Driving through Biddeford, you can tell something about a house by how close it sits to the road. The older the house, the less it seems to care about being polite. Steve’s house sits so near the intersection it feels like the road had to adjust its plans. Not the other way around. Steve's house was constructed when the 8th US President was serving, Martin Van Buren. Subscribe to BrickTides.com. The workshop is not where you expect it. To reach it, you have to step outside a

Jacqui DeFranca and Jon Denton, owners of Sweetcream Dairy in Biddeford, Maine. The science, the stubbornness, and the shared joy that brought Jon Denton back home to Biddeford — and let his wife Jacqui build a life around it The Sweetcream Dairy storefront. Sweetcream Dairy sits on Main Street in Biddeford like it belongs there, like it always knew it would end up exactly where it is. Not because the path was obvious. Not because it was easy. But because this is what happens

Jimmy Haight, left and George Matelich, right, met over coffee and quickly built a community of like-minded Mainers in technology roles. And, starting it all, was an email that ended up in a spam folder. A Soft Morning in Kennebunkport The meteorologists had promised drama. Strong winds were coming, they said. Heavy rain too. But that morning in Kennebunkport, nothing had arrived yet. The air was still. The harbor barely moved. It was one of those Maine mornings where the fo

Sarah Hoover, program director at Apex Youth Connection in Biddeford, Maine. From the outside, Apex Youth Connection doesn’t try to impress you. The building on Granite Street isn’t pretty. It’s scrappy. It looks like a place built for use, not for show. The kind of place that gets the job done and doesn’t apologize for it. Inside, the order reveals itself. Bikes and bike parts are everywhere, but nothing is careless. Handlebars hang in clean rows. Cranks, chains, gears — al

The foundation was only a few feet out of the frozen Scarborough ground, a neat geometry of concrete catching the winter sun. Ten degrees, bright and wind-bitten. Snow from last week still rimmed the perimeter, crisp and untouched. An excavator growled to life, a skid steer answered, and the Atlantic glinted coldly just beyond the lot. This is where something long imagined begins to become real. After a year of planning, Christi stands inside the early shape of a home she onc

Heather Paquette, President of Good Shepherd Food Bank of Maine. Outside the Good Shepherd Food Bank in Auburn, the morning felt unmistakably like Maine. The sun was bright, the air was cold, the wind was sharp, and snow clung to the edges of the parking lot. It was the kind of day that makes you hurry from your car to the door. Inside, the world felt entirely different. The warehouse moved with purpose. Volunteers sorted boxes beneath lights that cast winter light across th

Denis Garriepy, Chief Operating Officer of Landry / French Construction, at a job site in Alfred, Maine on Wednesday, November, 26, 2025. On a recent morning in Alfred, Denis Garriepy checked the time before stepping into the unfinished York County First Responders Training Center. He had already visited one project earlier that day and had two more scheduled before heading back to the office. Landry / French Construction currently has fifteen active projects across the regio

From President Bush at Cape Arundel to mornings on the Atlantic, a family’s life on the land Greg, left, and Bob Searle on the first hole at Abenakee Club. If you arrive before sunrise at the Abenakee Club in Biddeford Pool, you can watch the world brighten in layers. The ocean moves first, catching a strip of pink before anything else. Wood Island Lighthouse glows white long before the neighborhoods wake up. And then, at a certain angle that only appears in spring and fall,

Michelle and John Corgan outside Bell Farm Shops. They purchased the property in 2017 and have transformed it into one of the most beloved shopping destinations on the Seacoast. Bell Farm Shops in York has a presence that stops people in their tracks. The tall red barn at 244 US Route 1 looks like it could be the set of a movie. The cupola rises above the rooftops with a horse weathervane. The morning sun rests on the shingles and the red picket fence. Wind chimes move on the

Kim Cochrane-Coleman is the owner of Biddeford Painting in Southern Maine. Photographed on November 3, 2025 in Biddeford, Maine. Jasper fixed appliances, Scott ran the lanes that kept Biddeford rolling, and Kim paints the places people live their lives. In this city of brick mills and salt air, the Cochrane name has long meant something simple but powerful: care for what’s yours, and care even more for what you share. Three generations have done that in three different ways—

Colleen Miller The wind was moving that afternoon in Biddeford, sharp enough to lift the last of October’s leaves and send them tapping against the tall windows of The Lincoln. Downstairs, the team at Batson River had started to hang Christmas lights, strings of gold flickering over the clink of glassware. Every terminal in sight ran on Toast. At Batson River, at Spinning Jenny’s, even in the cafe where we sat, the same platform powered orders, payments, takeout, and delivery

Melissa Colley at Saco Scoop in Saco, Maine. A Door That’s Always Open It’s a Monday afternoon on Main Street in Saco, Maine, and the Saco Scoop shop smells like hot fudge and waffle cones. Behind the counter,  Melissa Colley  greets every customer by name — or, if she doesn’t know it yet, simply as “my friend.” “Because that’s the way it always was,” she says, glancing at the handwritten menu above her shoulder. “And don’t change what’s not broken.” At 209 Main Street, next

When Cheryl and Dale Wilkinson first stepped inside the centuries-old barn on Dennett Road, they didn’t just see decay — they saw history worth saving. The beams were hand-hewn, the floors uneven, the air thick with memory. Years of renovation later, This Old Barn stands again in all its rustic glory: a 202-year-old structure now alive with weddings, laughter, and the steady pulse of family effort. How an Old Farm Became a Barn Venue Rebuilding This Old Barn in Dayton, Maine

David Stover, of Southern Maine, is the owner of Saint Nick's Chimney Service. Saco, Maine — With a brush rod in one hand and a grin in the rain, David Stover climbs the ladder like he’s done it a thousand times before. Below him, his mother Sherrell runs the vacuum inside the house, her steady rhythm matching his scraping above. Together they form the heart of Saint Nick’s Chimney Service , a Southern Maine company that has been keeping hearths clean and safe for more than

Kathleen "Pidge" Pigeon, owner of Lucky Pigeon Brewing in Biddeford, Maine. Biddeford, Maine — The hum of a canning line cuts through the stillness of an afternoon brew day. Inside a restored brick building off Laconia Street, sunlight pools across the floor, the air rich with the earthy sweetness of fermenting grain. A group of regulars trade stories at the bar while a brewer wipes condensation from a stainless-steel tank. Behind the counter, greeting everyone by name, stand

Silas Wolff's face glows from the fire of a coal forge while creating a chef knife. Photo by Cy Cyr. Kennebunkport, Maine, hums with early - Fall quiet. The scent of salt and pine mixes with the faint metallic tang of steel in the air. Out back of an old family barn, beside stacks of wood and a coal forge glowing orange, a German Shepherd named Bjorn thumps his tail and drops a stick at the feet of his owner, Silas Wolff . Inside the workshop, sparks burst like fireflies as

Katie and Cody Sherer, owners of Mainely Blooms at 1903 Portland Road in Arundel, Maine. Photo by Cy Cyr. Three Generations on the Same Patch of Maine Soil Here on a long, humming stretch of Route 1 in Arundel, a family’s land has been put to work for three generations—and three entirely different businesses. That continuity is the quiet power behind Mainely Blooms , the perennial nursery and flower farm owned by Cody and Katie Sherer at 1903 Portland Road in Arundel, Maine

Gabe Sutton, of Biddeford, Maine, has been a furniture maker and woodworker for 25 years. Photo by Cy Cyr In a sunlit workshop in...

Brad McCourt, owner of Brew England in Biddeford, Maine on September 26, 2025. Photo by Cy Cyr. If you stroll down Main Street in...

The Pemigewasset Overlook, left and the Graham Overlook, right along the Kancamangus Highway on Sunday, September 28, 2025. For southern...