MAINE AND MOXIE

Maine people today are not the same as they were when I first came up here in the military in 1961.   Maine people use to be colorful and contrary.  They didn’t much care for outsiders and they were quick to show it with an excluding attitude or curt comment at your expense.   But, this was the charm of the people.  

Every night the TV weather man on channel 8 gave a weather forecast which included the weather at Hannibal’s Crossing (which didn't exist.)   If you asked a Mainer how to get to Ustis he would likely say, ‘You can’t get there from here’ with a heavy Mainer accent.  You could never trust directions or explanations from a Mainer because you never knew if you were being led down the path. 

LL Bean at that time was just a big open warehouse with hunting, fishing and camping items on display.  Bean was open 24 hours a day.  When you walked in the door there was a counter displaying pipes and tobacco and you could fill you pipe from the free displays and walk around smoking while looking at outdoor gear – Bean was not a clothing store as it is today.   

Mainers were a thrifty bunch; it was not unusual to see some Mainer out on a lake with a 30 year old motor on his boat – if he had something new he made it look old so as not to be mistaken for an outsider.   Mainers were hardy: they ignored the bugs and the heat and the snow – especially in front of outsiders who would be frantic swatting away the black flies and midges or shivering in their boots knee deep in snow. 

Down in Weld, Maine there was two grocery stores: The Store and The Other Store.   When you went to The Store it had a wood stove with chairs around it and you felt like you had stepped back in time fifty years…  Actually, you always felt like you were in another time a place when you were in rural Maine. 

And Mainers Drank MOXIE, a vile drink that taste like it is made from pine pitch.

First known as Moxie Nerve Food it was not originally made in Maine; it began as a patent medicine in 1876 produced by Maine doctor then living in Lowell, Massachusetts.  

A few years later he added soda water and marketed it as a beverage. 

Moxie is designated the official soft drink of Maine and a Moxie Festival is held each summer in Lisbon Falls Maine.   

Maine is now the retirement state for many people from southern New England, but you can still, occasionally, identify a native Mainer because he will be drinking Moxie.  

the Ol’Buzzard