The Northeast & Canada
July | 2015
July 1, 2015 — Planning out my trip up north to the Canadian border has been a bit more challenging than I expected. I've been told by many: "What's there to see in the Canadian border, but pine trees and wild animals?"
When I think of border life in upper New England, and specifically in Maine, I think of Acadian or French-speaking people.
Maine is one of the few states where more than half the people reported in the 2000 U.S. Census that they spoke French at home. Available information shows that the proportion of the population who speak French in Northern Maine is much higher than in the rest of Maine. The French language is in everyday use from Fort Kent to Van Buren, Maine. It is heard on the street, in restaurants and stores, at public meetings, at work places, and in homes. Catholic masses are regularly delivered in French in many of the parishes.
My next stop to learn about U.S. border life will be Canada. Based on what I've read and seen in my visits to Maine in recent years, I have a feeling I will be pleasantly surprised as I discover and learn more about its border life.
I leave on July 15 and my destination is the international border crossing in Calais, Maine and into New Brunswick, Canada.
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