I believe in working-class New England city-towns such as Portsmouth, Brattleboro, Groton, and New London, as well as North Adams, Glouscester, Provincetown, and Jamestown. They're authentic. When it comes to grit and "hand-cut-beam-solid" types of towns, Maine is as real as they get. Known commonly as The Pine Tree State, which is a fine and proper nod to the state's logging history, it could have easily been crowned "The Coastline State". This is territory with a healthy dose of "can-do" attitude that's as honest as the coast is rough, raw and beautiful. Other than the Pacific Northwest, there's no place quite like the small cities along this state's coastline.
This is a working waterfront state supporting thousands of independent fishermen, lobstermen, oyster men, clam mets, scallopers and other shell fishermen: seafood harvesters, and the industries that are necessary to support and sustain a network of such fresh food industries. And pound for pound, this state's output is measured in bulk tonage where work is a vocation that's handed down from one generation of fisherman to the next.
Like a patchwork quilt, the swath of cultures and the languages they bring is extensive, especially in the larger cities such as in Portland where the local hospital, The Maine Medical Center provides translators for over 80 different languages. Nearly every culture has a component of its society that are fishermen, and the waters off the coast of Maine have been attracting fishermen from countries around the world for hundreds of years. Workers come from away to earn a living in Maine as the waters of the Northern Atlantic have been bountiful for centuries.
Whether you're in Bath, Bristol, Rockport, Belfast, or Eastport, the raw honesty of Maine, the soul of this state is often along its working waterfronts.