MESSAGE BOARD 2008

Hi, welcome to my latest brainstorm! More later, after I've started a few threads...

You've picked the perfect time to start this group! I'm moving away from New England on Sunday and while I'm really looking forward to my new home, I am going to miss it so much. I never appreciated it growing up in Connecticut, but having left and come back I notice so much more how New Englandy I really am. I'll be living in Chicago now and I think what I'm most excited about is getting really, really into New England regional fiction and history so I don't get too homesick!

wow, you wasted no time! welcome! feel free to start any threads of interest. I've seeded the group with a variety to start things off. I'm hoping this will be a dynamic group that will incorporate the interests of a great number of readers.

I love the concept of New England. If there's another multi-state region of the US that has a name (a name name, not like "the Tri-State Area") that is routinely used, nobody has told me about it.

(edited to correct punctuation)

Ah, but I have discovered that Australian has a New England also (somewhere in NSW), so we are not alone.

I'm amazed you both have found this group so fast!

Oh, and before some kindly LTer posts that there is already groups for history, genealogy and individual states, I know this. I have been to many of them off and on and find most of them not terribly active and some of them nearly dead. I also happen to like the idea of being able to have a variety of conversations in one place.

Except for one year in the 70s in California I have lived all my life in New England. I was born in Maine, moved to Massachusetts when I was 20, then New Hampshire at 27, and back to Massachusetts at 44.

I personally like the more expansive, original vision of New England:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/1a/Wpdms_virginia_company_plymouth_co...

One can learn a fair amount about America today by looking at the two colonies of Plymouth and Jamestown, don't you think?

Hey, don't forget the Popham colony!

By joining, I've increased the number of book by 30%. I was born in Rhode Island, so I'll take a look down there. I've lived in Massachusetts also, and my two sisters, mother & stepfather currently live there. But I live on Long Island. Only Montauk and small piece of Cold Spring Harbor here faintly resemble New England.

For extensions of New England, don't forget the outlier Western Reserve of Connecticut, now ignominously located in northeastern Ohio. I even got a courious Touchstone.

5 Avaland - Australia has copied a bit of our identity?? Say it ain't so! *lol*

Well, Avaland is making me join to post, littering my "groups" with all these things about weird places like Maine and Connecticut.

But, that map I linked to: Plymouth is only one of three colonies on it: there's also "Q" and "R" (for Quebec and Port Royal).

But I think you can learn a lot about America today looking at that Virginia/New England Map - those early divisions have had lasting impact. Don't forget the little Spanish "A" at the bottom, too. And the Dutch inserted themselves right in the middle between the two colonies.

>12 A_musing:, I was thinking about the differences in the nature of the two colonies - Plymouth being idealistic, Jamestown being strictly a commercial venture. It seems each has had a lasting effect on the America consciousness.

>9 LydiaHD: I can't forget the Popham Colony, however short-lived, my brother & family live in Phippsburg where he is also a selectman. So, I am reminded of it each time I visit.

>11 Irisheyz77: nah. I think they were as sentimental about the mothership as our early colonists were.

Do invite others to our group, the more the merrier.

Well I've been lurking :)

I'm a displaced New Englander living in California now. I grew up in Bow, NH (right next to Concord - junction of 89 and 93) and lived mostly in Maine after graduating from URI. I also lived a couple of years in Boston right after college (who hasn't done that!??!). My heart will always be in New England, although I don't miss its weather (except in October).

I'm really enjoying reading all the threads here...and come late summer, I get very excited about the Red Sox!

My aunt and uncle used to live in Bow, NH =)

Wow, small world! I might know them (if you feel so inclined, maybe you could private message me with their names!!)