Recent comments in /f/Maine

kaozennrk t1_j9dr0rz wrote

Reply to Life in 1970s Maine by bugmoon

At age in 1975 I would be given $2 and walk a block to Cumberland Farms on Pine Street in Portland and buy Winston 100s for my step mother. I always wished I had my own money to buy the 25 cent candy bars there on the shelf.

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humbleaustin22 OP t1_j9dprzw wrote

Reply to Gift for 10 year old by humbleaustin22

UPDATE: Their mom gave us a very specific update and they would like a gift card to this place called Artist Craftsman. But I shared all the tips and stuff with their mom too so you’ve all been super helpful

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AEKDBull t1_j9dob9g wrote

Reply to comment by freeski919 in Historical question: commuting and town layouts pre-automobile? by LockedOutOfElfland

The Rail system was quite extensive (Link)

If you had a farm, you had a horse to get around locally.

IF you did manufacturing, you lived in mill owned housing and shopped at mill owned stores.

Coastal Maine has remained the same, with people living closer to, and working at, the ports. Unloading ships and loading them onto rails in Portland/Brunswick/Rockland/Eastport

North of the rail system was mostly the rough rural it still remains today. Think north of Greenville/Mt. Katahdin.

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larkspurred t1_j9djujg wrote

Reply to Gift for 10 year old by humbleaustin22

Rewild Maine has lots of kid and family-friendly classes throughout the year, maybe attend with them or arrange transportation to one or a few of those?

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DonkeyKongsVet t1_j9djkfe wrote

Reply to New tourist trap by ButIDigress79

Kid is going to be on an episode To Tell The Truth Here it is in her words

"It was my birthday. My mom asked me what I wanted and I said I wanted this to be an experience I will never forget. I wanted to do something unusual, daring, something nobody my age at the time thought of. So, after hearing about this pole in a Walmart getting hit all the time, I thought to myself 'thats it' I will be the coolest kid in school if I do a daredevil stunt that puts me in front of a stop sign that gets hit quite often Today, I'm here to tell the story of my heroic act, the story of my mom putting my life at risk, by standing in front of a stop sign at the Auburn, Maine Walmart." 😂

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forumadmin1996 t1_j9difvo wrote

Reply to What’s killing high school athletics? I think it’s AAU. by Parrothead1970

I played sports in Maine growing up. Moved out west as a young adult and was shocked how far more advanced Football, Basketball and Baseball was outside of New England. My Grandson plays HS football at a 5A school. He has a year round personal trainer that is also a position coach. He is at the gym at 6 am five days a week and goes after school three afternoons a week during offseason. Half of his team mates are either talking to colleges already or already offered scholarships in their junior year. Most all of the starters in Hs here have year round personal trainers and position coaches and many also have nutritionists giving their parents recipes. Then summer comes and most of his team mates go to 2-3 colleges summer football camps and many are "invited" for free. They serves as kind of a "tryout" for colleges to see if they want to offer you a scholarship. This summer my grandson is going to the Boise State, University of Oregon and University of Washington HS football camps. If you don't do that for your kid, odds are he/she wont get playing time at one of the good public High schools or simply transfer across town to the school that doesn't win many games. PAC12, Big 12 and even SEC assistant coaches and scouts are at many of the games. Its a different world outside of Maine.

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costabius t1_j9dhadm wrote

Reply to Historical question: commuting and town layouts pre-automobile? by LockedOutOfElfland

Lewiston is the town where I've actually examined this question. The first thing to remember is the "town" itself was a lot more compact than it is now.

The "center" of the town in 1840ish was Haymarket square, which is the intersection of Main and Lisbon streets. It was exactly what the name says, a market square where farmers came and sold hay for the horses of people who lived in town. From that spot, the "town" was a mile or less up the roads in either direction, up river along Main or down river along Canal street. That area encompassed the mills, housing for the people working in them, and the services they needed for their lives. Easy walking distance.

If you worked in the mills, you either walked or used the trolley.

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