Bangor was not at all what I was expecting, which (naively) was a charming university town (a la Bloomington, Ind - my alma mater - or Gainesvlle, Fl or Chapel Hill, NC).  A city of about 31,000 residents supporting 4 universities, University of Maine, Beal University, Husson University and Eastern Maine Community College, the town did not call me in spite of several cultural and unique outdoor opportunities and a couple of interesting restaurants.

While the econmy was historically based on lumber and ship building, today medical care and tourism drive the economy - along with the students attending the universities.

Flinty, like all of Maine, especially in the fall and winter, the architecture was dark stone and trees/greenery within the city were sparse, giving it a severe look. And while the city sits on the banks of the Penabscot River, the shoreline has not been developed to accommodate residences, restaurants, shops or even beautiful parks from which to enjoy the river.  Consequently it has more of an industrial feel than a serene park-like setting.

My nephew, Ian, attends the University of Maine in nearby Orano, and Alyssa, his girlfriend and a native “Mainer” led us into an older neighborhood full of big homes of Georgian Architectural style, including Stephen King’s home.  The homes date back to the heyday of Bangor in the 1800’s during the height of its lumber and shipbuilding days. The neighborhood was perfectly lovely, but I was suddenly left with the notion that I could understand the dark side of some of his novels. 

Of interest today, there was:

• The University of Maine Museum of Art and the Maine Discovery Museum.

• The Bangor Historical Society.

• The Bangor Police Department has a police museum with some items dating to the 18th century.

• Hose 5 Fire Museum at the former State Street Fire Station.

• The Cole Land Transportation Museum.

• The Maine Forest and Logging Museum - an Outdoor Museum on the outskirts of Bangor and near Orono. Fascinating!

• A bog walk in Bangor City Forest and Orono Bog Walk.

In summary, a visit to Bangor can be accomplished in a couple of days. Be sure not to miss the outdoor museum and the bog walk.

Anecdotal Stories & Observations:

We stayed at a Residence Inn in Bangor which was relatively new.  Night after night it was simply packed!  I couldn’t figure it out.  Come to find out that the place was home to a very large number of visiting nurses who were housed there for weeks and weeks.  The hotel provided a surprisingly substantial breakfast - there was almost nothing they did NOT have - and the breakfast room was crowded with some tourists, but mostly nurses.  Each room had some sort of mini kitchen, and so every morning Walmart would arrive with the grocery orders placed by the nurses so they would not have to eat out every night.  And every evening a bus would roll in and a stream of nurses would file out and into the hotel and up to their rooms.  I never saw a morning bus, but that’s probably because I was too late.

We found an extraordinary array of gluten free sandwiches and pastries which was surprising - several large cities we had visited around the US were much less accomodating.