Bar Harbor, Maine report

by philg

After Boston and Brookline, I proceeded to KBHB. Here’s the view of Mount Desert Island out the PC-12 window:

Note that the view out of an open helicopter door is a lot better (the Mount Desert section starts at about 19:30):

Our first planned outing, a boat trip to Southwest Harbor and the Claremont Hotel, was subjected to (life-saving) abortion care due to fog that developed suddenly. We drove there instead to enjoy a typical Maine sunset:

The next couple of days were gloriously sunny.

This was Graham Platner country, but after he was unpersoned the good citizens of Bar Harbor put up their Troy Jackson signs:

Jackson is a progressive Democrat and supports Medicare for All, abolishing ICE, ending arms sales to Israel, expanding worker rights, banning certain purchases by non-Maine firms of starter homes, and an increased lodging tax on out-of-state visitors. He strongly supports abortion rights and LGBTQ rights, after having opposed them in his early career.

(On his campaign site, Jackson says he will “End the genocide in Gaza”, presumably by declaring war on Israel and having the U.S. military go in to destroy the IDF. He also promises to “Tax the billionaires” (let’s all send our property tax bills to MacKenzie Scott Bezos and Melinda Gates!). Jackson is leading Susan Collins in statewide polls.)

Despite the high level of righteousness, I found a beater Toyota on the southwest corner of the island with an “Awesome People Love Trump” sticker:

The sensitive will want to rush away from this kind of hatred to the safe space of the bookstore in Bar Harbor where August was still “Pride Month”:

As in Brookline, Maskachusetts, books about hockey-playing members of the 2SLGBTQQIA+ community were featured in two separate sections of the store. New Englanders simply can’t get enough on this subject.

(See also Pride Parade and Children’s Drag Show in Bar Harbor, Maine and Unofficial Pride in Bar Harbor, Maine, both from 2025)

I returned home out of Bangor via Delta Air Lines (for which I once worked!).

Progressives in Maine are passionate about river-to-the-sea liberation in the distant mythical land of “Palestine” and also they’re happy to do absolutely nothing to help their homeless neighbors:

(See The #Resistance in Bangor, Maine for a “Free Palestine” rally a year ago in Bangor, which also featured Rainbow Flags and which was therefore a legit “Queers for Palestine” rally.)

I complained about the 20-year-old suspension fork on a hybrid bike at my friend’s house hitting a stop and then I saw this bike with much more serious fork issues on a side street in Bangor:

The Bangor Airport doesn’t seem to realize that “Amelia Earhart Room” might not be the most comfortable place for nervous passengers:

Like the bookstore in Brookline, the airport has signage associating 2SLGBTQQIA+ identity with mental illness:

The terminal bookstore was ready for golden retriever customers:

A view of West Palm Beach:

Would Maine be the perfect place for a Floridian to have a summer home? The pluses are obvious:

  • cool weather
  • interesting terrain (only “hilly” by Rocky Mountains standards, but potentially qualifying as “mountainous” for some)

The minuses are severe, though:

  • plethora of biting insects (hardly any in settled parts of Florida due to spraying)
  • 9.15 percent state income tax rate to which a part-time resident might yet become subject
  • 12 percent estate tax rate to which a temporary resident who dies might become subject (Maine could try to argue that the person had gotten sick and spent more than 6 months in Maine while dying, for example, and thus became a Maine resident)
  • a powerful lust for taxation of part-time residents (the Democrat nominee for the 2026 governor’s race, currently leading in the polls: “Require Second Homes to Pay Their Fair Share: Hannah will adjust property tax law to allow municipalities to tax second homes owned by non-Maine residents at higher rates, ensuring seasonal and investment properties support the infrastructure and services they rely on and reducing the burden on Mainers.”; this is absurd when you consider that the second home owners don’t send children to public schools and probably seldom get arrested and imprisoned (ergo, how much can they be costing?))
  • history of sales and excise taxes on aircraft ownership, including pursuing part-time residents from states that are free of aircraft sales tax (such as MA and NH) for Maine tax

It would make more sense to be in New Hampshire, which offers similar climate and terrain, one of the nation’s best GA airports, and has no income tax, no estate tax, and no sales tax for that matter.

6 thoughts on “Bar Harbor, Maine report”

  1. “It would make more sense to be in New Hampshire… has no income tax, no estate tax, and no sales tax for that matter.”

    Growing up in MA, walking distance from the NH border, most people did their shopping in NH “over the border” to save 3 cents on the dollar (early 70s; raised to 5% in 1975).

    If they haven’t relocated to FL, nearly all of my family, old neighbors, former coworkers, and high school and childhood friends and acquaintances have relocated to NH.

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  4. I went hiking on the AT in July up in Maine. It ABSOLUTELY is mountainous! I looked like that unhoused neighbor for a long time (and smelled like him too)! Almost went to Bar Harbor but the trail called me instead. Got to talking with a lot of Mainers and they all seem to enjoy living there.

    In your negatives (or positives) of the state, you didn’t mention any thing about divorce and their incentives for native Mainers! Have you lost your touch? I’d say it seems more negative than positive as a Mainer there lamented the shrinking economy, so there are not that many W-2 $250,000+ mxn/womxn walking around to sue anymore. With the informal/under-the-table economy high there (lobster fishing, healing cannabis farms etc.) it could be difficult and costly to get the true salary of your partner to unilateral liberate them. It also has one of the lowest birth rates out of any of the states, so there are not as many children to litigate over (unless they are in a quality learing center)?

    Mainers I spoke to seemed to approve of all of the out-of-state taxers as they don’t seem to particularly like the fact that Maine is becoming “known” and “visible”. It may be a porcupine defense to prevent tourists from overstaying their welcome.
    Bangor was pretty nice. I met a couple of clear foreigners there. One was a very cool guy from Jamaica doing some sort of security work; he was very friendly and talkative and seemed to fit right in (despite being the opposite complexion of nearly everyone in the state)!

    Looking forward to more trip updates and many funny photos. 🙂

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    • Samue: Except for Graham Platner’s hotties, I think the vast majority of females in Maine are too old to profit from child support!

      It looks like harvesting Platner’s disability checks would have worked reasonably well. http://www.realworlddivorce.com/Maine says “Child support in Maine is thus potentially unlimited but a judge extrapolating from the top of the table would apply a 5 percent multiplier to a defendant’s gross income, less than in some other states that also make unlimited child support available.”

      It looks like someone who had sex with a high-earner in Maine could expect at least $32,240 per year. in tax-free revenue. So the person who sets up a portfolio of two children with two defendants would get about $64,380/year tax-free and, thus, be in better financial shape than the median Maine household (about $76,000/year, but that’s pre-tax).

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