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It’s now been more than a year since I became a proud resident of midcoast Maine.
After growing up in a suburb of Tampa, Florida, I moved to Harpswell in July 2023 to start a reporting job at the Bangor Daily News. Since then, I’ve noticed a few things that the southern- and northernmost sections of the East Coast have in common, including gnarly storms, an abundance of seasonal visitors and easy access to seafood plucked from the nearby ocean.
But Maine is not Florida, and moving to this part of the coast also has brought surprises. Here are four differences I’ve noticed about living at this end of the seaboard, starting with one that maybe shouldn’t have been a surprise.
Air conditioning isn’t essential (or is it?)
One thing caught my attention when I first started searching for places to live in the midcoast: every rental lacked air conditioning.
The average midsummer temperature in my hometown was almost 90 degrees Fahrenheit, with 99 percent humidity, and up until that point, I had assumed central AC was just a part of modern living, like plumbing and power.
Only after I’d driven up the east coast, parked in Harpswell and gotten hit with a cool breeze on that mid-70s day did I finally decide that I’d be fine without AC.
ADVICE FOR NEWCOMERS
However, while I’d like to say that I stuck with that decision, I’ve since discovered that even the cool, breezy coast of Maine can have sweltering days. Locals have reminded me of this when, upon learning I’d moved from Florida, they asked: “Did you bring the weather with ya?”
This summer, I finally invested in a window AC unit for my apartment. Old habits die hard.
Maine towns get serious about climate change
Speaking of the weather: Within my first year of being a reporter in Maine, I covered the twin storms that devastated the coast in January. I surveyed Camp Ellis in Saco and talked to people whose homes had flooded. Closer to my own place, Bailey Island was also hit hard, with buildings and wharfs succumbing to waves.
Raised in Florida — where low-lying coastal communities are vulnerable to hurricanes, sea level rise and harmful algae known as red tide — I was familiar with this kind of damage.
CREATING WELCOMING COMMUNITIES
What has stood out in Maine, though, is the response to climate change, from Augusta down to the municipal level.
While there are efforts to address the Sunshine State’s environmental problems, it has rolled back and refused to adopt many climate protections, and its elected representatives are not that focused on the problem.
But knowing that climate change is affecting coastal Maine, a growing number of communities here are preparing plans for responding to it, while the state has a broader plan for reducing its dependence on greenhouse gasses and mitigating their effects.
Less cars means it’s easier to get around
For this job, I regularly make the easy, scenic drive from Harpswell to Rockland, which can take up to an hour and a half, depending on the time of year.
By contrast, a commute of a similar length from my hometown near Tampa to Orlando is rarely an easy affair. That’s because the highway between the cities, Interstate 4, is America’s deadliest, with 200,000 daily motorists often causing bumper-to-bumper traffic. I’ve dreaded making that drive in the past, and once was snarled in its traffic for five hours.
WHAT THE DATA SHOW
While dense traffic is not unheard of here — for example when summer visitors start to take Route 1 through Wiscasset, or during rush hour on the interstates around the cities — I’ve found it usually only sets me back by a maximum of 20 minutes.
The search for a good taco
The Tampa Bay area has almost three times as many people as the entire state of Maine, as well as an established diversity of cultures that includes Cubans who immigrated in the late 1800s to work in cigar factories and people from other Latin American countries.
So there’s an abundance of good restaurants offering Latin American food in the region — and that’s one area in which my new home in the lower midcoast has struggled to compete.
Now, I don’t expect the Latin American food in Maine to taste as good as it was when authentically cooked by my friends’ abuelitas. And I have had decent tacos here, such as at the Mexican “inspired” Taco Escobarr in Portland.
NEW CULINARY OPTIONS
But I have yet to find tacos in Maine that really compare with the average ones you’d find in Tampa, and when I visit my family this Thanksgiving, I’ll likely be stopping at one of my favorite authentic places in the city.
That said, I haven’t tried all of the taco places in Maine, of course, and am open to all recommendations!
Jules Walkup is a Report for America corps member. Additional support for this reporting is provided by BDN readers.
