Comments | little_details: so Maine-stream lol get it? Basically I need to know about Maine people

akumugan in little_details

so Maine-stream lol get it? Basically I need to know about Maine people

Dec 12, 2011 20:35

Hey everyone! I've come for you again! Wait uh, I'm back basically. As my horrible Maine joke subject line says, I need to know about Maine. Specifically the northeastern coast around this area in the Google map below:( Map and other details under the cut! )

usa: maine

Comments 25

lolmac December 13 2011, 03:54:43 UTC

I have family in Maine and spent a couple of summer visits on Matinicus Island ( ... )

surgicalsteel December 13 2011, 04:48:34 UTC

Second what lolmac said about witchcraft trials in Maine. I moved to central Maine almost four years ago. I work with folks who fled to the woods of Maine specifically because of what was happening in Salem, MA.

orthent December 13 2011, 04:28:09 UTC

For supernatural events in pre-revolutionary Maine, you might check chapter 9, "The Spread of Lithobolia," in Emerson Baker's The Devil of Great Island. The bulk of the book concerns New Hampshire, but related incidents took place in Berwick, Maine. "Lithobolia" ("the stone-throwing devil") is poltergeist activity, but of course it gave rise to witchcraft accusations.

And

orthent December 13 2011, 05:02:42 UTC

Sorry--meant to add this link as well, by the same author:

Maine, Indian Land Speculation, and the Essex County Witchcraft Outbreak of 1692.

laurie_ky December 13 2011, 04:29:58 UTC

My brother and his family lived on an island near Arcadia National Park and unless you had your own boat, you had to take the ferry. But I googled and found this information, which is about Maine Islands and at least some have a bridge to the mainland.

Oh, and the black flies and mosquitos are legendary and ferocious.

ETA. Duh. Forgot the link. http://maineguide.com/region/midcoast/information/island_highlights_midcoast.shtml
Laurie

lolmac December 13 2011, 05:00:26 UTC

There are a few islands, very close to the mainland, that are accessible by bridge. One of them is Bailey Island, as in "out Bailey Island way", which aficionados of Bert & I will recognise.

Most islands are boat only -- when we visited Matinicus when I was a kid, the ferry ran once a day. She was a rustbucket named the Mary Anne, and was eventually condemned as unsafe, leaving the islanders with no ferry service at all. She left Rockport early in the morning, took two hours to make the trip each way, and returned to the mainland in the afternoon.

*waves at Laurie* hi!

laurie_ky December 13 2011, 06:12:50 UTC

Mac!

I'm trying to catch up on the Christmas stuff so I can do fic_rush.

I've ridden the ferry out to Cranberry Island, where my brother has a house (they've been trying to sell it for years), and it was always an experience. My niece was almost born in a boat, racing for the mainland.

Laurie

lolmac December 13 2011, 06:15:12 UTC

Oy, yes. Scary!

My sister nearly had her appendix burst one year -- they got her on the plane to Rockport just before the fog came back in and cut us off from air contact for another week.

kduncanpotter December 13 2011, 04:38:57 UTC

For more "Down East" humor and language, read any of John Gould's books (http://www.amazon.com/Dispatches-Maine-1942-1992-John-Gould/dp/0940160765/ref=sr_1_8?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1323751072&sr=1-8) as an example. He grew up in Freeport in the early twentieth century, and is hilarious.

penhaligonblue December 13 2011, 08:52:06 UTC

There's some fun discussion of the Down East dialect and Mainer logic here. Above all, heed the mysterious power of 'aya' - a casual interjection that Down Easters sprinkle throughout their speech.

Native Mainer Here arrowintwolakes December 13 2011, 15:30:12 UTC

Don't forget, "no sah!" (so sir, an expression of disbelief), calling all people "guy" or "buddy" often as quasi-punctuation, and saying, "o yeah" in a way similar to "ayuh."