at Bath Iron Works and had a rich maritime history racking up the nautical miles out at sea. Luckily the sea vessel was able to power off on the incoming tide the following day with calmer seas and the journey across the St Croix River to return to St Andrews.

Who says there is nothing going on in a small Maine town?

Downeast Maine, you want to vacation but need some ideas on what to do and where in Vacationland. The Pirate Festival in Eastport and Lubec Maine is one worthwhile outing. There is an Eastport Ferry Service to help get you on the water, from land lubber point to point. To help you during the Pirate Festival develop your sea legs. Wicked fun time if you can make it to Downeast town wide celebration. Now let’s go clamming! Ready?

[vimeo

The Ballad of the Purple Clam from Adam Fisher on Vimeo.

]

Bar Harbor Maine is part of the lower end of Downeast coastal sections but seems so much more prosperous and polished that something is lost in the authenticity.

Maine Has A Slew Of Waterfront Options For Vacations, Like Downeast Maine Up North On The Coast.

There is spin in that four color high gloss representation of Downeast that seems a little slick, a lot more expensive. Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park are a tourist attraction that is hard to resist and she is the rich relative because of the wealth. The old and new money people that all had the same idea in where to head. In migration to this coastal Maine destination for summer vacation homes and nightly sea cruises where breakwaters were installed to avoid spilling your cocktail while conversing and spotting whales, seals, bald eagles and lighthouses.

L obster recipes in Downeast Maine. The crustaceans start out dark green and end up bright red. But if I had my druthers, just set me in front of a very large bowl of steamed clams with the broth for dipping, in the stripping and bathing in butter before down the gullet. With a splash of micro red or white something from a local brewery of barley pop and topped off with a seaside setting with your family in Maine. It does not get better than that.

Sample Maine, all of her. Even if it takes a lifetime.

Fishing For Something Missing? Maine. Find It Here.

When you say you vacation at the Maine coast, that does not nail down the where exactly about are you talking? And don’t make the trip the same season if you want to get a completely difference travel experience. Often times the best Maine coastal vacation is without all the people like the open highway when it is not drive time busy.

Vacations, time away to be below radar and unplug, to recharge in Maine.

Come at the beginning, ends, before and after the tourism season’s highest pitch for the down low, real connection.

Fill your lungs with the sea salt air, your eyes with the expanse of rock and coastal fresh water. Your plate with another helping of fish, clams, lobster but save room for a slab of blueberry pie topped with drizzling scoops of ice cream. Learn about the Acadian and Canadian history. Lots of stories to hear. Pull up a chair, roll down a window, make the trip.

Come to Downeast Maine.

To absorb the small Maine coastal town living experience up close and personal in say Downeast Maine.

I’m Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers, ME Broker

207.532.6573 | info@mooersrealty.com |

MOOERS REALTY 69 North Street Houlton Maine 04730 USA

January 15, 2017
Houlton Maine, The Town’s Past Supporting The Aroostook County Future.

Like most small communities, Houlton Maine is a town of unique features, talented people.

Houlton Maine, Rich History Preserved And Protected.

Small towns like Houlton Maine to survive and prospect must turn the corner with an eye to the future. But never losing what is behind them in the rear view mirror for rich history.

For perspective, adapting to a changing World economy it is the blend of new and old. It is all about embracing technology and riding the information wave into the future never forgetting the past.

Service providing and the shift from working on the Maine farms and in the deep vast woods by hand is underway. Retooling for the next generation to stick around or move back to their small Maine town.

Houlton Maine, Shiretown of Aroostook County. The Early Years.

The past of Houlton Maine is a rich one as an earlier blog post on the County Seat Or “Shiretown”, the oldest town in Aroostook County outlines.

The archives of Houlton Maine history show colorfully in the jounalistic prose of the time about the hardships of picking up from comfortable surroundings. And heading into the unknown wilds of the Great North Maine Woods.

The history of farming in Aroostook County is a rich one. And the youth exposed to farming benefit the most in life skills and perseverance. The industry of children shown in this potato picking video, another one on potato house work say it all. Fresh air, working together to harvest the new crop of spuds or whatever the farm field yields from the seeds of spring. That drive and determination to stick with it carries a person for life.

But today, building on the past, with stories preserved, the history capsuled in museums, on website meanderings can be part of the tourism effort in Maine.

As folks seek to go deep into the interior and northern, western sections of Maine beyond the traditional sea coastal area tourist traps. The Patten Lumberman’s Museum is another example of a history lesson available to all who enters it’s doors or accesses the site in this Northern Penobscot County out post town.

Potatoes Were King, Northern Maine Planted More, Harvest The Most At One Time.

The railroad opened up the Northern sections of Maine. Once the border between Maine and Canada was hammered out. The railroad lines and spurs on the sidings connected the industries. To feed the markets needing the farming produce, meat, dairy and lumbering products. Take a ride on a train leaving the Oakfield Maine’s Railroad Museum … hurry. All aboard. Let me punch your ticket.

Homesteading never did die down since Joseph Houlton led the charge to this new land on the Canadian border cut out in six by six mile tidy uniform township squares.

Laid out in easy to follow grid work of township this, range that designations.

The Internet opens up the ability to telecommute to an online job far from Maine where the worker does not want to live. And today does not need to as they beam a signal from Maine to wherever the other end of the connection may be on the globe. Houlton Maine is connected to fiber.

Houlton Maine’s Miss Aroostook Diner. What’s Today’s Blue Plate Special? Pea Wiggle? Bubble & Squeak?

The early days of a small Maine town like Houlton were more local happenings.

Less of the jump in your car and run the roads to a larger population to sample the wares of their stores. Slower moving trains, no super highways, no Amazon to order from online and expect delivery without what seems like hours, not days or weeks.

Pilots of private planes fly into these small airports that dot the Maine landscape like in Houlton Maine.

Small commuter airlines could survive less passenger load before deregulation. Or bolt on pontoons so your silver bird becomes a float plane. Now you can touch down and lift off from Maine’s many water front recreational options. To explore Northern Maine’s many waterfront taxi landing strips. Just make sure you are taking off into the wind for maximum lift. To go under your wings of your Piper or Cherokee puddle jumper. So the plane has altitude enough. For up up and away over those tall trees at the end of the maybe too tight Maine lake airport.

Two Theaters, Market Square In Houlton Maine Was A Busy Place. Everything Was Local, In The Community Of Small Maine Towns.

Speaking of planes, the silver birds, Loring Air Force Base provided over forty years of service protecting the skies of the wild blue yonder of Northern Maine.

Defending our borders, the freedom of the United States from the upper right hand corner of a small town called Limestone. That was the shortest hop over the north pole where Santa lives to keep an eye on Russia, the Middle East back when relations where cold, strained, and neither countries were sending the other a Christmas card.

And after LAFB was moth balled, other uses with DFAS hummer repair, payroll checks and that’s right. A few Phish concerts with 60,000 music lovers heading north up into the “County”. A couple going too far on I-95 / Making a big mistake. Taking the VW micro bus straight into Canada, beyond exit 305. Over the border beyond Houlton International Airport (KHUL) that was a busier place during lend lease during World War Two. Back in a time when German POW’s got paid helping the local potato farmers get the crop into storage.

And Cole’s Express, other trucking outfits helped open up the down country markets to local agriculture and lumbering concerns in Northern Maine.

Providing something the trains could not with the iron horses. Overnight service for the now business

Try ‘er Again. (Whirring Sound) Must Be The Solenoid. Or Missing Tooth On The Fly Wheel.

model of “just in time” inventory control.

Coles Express got its start with snow plowing back when winter’s provided more white stuff before the effects of global warming. Lots of songs about trucking in Maine like through the Haynesville Woods penned and performed by Dave Dudley of Fort Fairfield, in central Aroostook County.

Home theatre media rooms rather than putting on your hat, coat and hitting the silver screen. Sneaking down the pretty dark aisle munching on a fresh pop bucket of corn and your favorite sugar snack. Vacations to second, third and more homes that are ready and waiting but infrequently used. More for the collection than putting down roots as today’s public more affluent but still restless and gypsy like. Finding it hard to sit still for long. The could be missing something and like to be kept entertained.

No Motel 6, No Howard Johnson Or Day’s Inn Back When In Small Maine Towns. Lots Of Local, No Franchise Chain Hotels To Stay in Northern Maine Towns.

Aroostook County is known for its Acadian culture, the tongue sliding back and forth into French and English in the St John River Valley.

That hugs the International border and has strong cross boundary cultural ties with Canada’s New Brunswick and Quebec Provinces. The trip to Northern Maine truly is a two nation vacation.

Ever snow sledded in Maine, up into the Valley where the trails are like super highways, smooth and well marked? Take your snow sled to dining and dancing and motel options heading through Shin Pond, Oxbow, Masardis weaving along with Rt 11 to the Crown of Maine.

Explore and Discover Northern Maine. Don’t neglect or leave any area of this great state out of the running for spending time and getting to know the locals, their local history and rich traditions. Learn the early history as you enjoy the current recreational and outdoor beauty. Find out more about the rich history of Houlton Maine. It’s one of many fine small Maine communities.

Like who was Henry C. Merriam and why is he famous in Houlton Maine history?

Low Price, Less Options. It Was All Black And White Simple Picking Out Your New Car At Duff’s. The Bangor Road Was The I-95 For Traffic.

Did you ever hear of a famous young girl named Samantha Smith who died too young but did so much? Samantha was from Houlton Maine, dying in a Bar Harbor Airlines fatal plane crash at age thirteen.

The Amazeen home is where and why was it built in Houlton Maine?

Or for ten points, where was the trans Atlantic radio station transmission antennae located in Houlton Maine? I have seen signs of that handiwork that helped the World War Two effort. Why? Bbecause I lived a quarter mile from the transmitter site and remains are still in the North Maine woods of Aroostook County. As a little kid, those glass insulators and old wooden support posts for the wires remain. If you know where to look and tramp around the two mile course they chewed up in the Houlton area.

All the stuff the slick four color high gloss tri-fold travel brochures leave out in the condense it down to a few lines of buzz words and the usual over used eye candy. The same angles, photos, captions that get tiresome in the copy and paste, hit print or send. Let’s take it all up a notch.

Fill It Up. Unleaded? What’s That? (Ding Ding)

Meet the small town friendly locals, perched sitting on a lunch counter stool or getting your hair cut or twisted and just ask, listen, learn.

Always a colorful rendition of the local history with a unique spin on the early adventures of the new to this land explorers. The ones that through nip and tuck situations did finally open up this northern Maine section of woods, water, wildlife. Houlton Maine, one of many local jewels with rich history facets to uncover. Come sample it any of the four seasons. Each if different and offers something unique to treasure.

Come see for yourself and experience the hidden gems, the small Maine towns that all offer memorable stays if you can clear the schedule to get to Vacationland.

I’m Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers, ME Broker

207.532.6573 | info@mooersrealty.com |

MOOERS REALTY 69 North Street Houlton Maine 04730

December 16, 2016