If you wondered what native, rustic Aroostook County, Maine men looked like in 1978 (or thereabouts), I present the Featured Image taken by my Uncle Glenn. Cousin Dan (left) used an HP film scanner to digitize the photo from an original slide. He emailed the portrait, and two other photos, this afternoon. The scary dude in the middle is me; my arm listlessly hangs over my younger cousin’s shoulder—and holds what looks like a rock; why would that be?
Since I haven’t spoken to the cousin on the right for more than two years, and I know he is a somewhat private, I withhold his name out of respect. Dan, on the other hand, is easier going— as am I—and his identity was revealed in other posts.
Aroostook, or “beautiful river”, is a vast expanse of land, 6,829 square miles, and the largest county east of the Mississippi River. (St. Louis County, Minn. is slightly larger by total area, 6,860 sq. miles, but less as measured by land; nearly 10 percent is water.) “The County”, as known across Maine, is larger than Connecticut and Rhode Island combined, but is less developed, being largely forest and farmland (89 percent and 10 percent, respectively).
Aroostook is set apart culturally and geographically from the rest of the state, landlocked by New Brunswick to the northeast and Quebec to the northwest. You won’t find ocean fishermen or lobsters there, contrary to stereotypes about Mainers. Isolation and Canadian influence give locals character unique even for a state known for eccentricity. Acadian influence is pervasive; the University of Maine Fort Kent maintains a wonderful cultural archive.
Even local accent is unique to the rest of the state, inheriting pronunciation from French and English Canadians. To the south, Mainers pronounce the third largest city, Bangor, as banger, or bang’r. Up north: bangOR.
The “Crown of Maine” is a single, isolated county, largely accessible by single-lane roads; those with traffic going both ways. Interstate 95 stops at county seat Houlton.
The North Maine Woods was less accessible, except by hunters and loggers, in the 1970s, while Central Aroostook was less isolated than today. Loring Airforce Base in Limestone—the first Ground Zero in the Continental United States in the event of nuclear with the Soviet Union—brought diversity and commerce that included Federal funds. The base’s closure in 1994 devastated the area. But several recent economic developments, including Maine’s first Amazon warehouse in my hometown of Caribou, promise renewed growth and outside investment.
That’s kind of the high-level snapshot spurred by the, ah, snapshot. We three cousins grew up in a vastly rural area, where nature dominated all aspects of life: For example, heavy snows during the five months of winter; expansive night sky dominated by the Milky Way and Aurora Borealis; and green, lush land teaming with wildlife (watch out for moose in the road).
We may be cousins, but recently Dan and I agreed to assume the roles of brothers; neither of us had one, and growing up we were to each other the closest thing.
I heavily edited the photo Dan sent. His orange jacket was way over saturated, for example. Okay, that’s a wrap.
Photo Credit: Glenn Wilcox