Small town living In Maine, how does it different than be surrounded by people in an impersonal city setting?
There are so many differences. Ask people what they like most about small Maine town living and nine times out of ten the answer is the connection. With others living in that small Maine town.
There is an intimacy, a bond because smaller means folks know your name in small Maine towns.
As a kid, the village raises their young. Kids feel like they matter, that they are to be heard and guided. The young in our small Maine towns are our greatest resource. Everyone takes pride in following their accomplishments in the local Maine newspapers. The online social media images and captions don’t go unnoticed. And some of the kids are related, family.
In small Maine towns, how great the community is depends on the roll up your sleeves and pitch in to get done whatever you have talents to do.
Volunteering, community service is huge in small Maine towns. Because without it, there is not the money to hire it down. And the take away would not be the fierce pride that home grown creates over store bought. The talents of the small Maine town is off the charts and there is nothing stronger than the heart of a volunteer. That goes above and beyond and not for the recognition. Because they were built for the task and when they look behind them, there is not a long line of others to step up and take their place.
Small Maine towns have a tiny population.
Cover a vast area of woods, farm fields, lots of acreage. Salt and peppered with wildlife of all kinds, clean lakes, wide open space but not a lot of people. Eight out of ten people live in a city but not because they want to, just consider they have to for specialized employment. To make career financial objectives.
But the cost of living in a city compared to a small town is staggering. You make lots, you spend even more and stress from crime, traffic, just a lack of space all takes its toll. You pay for parking. Hope your car is there when you return.
We don’t even lock doors in Maine. Everything locked up tighter than a drum with dead bolts, chains, security cameras and chain link fencing in a city. There are neighborhoods you don’t venture into and live in a steady level of low and sometimes high level fear. If you travel and set your tent stakes in the suburbs and end up commuting than it means you miss out greatly. You don’t get home in time to tuck the kids in, to hear their prayers. To weigh in and trade your day experiences around the family dinner table conversation. You are missing in action. You leave early, arrive home late. Nice house, you just are never there much.
If you are thinking of the best environment to raise a family, small town living in Maine is hand’s down the right choice.
If you want to someday own your real estate and be free and clear of mortgage debt, small town Maine community living wins again. The lack of permits for everything under the sun, because Maine is the 4th lowest crime state means less worry about the cost of living, personal safety.
Smaller population means less options for spending your money.
Cities are fun to visit, not so much fun to call home. And maneuvering around all those people, through the toll highways, even with mass transits means time is wasted waiting to get from “A” to “B” and back.
The shift happens from buying everything to doing more and more on your own when you consider small town living. You develop talents to fix this, build that and bartering happens in small Maine towns. Someone knows someone that is good at this, and you have something for a talent or skill to exchange for the service. The IRS might not like it, but the swap involves no money that is taxable.
Who would not want to get more for less?
Raising your own food, slow cooking it and taking the time to enjoy your front porch, the open deck and being a part of the community. That is what small town living in Maine is about and with a backdrop as drop dead gorgeous as Vacationland, keep your money in your wallet or purse. The cost for most of the fun recreational options when you live in Maine full time is no or very very low cost. You live in a place that many have to settle for one measly long weekend, maybe if you are luck a full week a year. That’s it to squeeze and savor the joy of living in small town Maine. And that’s all she wrote.
What are the other benefits of living in a small Maine town?
Try getting sick in a city, see how many people turn out to help you with your smallest tasks around your house. To organize a benefit supper to help you carry the burden of household and medical expenses when you get sick. People come out of the woodwork in small Maine towns to show they care and really help out when a person needs it the most.
Clean resources, the air and water are not messed up in Maine. The overhead night sky is black velvet backed in Maine with a million stars that you just don’t see when light pollution and smog erase them. And when you better keep your wits about you, mind your P’s and Q’s avoiding a fender bender, tangling with a gang in a bad neighborhood. You miss out on the little things that don’t exist but that make a small Maine town shine brightly.
Living in a city is anonymous. In small towns, people look out for their neighbors and rally around the needs of anyone living in the small Maine community.
Because small town living means you have a greater involvement in the community, there is a deeper stake in the village. Because you helped build it, maintain it and add to whatever you step forward and sign up for as your contribution. A great stake in the small town happens because you are hands on and would be missed if gone. Everyone in a small Maine town has a vital role no matter how big or small. Like a family, you feel needed, loved, and have a role in a small Maine town. Whatever you do is appreciated and so much is done behind the scenes that does not get press. And no one is seeking the attention from recognition done from the heart not to gain fame or notoriety.
Small towns don’t have the financial resources to just underwrite events.
The small town communities organize collectively what they offer to the local area. They get resourceful, creative. There is small town talent that gets center stage and tapped into, not just big name headliners brought to the area to entertain. With high speed internet, telecommuting can happen in small Maine towns too. Work online, out of state but enjoy the perks of living in a Victorian home, a farmstead you build over yourself or on the waterfront for a song. And have money left over for other areas of your life because you are not house poor.
Retirement on a fixed income makes Maine one attractive location. You can give back and serve the local community and enjoy stretching those lower monthly retirement funds to stretch and maximize. There are quality health care facilities, churches, libraries, unique local shopping options where you know the owner in the store. Folks wave at you. Smile, notice and talk to you on the way in and out of the post office.
Kids have teachers where it is not just a job for the paycheck. It is their passion, their contribution to the small Maine town. Not for the money, for the reward that you made a difference in a child’s life and the direction your helping hand guidance added to the young members of your local community. You don’t have one or two mentors in small Maine towns. There are hundreds rooting for you. Your coach, pastor, family members are teaching you the right pathway lessons for life. When you are a kid fortunate to be raised in a small Maine town. Helping local farmers, be responsible with after school and summer jobs. You are not a latch key kid alone with no one home to help raise you in small Maine towns. People care, are hand’s on and involved in raising all the kids in small Maine towns.
Small town living means thinking of the greater good and not number one who you brush your teeth with daily looking back at you in the mirror.
There is a deeper commitment in a small Maine town that struggles and has challenges to stay afloat. You are not just a city transient working your way up the career ladder. Your civic, social involvement completes something inside when you serve on local level small town capacities. You are more aware of the local history, you are deeper meshed in the local community landscape.
If you were lucky enough to live, be raised in a small Maine town, it is preaching to the choir. But if you have never sampled small town Maine living, what are you waiting for, head north. Get to Maine and see what has been missing, why Maine is the way life should be.
I’m Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers, ME Broker
207.532.6573 | info@mooersrealty.com |
MOOERS REALTY 69 North Street Houlton ME 04730