Category: Maine Real Estate

Houlton Maine, Tell Me About Aroostook County’s Oldest Town.

Houlton Maine, located on the shared east / west International border with New Brunswick Canada. Houlton is the “Shiretown” or the county seat of Aroostook.

The earliest settlers to Houlton Maine making the trek north distilled down from a small, closely related group of families. From the New Salem area, one specific location in Massachusetts.

Until 1820, Maine was part of the Bay State and most of the early pioneers that relocated in this vast wooded wilderness region did so along the coastal locations. Joseph Houlton was a leader, the most prominent of those stepping forward to buy his larger portion of land tract acreage. Located much further away from the rock bound craggy coastline, to the north along the fuzzy, vaguely defined Canadian Massachusetts (eventually Maine) border.

Nothing New, Small Maine Town Pride, The Fun Home Grown & Kept Simple. Nothing Has Changed.

A boundary that took years to define and included the Bloodless Aroostook War. Also known as the Pork and Beans War that was an international incident. Where Great Britain wanted to defend it’s timber interest in those King Pines, the Loyalist population across the pond.

The skirmish and saber rattling between the two countries caused the US Congress to authorize 10 million dollars and to mobilize 10,000 troops to define, draw the line between Maine and Canada.

That dividing boundary eventually was hammered out once and for all with the help of a bottle of whiskey to lubricate the legalese crafted into the hard fought, way overdue Webster – Ashburton Treaty.

In the early years of settling Houlton, the other townships, half sections too the new inhabitants bought their land stakes from grants given by the state of Massachusetts to academies, many other worthwhile causes. To peddle the property, to develop and tame the uninhabited wilds to the northeast. This section of distant land needing population granted to benefit the New Salem Academy was primarily settled by the founders of New Salem itself.

Who stepped up to buy the Houlton land designed to create sales revenue for New Salem Academy when takers to lay down the money were few.

Early in 1807, trudging in on snow shoes, the earliest settlers of Joseph Houlton Jr, Samuel Houlton and William Cary arrived on the winter scene. Later that year, Joseph Houlton landed in the region via a sea route from Saint John, New Brunswick. Some of the settlers of Houlton crossed in from next door, across the border in New Brunswick Canada. Caused from the natural expansion of the St John area growth that pushed to the outreaches of the New Brunswick frontier.

Lots Of Parade Watchers In Small Maine Towns. Your Friends And Neighbors Of Houlton Maine.

Expansions of lumbering timber resources, the rise of the potato industry due to being blessed with the high test fertile soil of Northern Maine. Both helped population numbers gain momentum. After railroads opened up the Aroostook Region and attracted lumberjacks and dirt farmers to the region on the border shared with Canada.

The earlier British timber exports especially paid for the purchase of goods from St John to help the Southern Aroostook area grow and prosper. More on Houlton Maine history.

The legal step of organization of the plantation of Houlton was needed to be able to levy property taxes.

It finally happened in 1826. With the hope that a second half township of Foxcroft, the Williams College grant was added to make Houlton a full six by six miles in size township. That union did not occur until 1834. Two years later than the Groton and Westford Academy grants formed the township of Hodgdon to the south of Houlton Maine.

Maine Is Simple Living, Basic And Loaded With Common Sense.

So now the much needed but denied earlier money requests from Massachusetts became available to establish a post office. Where previously the mail was often sent to Houlton in care of Park Holland of Eddington, a well established surveyor. Who knew the woods and waterways of eastern Maine and round about ways through Eastport, St John and the Baskehegan Trail to get the posts delivered.

The first regular mail contract from Bangor to Houlton Maine by the Baskehegan was awarded James Lander. With the Calais Stage Route becoming the pony express option for spread the news, deliver the letters and packages. Amos Pearce came to Houlton Maine in 1810. There’s a street in Houlton named after the first postmaster appointed by President John Quincy Adams in 1826.

Celebrating Fresh Locally Source Food With Maine Farmers At Open Air Markets.

As the Houlton Maine population grew now connected better with mail news from the outside, a greater need for schools sparked educational options.

That led in time to eventually nine public schools serving the Houlton towns people.

The early settlers had New England Puritan religious roots and at first attended church in the new land across the border in Woodstock New Brunswick. Woodstock, a dozen miles distant, was a settlement established way earlier in 1786 by Loyalists to the King of England. After the American War of Independence and a desire for space caused their migration to the northeast, across the Maine border.

So many early Houlton residents from New Salem attended worship services in Woodstock New Brunswick Canada.

But in 1811, the First Congregational Church did enroll the first eighteen members. As the population of Houlton Maine grew, worship divergence happened to create many denominations.

The Federal government in 1828 established a US garrison in Houlton Maine which added over a hundred troops that had families or ended up married to locals. The extra social interaction the troops brought to Houlton Maine and the contracts and payroll put a lot of extra money into the local economy. But the building of the Military Highway and much later in 1950 the Interstate 95 system to connect to Loring Air Force Base in Limestone, a SAC base with B-52’s helped tremendously to open up the Northern Maine region.

With Houlton Maine now the cross roads of US Rt 1, 2, 2A and I-95 the connector to the Atlantic Canadian provinces Trans Canada highway make the County seat a true transportation hub.

The early railroad too did what local rivers that froze over for half the year could not. The St Andrews and Quebec railroad proposal of the 1830’s ran into a boundary dispute and was dropped. The lack of the well defined dotted line to establish where Maine ended and New Brunswick began fueled cross border tensions that hindered railroad service that would create benefits for both sides.

All Walks Of Life Make A Small Maine Community Shine.

In 1960 fifty thousand railroad cars of potatoes were shipped from Northern Maine but destined to soon be trumped by the overnight service and just in time inventory control offered by trailer trucks. The Bangor and Aroostook Railroad was first incorporated in 1891. Shipping freight, offering passenger rail service and eventually operating a bus route to carry folks in and out of “The County”.

The soil profile of Southern Aroostook County around Houlton Maine is extremely fertile, with a level to rolling, undulating land terrain which supports the planting, cultivation and harvest of crops.

Or to make pasturing animals and haying an easier endeavor than more mountainous sections of southwest Maine where Sugarloaf USA is located. Or the less desirable for tillable row crop rocky more acidic soil profile along the coast of the state where wild blueberries are raked.

My Dad was president of the Maine potato council, did a lot of testifying in Washington DC as a national council member to help shape the spud industry that was number one in the country production at one time. Grains, sugar beets, dry beans, even hops, broccoli and an increase of organic farming in the Houlton Maine area is done hand in hand with beef and dairy. Houlton Maine has a dairy serving Aroostook County since 1938.

See, watch a potato picking farm harvest operation in full swing.

The town of Houlton Maine has classic buildings surrounding town center’s Market Square and beyond.

The housing stock is attractive, preserved yesteryear designs that show Houlton Maine’s status of the richest town of its size east of the Mississippi was well deserved. Money was plowed back into the intrastructure and the 1966 comprehensive plan of Houlton Maine was very forward thinking by local tax payers.

Exercised, Disciplined Maine Youth, Priceless.

Houlton Maine the site for the trans-ocean radio station that served greatly in World War Two.

The bits and pieces of the large antennae array through the woods system running miles and miles. The lines connecting England with Houlton Maine for radio intercepts is still found during walks through the woods. The radio station located west of Houlton on US RT 2 or the County Road where I grew up the youngest of four boys.

The radio station was located off the County Road, on what is now the residential property of Roger and Carol Hand.

Good mill sites were valuable to early settlers of Houlton Maine.

The state of Maine recognized the importance of good grist and saw mills to a beginning community. Sometimes granting 300 acres to the man who promised to start the first mill in a township of Maine.

Among the tanneries of the area, New Limerick Maine to the west of Houlton Maine was one important one. Set up in areas where there was a large abundance of hemlock trees. The wood bark needed for treating the hides to make leather.

Grand Older Maine Homes, Find Them Here. Listen To, Meet The Neat People Inside.

Hides were brought to the New Limerick tannery mill from around Maine. Those unorganized places early Maine looked like. From points more distant like cattle ranches out west, even from South America too.

The tannery in Island Falls was not established until after the Bangor and Aroostook Railroad line was well established. Another tannery was set up on Whitney Brook in Bridgewater Maine.

Fires in Houlton Maine shaped the look of today.

The first big fire happening on August 3, 1879. In the back of the Swanton building, the stable area opposite Fogg’s on Main Street. Seems a wind fanned the smoke that turned to flames and destruction. When the wind shifted westward the fire moved east wiping out most of the downtown Houlton Maine block.

The fire wiped out the C.P. Tenney row of buildings, his residence the second oldest home in Houlton Maine.

Being the one built by Samuel Wormwood for Dr. Rice. 21 Houlton Maine buildings including residences were wiped out by this blaze.

Shiretown Houlton Maine.

Nine months later, fire hit pretty much the same area again. It began in the back end of Samuel Gray’s workshop. On a dark night when water buckets were scarce the Aroostook Pioneer newspaper accounts report.

The only available water to fight the blaze in Houlton Maine was a “reservoir”. But it’s cover frozen below several inches of ice and untapped. This fire worked its way up and down Main Street and along Court Street. The Meduxnekeag River frozen over and no help either due to winter temperatures.

The Congregational Church caught fire and the nimble pastor at the time scrambled up the belfry. Able to put it out and save the building from ruin.

Houlton’s Great Fire of 1902 took out seventy five dwellings, three churches and left a score of business blocks in the Shiretown’s down town in ruin.

Eighty families were homeless. The fire started at the corner of Main and Mechanic Streets of Houlton Maine in the Almon H Fogg building.

The 1902 fire was fought with the help of the Woodstock New Brunswick Canada horse drawn fire carts providing mutual aid. That across the border helping hand when there is fire or diaster still happens back and forth today. Both departments work together when needed.

Houlton Maine, Aroostook County’s Oldest Town! The Shiretown Of Aroostook!

Small Maine towns are like that. This devastating 1902 fire of Houlton Maine burned a swath with straight sides all the way up to Bird Street. Where the horseshoe roadway entrance to the Houlton Junior and High Schools happens if you don’t access the back way. The Southern Aroostook Vocational Education complex is located near the armory and accessed off the Pleasant Street entrance.

Three major fires in Houlton Maine and the coming of the age of the railroad’s prosperity combined to create the brick buildings. Ones with intricate masonry appointments that are well preserved. All this saved from the past and better built to last. It makes Houlton Maine the fine Victorian downtown that it is today.

The Black And White Realities Of Running A Red, White & Blue Maine Small Town.

Maine Has Four Seasons, They All Transition Slowly To Allow Adjustment, To Be Ready.

Fires caused losses quickly rebuilt like the McIntire home, the White Building. The latter today the home for both the Houlton Chamber of Commerce and historical museum. The pair hiding, protected behind large dramatic pillars on it’s open porch. The White building painted ironically yellow is located next to Cary Library.

Wisdom, Entertainment, History Housed Here Row After Row In Cary Library.

Cary Library a Carnegie well stocked book and ancestor search facility made of rock solid granite. Cut and hauled in from around Cochran Lake in New Limerick Maine.

Cary Library has a children’s section second to none.

One heck of an area for chasing down your family history DNA for study of their exploits.

Ricker College started in 1848 met it’s demise after the Vietnam War caused it to lose the battle. Failing to keep the doors to higher education open that ended in the mid 1970’s. Ricker College, the classical institute that neighboring bedroom communities without a high school tuitioned their students to for yuears.

Ricker College’s school colors of gold and burgundy.

Ricker an industry for new money brought in from out of state students to turn over six, seven times. Many Ricker alumni stuck around and settled down in Houlton Maine after college was completed. When chasing the sheepskin process ended for financial reasons or graduation happened and obtaining the diploma.

When You Live In Maine, Everything You Need Is Right On Your Back, Carried With You Daily For Skills For Home Grown Talent.

Instilling In Kids Early On The Right Stuff To Succeed. To Contribute For The Greater Good.

There were two hospitals in Houlton Maine.

I was born in the Aroostook Hospital delivered by PLB Ebbet. A doctor who I noticed on a graveyard walk to visit Joseph Houlton’s tombstone to mark his final resting place. The good doctor died four years after my birth and I was the last baby he ever delivered.

The Aroostook Hospital located on School Street where the Community Living Association now has their headquarters.

The merger in 1972 of the Aroostook Hospital with the Madigan Hospital located on Military Street was a controversial one but much needed.

One strong health care facility works better than duplication of two offering services struggling in a small Northern Maine town like Houlton Maine. Learn more about the Houlton Regional Hospital.

Welcome To Houlton Maine, Aroostook County.

Stay tuned for more on my home town coverage of Houlton Maine. The story of this small community is not so different from one of the other 15 county seats. Maine has a handful of cities, over 400 small towns and plantations. Learn more about Northern Maine.

Agriculture, forestry which is tree farming are big in Northern Maine.

The local farmers, the harvest of their crops is a big part of the local work ethic. Gleaning potato farm fields helps the local weekly grocery budget for family meals too!

A taste of what it is like to live in a small Maine community where folks are pretty darn friendly. Always pitching in to make worthwhile events happen as dedicated volunteers. That’s the point of the hunt and peck on the keyboard and uploading images from my travels around Maine today.

I hope this blog post on the Houlton Maine and her early history is helpful, educational for the the readers of Me In Maine blog.

I‘m Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers, ME Broker

207.532.6573 | info@mooersrealty.com |

MOOERS REALTY 69 North Street Houlton ME 04730

November 24, 2016
Maine, Big State, Low Population | Spend Time Finding You In ME.

In the 1960’s there were fists raised high, shaking them at the Establishment.

Peace man, lava lights, bell bottoms, free loving the one you’re with, draft card and flag burning. Hell no, we won’t go. And many tie dyed t-shirt and headband lads and lassies needing a bath hopped the border into Canada to avoid the war in Vietnam. Waiting there eh? Until the get out of jail free amnesty card.

Have All You Need In Or Want A No Thank You Helping Of Something Sliced On The Maslow Hierarchy List ?

And after we got our boys and gals home, the migration of back to the land lovers headed to Maine to settle down. To find themselves. To start a new chapter of their lives in Maine.

Read one story of a group of young men from New Jersey who started the Crow Hill Settlement on two grand a piece.

Feeling lied to by the media, not trusting Big Brother to make it all right like your Mom used to be able to do as a young tike. That was part of the getting away to Maine and start over.

But also the attractive of cheap land, friendly accepting people and a population generally fewer in number than these young people we used to made the area conducive for homesteading. For awhile.

Winter weather had a sobering effect on the happy camper attitudes.

Making a living on minimum wage, migrant field work and several low paying part time hit or miss jobs took the luster of moving to Maine too. Without many skills but full of hope, something else and vinegar, some stayed. Dug in and made do. Others defected. Kept rolling like a rock and looking to find something missing.

(Sang Way Way Off Key) “Whole Earth In Your Hand… You Have The …. “

Maslow back in 1943 came up with a paper on the hierarchy of needs list. What we need to make us tick best. To tow the line, to keep time and march with the masses.

The owner’s manual to you and me was defined in basic needs terms. With 1954 came a book on self actualization, motivation and personality. The colorful graphic does look a little like the Darker Side of The Moon Pink Floyd album cover. We are like prisms that emit and absorb colors right?

What’s that Donna Fargo song I use to spin on Saturday Night Country Jamboree as a teenager DJ, back when they were live and local. About “You Can’t Be A Beacon If Light Don’t Shine“.

Lots in that spinning vinyl 45 rpm about you can’t expect forgiveness if you don’t practice it, or for someone to be honest and true if you don’t practice what you preach. Amen.

Donna claimed to be “The Happiest Girl In The Whole USA”.

Yes, it is a skippity do da day Funny Face.

Thank you Lord. Wake up sleepy head. The infection of some happy people bothers others most that lack inner joy. That are just not in the same frame of mind. An Eeyore Donna was not. Her rainbow colors were not blue.

Hiking, Dining On Food Cooked Outside. Feasting On This Kind Of Maine Scenery. Priceless.

And even Maslow worked with some greats like Einstein, others with clip boards and white doctor’s frocks. That studied the gray matter of the mind, but he did not want to spend his time with his rolled up sleeves and burning the midnight oil on what man has for personality defects.

Not focused on the what’s wrong. But what is needed to be right minded, at peace and contented.

The study of what makes the majority of us happy was the bull’s eye on the target. For helping the 3 out of 4 of us that are not really mentally ill walking around and fending for ourselves in society. Just a little out of alignment from the blur of life and forgetting how to stay centered.

What makes Jane, Thelma Lou and Joey, Jim Bob swim best with themselves and other fish in the community pool.

Human fulfillment, under achievers needed more social interaction, self actualized folks not so much. And happier with yourself spilled over into being more fun and easier to swallow for others to tolerant.

Human needs, physical ones at the bottom of his pyramid to spiritual or transcendental needs like the cherry on the top.

See The Light, Maine Is The Source.

You can see if we were in the stone age, the key to survival of shelter, food trumped a sense of belonging to a group. The color code labels fit the contemporary day and age and have been fine tuned to what was uncertain for needs became more of a given.

What’s your hierarchy of needs in life knowing when you have kids, family comes first.

But how do those needs when day to days are freed up from the Johnny Jump Up hanging from the kitchen door used when preparing meat and potatoes?

Maine is, always has been a beautiful state to find yourself in.

Happy, sad, healing, growing. Maine gives you space, she tugs on your heart strings. She is a old friend that understands and her drop dead gorgeous settings put you in the right frame of mind. As you detach, regroup, build again a new set of inner wells you supply and replenish.

Day Is Done In Maine. Fresh Rain, Sunset Sunshine Combine.

Getting what you need and building it from within is easier in Maine because distractions of personal safety, heavy traffic, over regulation and high crime are missing. Freeing you up to concentrate on more of the basic needs Maslow considers and the list he put into the colorful pyramid design.

Maine, hasn’t it been way way too long since you set foot in the Pine Tree State?

Come visit Maine. Land here for day, end up spending a lifetime.

Find our tourist traps you look forward to falling into and all those unpublished in four color high gloss hype places that only the seasoned locals know and share. If you are nice.

I’m Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers, ME Broker

207.532.6573 | info@mooersrealty.com |

MOOERS REALTY 69 North Street Houlton ME 04730 USA

October 31, 2016
Tips For Moving To A Small Maine Town, What To Remember.

You climbed the corporate ladder and are coming back to the state where you were raised, Maine.

This blog post is not so much for the local that left and returned. More geared for the never been here for a long stint of time. Just maybe liked the place because of a few vacation stop experiences.

Well, for starters there is the actual making the move itself and here are a few tips for how to reduce the stress. And to have it down pat on what to do, when and why for a time table check list.

It Is The Prettiest Weed I Can Think Of… Lupines.

But now that you are here, adjusting the goggles to see life in a small Maine town is different than the way folks move and groove, shimmy and shake in a large city.

For starters, the locals have the home court advantage. Are established, involved, work pretty hard to make the small Maine town what it is.

But lots of room for more talent to add to the small town community flavor. Whatever you enjoyed in your life giving back to the wherever you lived before are areas to apply locally in Maine too. But holes, spaces where someone passed on that used to hold down a certain event is a place to step in and help out.

The experiences outside Maine are valuable to add to the local mix of what we offer to make the town stand out brightly. What distinguishes it from the other over 400 that dot the landscape in Maine. Small Maine towns are big on youth activities.

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

Whether it is sports, children’s theater, a haunted hayride, play ground improvement, nature trail development, church event, or anything youth oriented, it gets lots of volunteer and financial support. Job shadowing, career days, passing on the traditions of farming, lumbering, fishing are a big part of the Maine culture.

Also, winter is one of the season, not the only one.

We don’t hibernate. It is not the land of igloos. That is further up the globe. We live outdoors all four seasons in Maine. Do dress a little different to match the hanging, displayed month on the calendar.

Forget what you heard about winter from your out of state hair dresser or guys down at the club who have never set foot in Maine.

We watch the national news. And when we see life come to a halt in a city because of a couple inches of snow and drivers and maintenance crews can not keep up, we mutter “amateurs”.

Less people, a lower population makes winter driving easier. Not so many people to watch out for on the roads in Maine. Lots of wildlife though. And in Maine we have the equipment, the experience with snow and a work ethic to get the job done the most efficient, professional way possible. More on Maine weather, the climate.

The move to Maine is motivated because of all we have here that was missing or came at a high price in the city right?

Or lower cost real estate, living debt free and stretching the fixed income monthly checks part of the sizzle. A better place to raise your kids where the village helps in the process of getting them reared right. And the outdoor natural beauty that is respected, protected and all pure, unspoiled.

Year Round, Maine Lakes, Ponds Get Enjoyed. Used Like The Outdoor Living Room.

But get involved, don’t expect folks beating down your door to be dying to meet you. They are busy, industrious and just waiting for you to step up and pitch in. They are connected and related to lots of the neighbors. And in border towns to folks on both sides of the International boundary. Remember, Maine borders Quebec, New Brunswick Canada too.

“The way we did it back where I lived before … “

Go easy on that one. The tone better not be one that is “you guys here are idiots”. If it is heard enough times how stupid the locals are for doing this, this and this coupled with lots of “back in Jersey, Mass, NY..” wherever it was you remind the locals you came from in your past.

Harsh criticism never gets good results. Just like the Pirate logic of the beatings will continue until the attitudes, comradery improves. Resentment, and pulling back happens. For that first year at least, the locals can complain, but you new to these parts can not. Listen, learn, fit in and find a way to work hard to make everyone glad you are in the small Maine town.

Also, what worked well in a populated area to support the event might not in small town Maine.

Simple economics, not enough heads to pay to have what a city supported. Maine is home grown not store bought anyway. Do it on a everyone pitch in and make it like the pot luck supper simple, easy, rich and pleasing.

Don’t let your feelings get hurt or be bent out of shape if your idea is not taken and run with and consider you are in a small Maine town which operates a little differently than the urban center you are used to for the day to day.

Children, Our Greatest Entertainment, Investment In Maine Small Town Living. Kids Don’t Raise Themselves. Or Shouldn’t.

Be kind, a good listener, watch and learn. Pretty much the same advice anywhere you travel and are dropped into an area finding yourself new to these parts.

And hardware store, where is the place to buy no trespassing signs?

On no, don’t put those up. And snow sled trail markets, the ones for ATV across land, think before just pulling up all those stakes. You are going to want to explore and discover the local treasures.

Where you can not get by car or truck, only by foot. In small rural Maine the traffic on these trails is pretty limited. Just some friendly advice from a local, me in Maine. You could have the sign about I have a gun, own a back hoe to keep them guessing. But more for conversation, showing a different way of doing pretty much the same thing. Respect my Maine land, I will yours neighbor.

I’m Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers, ME Broker

207.532.6573 | info@mooersrealty.com |

MOOERS REALTY 69 North Street Houlton Maine 04730 USA

October 24, 2016
What’s It Like Living In A Small Maine Town?

Life in a small Maine town.

Too slow for some, just a dream never realized to others. What’s important in your life has constants. No matter where you live. But there is a shift in how much of this, how little of that we desire. To improve the life experience.

The Joy Of Young Children, Youth To Make Life, Holidays Bright.

Maine is outdoor living all four seasons. It’s all the missing things too. Like rush hour traffic, over the top crime, high cost of living that don’t roost here. Maine is the 46th lowest state for crime.

Raising kids outside of Maine was not something I wanted to do.

Known far back into time as a young grass hopper. I believed a small Maine town would work best. Shaping the shoots or is it chutes? No matter, you get the drift.

But travel to show the kids there is life beyond the village is important. To know you can not see the World from your kitchen window. To spread those wings. And for perspective to know how lucky you really are when you are lucky enough to be involved in the day to day of small town living.

The small things are the big things.

People are less in number but way friendlier. Hands go up instinctively when driving or walking a small town side walk. Eye contact made, hello is uttered. People smile in small Maine towns. Well unless instead of talking about the local sports team or family, the topic swings to politics or pushing a certain brand of religion.

The Home Made Goodies Feasted On After A Maine Youth Game Or Performance. Your Sense Of Smell. Is The Oldest, Quickest, Sharpest Of Them All?

When a car battery goes dead, look at your watch. With an engine compartment hood raised, it won’t be long for a jump start to arrive quickly.

Using your set or the good Samaritan’s red and black jumper cables to connect the battery terminals. And if that is not the problem, sticking around to try other roadside remedies. Or make sure help arrives to take the problem to the next step of resolution.

Does everyone in a small Maine town know each other?

They would like to. Give it enough time and yes, they pretty much do. There is a connection and the strong sense of we need to row the boat together. To survive, prosper and knowing all of us get out more than we put in when volunteerism becomes automatic. Whether helping set up or tear down for a benefit church supper, a school dance, coaching a little league baseball or whatever sport’s team.

Find Yourself At The Maine Coast, Hiking To Lighthouses!

Smaller circles cause the people who live in a small Maine town to come into contact too.

There is overlap because you and I are not on one board, or in just one group.

Everyone has a big or small part, but some role in a slew of things.

Kinda like needing a certain number of credits in a variety of educational disciplines to get the life diploma. To graduate to the next level.

Families, Outdoor Fun, Maine Fresh Air. Priceless.

Home grown and closer to the action is part of it living in a small Maine town. Not so much store bought or hired out happens. When the pockets are not bottomless deep but the heart’s are full to bursting with pride.

Wanting to help in whatever way possible drives the machinery. That’s the way life should be. Hey, that would be a great slogan for Maine huh?

Rich history in our families, over lap in who’s related to who and how closely or distantly.

And once a person steps up in a small Maine town to fit a role that does not usually have a long line of replacements for the task, you’re in. For life. Or as long as you can ride shot gun and oversee the event.

The people are the small town. Not the wood and brick structures, town hall or other municipal buildings all arranged just so within the grid work. Of old streets designed before the horseless carriages or tin lizzies plied them. And horses were king.

What makes a small Maine town great?

It’s the little things that all of them have but that just does not always get the four color glossy treatment or catchy sound bite coverage. Downeast Magazine has their opinion of which of the 450 small

Maine Is Small, Friendly, Glad To Be In Vacationland Full Time Or At All!

Maine town’s stand out brightest. Depending on the benchmarks used. It just seems many of them are the tourist traps we don’t mind falling into when you have a license plate stamped with “Vacationland” above the bottom rim.

I think it is the unsung heroes in a small Maine town. The Pansy Burton’s, Win Dow’s who step up year after year. To make home made fudge or chocolate creme filled “logs”, whatever is their signature to die for dish.

Or Ken Wetmore working hours to create a lap strap cedar canoe. Or pegs by Porter, cribbage boards by Sylvester. For the local rotary auction fund raiser that pipelines money into the long list of much needed projects in a small Maine town.

This past weekend was tackling the job at a Maine farmstead with vim, vigor, gusto.

I picked up some gutter pipe, the securing elbows from SW Collins hardware store. A tool from Tractor Supply. Then tooled into store #1974, our local Walmart this past weekend to buy a can of red paint.

The last item for the cedar shingled dog house roof dying, longing, way over due for a drink of the oil based elixir. And in line at the check out, talking to the one in front, behind me and the cashier part of the conversation too. And then proceeded to walk out missing the can of barn red protective covering.

Exercised, Disciplined Maine Youth. Leave It All Out On The Sheet Of Ice Players.

To hit Dunkin’ Donuts for muffins only to find as I headed for the Jeep in the parking lot that there’s Leo Hogan. In line behind me all Wally World, that retrieved the paint, ready to deliver with a smile.

Waiting beside my unlocked SUV, with unrolled window and passing me the forgotten loot. Thanks Leo.

You appreciate the small things in Maine towns.

The behind the scenes, other side of the curtain little gestures that go a long way. The helping hand not done for attention but because it’s the right thing to do. And the reward of joy inside because you didn’t have to but you did anyway.

I’m Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers, ME Broker

207.532.6573 | info@mooersrealty.com |

MOOERS REALTY 69 North Street Houlton ME 04730

October 18, 2016
The Bigger The Maine Garage, Outbuildings, The More Hiding Spots.

You might need it someday.

That hang on to it, depression baby thinking can fly in the face of those who subscribe to the travel light. If it doesn’t fit in the back pack you carry, it is too much and just bogging you down. Where do you weigh in?

In small rural Maine, when you are in business, or make your living off the land, from the woods, there are steep spikes up and then down.

Maine Family, The Jewels Of The Local Community. The Life Coaches, Mentors To Guide And Shape The Little Ones.

Break even years are considered some of the best ones because you keep going. Get to tear off another December from the calendar that seems to flip and fly off faster.

Falling back on what you saved up.

You might need it some day. And getting rid of stuff at the transfer station is harder and expensive. But that piece of angle iron, that just right length board or left over bracket from some door yard mechanics or carpentry. It could make the difference. If you remember where you stashed it.

Always impressed with the workshop where in a row of Gerber’s baby food jars, there are brads, nails, fasteners of all types. The small glass re-purposed jar lids one by one screwed to an overhead board to quickly twist, tilt, shake, pour out what you need for the job.

Tools where you can find them and the repair nerve center of the family home is ready to serve and protect the small household, farmstead way of life. Next year’s pile of wood for burning cut, split and air drying. While this winter’s BTU generator is all set.

The Winter Run Off Of Snow Makes The Faster Paced Spring Canoe & Kayak Races

The five hardwood cords or more and a a big pile of softwood fire starting kindling is high and dry. In the cellar along with the shelf after shelf of canned preserves, other home grown provisions socked away neatly in the impressively stocked root cellar.

The family is not going to be cold, not going hungry and the HBO channel is outdoors, unplugged and ready to tap into when chores are done. We make our own outdoor four season fun.

Take what you need and pass along the rest.

Gratitude is riches and not falling into the trap of enough is never enough. Boundaries, limits, moderation. Again. Repeat. And do more than survive but savor all that life offers if you are not too busy. To anxious or nervous or just full of a feeling that something is missing.

In my real day job for the past 36 years listing and peddling properties, it seems to be a common theme. Heard louder by someone who has been living in the city and road weary from protect your self and your property from crime.

Take The Picture. I Want. Need To Go For A Walk Okay?

Personal injury from gangs, senseless drive by shootings and locking everything up tighter than a drum is not something you worry about in small population, vast expanse of land Maine.

Money is not the end all and resourcefulness rides herd, tugs the reins on the day to day approach to living.

If it is to be it is up to me and not thinking someone will catch me, help me, take care of the small stuff. Independence feels good and living without debt is like removing a ball and chain.

Many we talk to have had the merry go round of mountains of debt and just want to carve out a simple life. To buy a simple home, a modest priced chunk of land to create what they have dreamed about for decades or even since childhood.

Often they remember grandparents who lived in small town USA and want to stand next to that fire.

Year Round, Maine Lakes, Ponds Get Enjoyed. Used Like The Outdoor Living Room.

To warm their bones, to soothe their soul. To take a break and have more control over their own life. Rather than too many someone elses running the show in the Candy Land game.

But even in small Maine towns, over spending and not pulling back on the expenditures to work on centralizing services, automation and creative new ways to live within your means threaten the small population clusters. Small town Maine pride can be a wonderful and at the same time destructive blinding light.

Trust fun babies, where the adult kid attends a two hour share holder’s meeting once a month to receive the $50,000 stipend.

And try to make that corporate allowance stretch while you scheme for ways to break the chains of the trust. That is ruling you from the grave and protecting yourself from yourself. There is nothing like making it on your own, living within your means and managing your resources. Teaching your kids the same approach to life where you pull yourself up by the bootstraps.

Over indulgence, spending high wide and handsome and trying to avoid the easy does it, keep it simple approach to living is not rural small town Maine living. That trust fund baby if not a self starter and motivated to channel the inheritance into improving the area around them, volunteering financial and time resources is missing out.

Bikers Stop To Jaw At The Local Centers In Maine Small Towns.

On the richness of the unspoiled, not store bought but pure and natural four season surroundings Maine offers.

Exploitation has missed the hidden communities where there are not enough people to deem it worth while trying to take economic advantage of the sparse population.

Be yourself, walk in nature, reduce stress, do what you love and the rest of the fifteen ways to live a happy life To smile more, really enjoy life more on a daily basis. That makes Maine one classic location to achieve happiness.

Simple living in Maine.

Explore the nooks and crannies, meet the down to Earth people of Maine. Are you over due for a visit and have you make the leap to beyond just a yearly three day or week long vacation? To full time, dig in and become connected to a small Maine town?

I’m Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers, ME Broker

207.532.6573 | info@mooersrealty.com |

MOOERS REALTY 69 North Street Houlton Maine 04730

September 28, 2016
State Of Maine National Soap Box Derby Champion

There was a time when five soap box derby racing cities in Maine put on locals.

Recruited the parents and support from strong arms and backs to wallets opening wide to fund the soap box derby program. The five venues grew, peaked and eventually only the Houlton Maine Derby Hill program was the one race city to survive.

Maine Soap Derby Racing Produced A National Winner In Akron Ohio AASBD Run!

Why? Putting up a hill, tearing down the race track used to qualify the winning soap box derby field of boys and girls is one of the main reasons. (Ouch, the L3 and L4 crack thinking about it for many grabbing their back.)

Hard work, long hours and logistics of taking over a neighborhood, a public street and adding the hay bales, safety barriers, the launch, the run out on the end when everyone screams “BBbrrrrake! ‘

All the effort put into the race track creation and dismantling is why a program for soap box derby survives or dwindles down to peter out to no more program.

Staying abreast of all the car modifications, regulation changes made mandatory by the AASBD part of expense and education to keeping the momentum going. Kids grow up too.

The All American Soap Box Derby First Place Trophy Taller Than Most!

Have other family events, employment and recreational, sporting, etc pastimes to keep up with as well.

Besides just down hill gravity racing with kit cars that win or lose by a hundredth of a second in races divided into heats.

The Houlton Maine race site history at this link.

And the up to date website for Maine soap box derby racing.

Watch the race videos salt and pepper through the derby site and on line around the social media circuit.

This past Sunday, the parents, family members of Mallory Bruin of Hampden Maine were honored in fine fashion at the Millar Civic Center. Video of the recognition for winning the top spot in soap box derby racing.

Town officials, the press, lots of well wishers and drivers especially that wanted to hear about the five heats after the winning the first one to advance.

Something two thirds of the racers don’t do in the three lanes, one trip down the hill that started the tradition back in 1934.

Check out the middle honey bee bright yellow jacket wearer with hands held high on the All America Soap Box Derby site lead in photo array. That’s Mallory Bruin from Maine.

A Maine Soap Box Derby Racer Wins The All American Top Honors, 1st Place Trophy!

After a parade and lights, siren escort through the Shiretown of Aroostook County when the family got off the Houlton Maine exit of Interstate 95, the national champ was treated to a reception with refreshments to relive the experience.

To thank the local volunteers that worked with she, her older and younger brother who were both in the Houlton Maine Soap Box Derby Race.

It is a big deal to win the state race or final game in any sport. But to go on and take the first place trophy on the national stage in Akron Ohio is something else.

Thank you parents Larry and Trisha, brothers Stephen and Chris who were on board from day one to cheer, hoot and holler.

No matter what the Maine weather that can add a whole new dimension to down hill racing with rain, wind, scorching sun, dipping low temperatures.

Kids and families are reminded we live in Maine, the weather can change every twenty minutes to keep it interesting and add to the challenges.

Like life, bundle up, get in, sit low, simmer down, hang on for the best ride. Or to just complete the challenge.

The Field Of Racers In This Years All America Soap Box Derby In Akron Ohio!

On the way to a World Championship tall trophy, a ring, all the other trappings included in the top spot honor.

No kid is raised by themselves in Maine either.

Thank you to the communities around the racers in Maine who contribute paint jobs, lettering, travel support.

And all have a helping hand in the accomplishments of one young lady who can drive, consistently win heat after heat in her red super stock car with the musical notes trailing in the wind on each side.

Congratulations Mallory Bruen and good luck to all other boys and girls who decide to rally race, to compete in the June state local event in Houlton Maine on Derby Hill.

To experience the thrill of the hill and learn about mechanics, competition, safety first and spirited soap box derby racing.

I’m Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers, ME Broker

207.532.6573 | info@mooersrealty.com |

MOOERS REALTY 69 North Street Houlton Maine 04730

July 26, 2016