Coming Home to Small Town Life
I’m delighted to have Marilyn Turk step in for me today. You’re in for a treat! Take it away, Marilyn . . .
First of all, I’m so happy to be here with you! I love all the authors on this blog, so I’m honored to be here. Thank you, Karen, for the opportunity to be your guest!
Did you move away from your hometown when you got married, went to college, got your first job? Did you ever move back? If so, what was it like to go back to where you grew up? Had it changed?
In my book, Abigail’s Secret, Abby Baker returns home to Maine as a young widow with a preschool daughter to help her ailing mother and start life over again. After first enjoying a successful career as an interior designer in California, marriage to her military husband and the birth of their child ended her career. Quiet Hope Harbor is worlds away from bustling LA, and Abby’s new life is very different from her former one.
For my setting, I created the quaint coastal town of Hope Harbor, Maine. Several years ago, my husband and I, native-born southerners, had the opportunity to be voluntary lighthouse keeperson an island at Little River Light in Cutler, Maine. En route to Cutler, we spent a few days at Bar Harbor. Maine, with its rocky shores, fir-covered islands and seaside charm was a completely different landscape than our Gulf coast where the beaches are flat, the sand is white, and the waves are small. But we fell in love with the beauty of the area.
We also fell in love with the people. Bar Harbor boasts a commercial area with picturesque storefronts, but we were surprised to find out how seasonal the island is, how many of the businesses close up in the fall and don’t reopen until the tourist season begins again in the summer. The local population dwindles as a result.
Cutler, however, is a different story. The town doesn’t have the colorful tourist shops of Bar Harbor because Cutler is all about lobstering, and most of its residents are lobster fishermen, a very special type of small-town people. While we were there, we learned to appreciate these people and their simple, but happy way of life.
My town of Hope Harbor is a combination of Cutler and Bar Harbor, a charming small town that caters to seasonal tourists. The Maine islands are close-knit communities who share many of the same attitudes. For one, everyone in town knows who is a local and who isn’t. In Cutler, they knew my husband and I were out on the island where the lighthouse was. The lobstermen passed by the island every day, and we learned they checked it out to see if everything looked all right. They used marine radios to communicate, which was also what we used, so we often listened to their conversation. I loved hearing their native accents as they talked about whose traps were whose, what the price of lobster was, how good the catch was, as well as how the town’s little league team was doing. And we heard them talk about us, too, especially when they saw my husband fishing.
These people trusted each other completely. For example, when they arrived at the harbor in the morning, they parked their cars along the waterfront, sometimes blocking each other in since parking was scarce. However, they left the keys in their cars in case someone needed to move them while they were out in their boats. We never saw a police officer the entire time we were in the area, but apparently, community trust made the need unnecessary. This same community loyalty would have been extended to us, if we’d needed help. There’s no doubt in my mind that if we’d put out an emergency call from the island, several lobstermen would have shown up to aid us.
Hope Harbor has the same kind of community loyalty. Strangers are expected to be temporary, so fitting in as a local like my character Carson Stevens, the new owner of the lighthouse discovers, can be difficult. And what about Abby? Although the community feels like a protective shield to her, will it let her begin a new life based on who she is now and not who she used to be before she left?
I can’t wait for you to meet Abby and Carson and see Hope Harbor for yourselves!
So did you move away? Did you come back?
Leave your answer for a chance to win a copy of Abigail’s Secret.
UPDATE: A winner has been selected. Congratulations go to Linda McFarland. Be watching your email, Linda. Marilyn will be contacting you soon to arrange your prize.
Marilyn Turk sees the world as the miraculous creation of God. As a writer, she tries to capture His truths in everyday life through her historical novels and heartfelt devotions. Her passion is to encourage women to develop their God-given gifts and find their strengths, a message she delivers when she speaks to audiences.
Marilyn is the director of the Blue Lake Christian Writers Retreat, a member of Advanced Writers and Speakers Association, American Christian Fiction Association, Word Weavers International and the Faith, Hope and Love chapter of RWA. She and her husband are avid lighthouse enthusiasts, having visited over 100, and her popular lighthouse blog features true lighthouse stories. In her spare time, you can find her boating and fishing with her husband, taking walks or playing tennis in her home state of Florida. Connect with her on http://www.marilynturk.com and through social media.
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Great post!
When I got married, I moved a couple of counties away from my family. So I didn’t move too far.
Sometimes it’s nice to be far enough away to be independent, but close enough to be near family.
I moved away from my hometown when I went off to college, but I transferred to a university in my hometown after one year away. However, not long after I moved back to attend college in my hometown, my parents moved away with my father’s job. So, I was on my own as an adult–given a nudge out of the nest.
Before long I married in my hometown, and after a couple of years of marriage, we moved with my husband’s job. I’ve now been away from my hometown for about 43 years.
I’m sure your hometown has changed a lot since you’ve been gone that long!
My husband and I are getting ready to move back to my hometown and where we met. Family is still in the area and I am so looking forward to going home. Things have changed but I have been back several times through the years to help my mom so it isn’t a big shock and hubby and I are so ready to be closer to family.
How nice when you have family to return to!
I absolutely love small towns like this! I grew up in a town of 300, but the atmosphere was different. I moved away when I was 18, but my parents still live there so I go visit. I’m definitely a small town girl at heart!
The town I live in now is a small town compared to the one I grew up in. Now that I’m older, I really like running into people I know all over town. It makes me feel like part of the community.
We live between a town of 600 and the Wisconsin Dells, which about quadruples in size during summer. So we get small town, touristy, and lots of things to do! I love it!
When I got married, my husband joined the USAF and we moved away. Several times. I haven’t moved back “home”, but we visit often. It feels the same as is did back when I lived there, but I have changed.
Cheryl, your statement is the key, I think, to why it often feels different to move back home. Perhaps the town hasn’t changed at all, but we have. I believe that’s the case for Abby Baker in Abigail’s Secret.
I’ve lived in the same town for 48 years. I moved here as a young child and I’m still here. Our town has changed so much over the years, but I love it.
I would certainly be open to an adventure like yours though. What an enjoyable time!!
I enjoy traveling, but after I’ve been gone awhile, I feel like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz – “there’s no place like home!”
I moved away from my suburban home area when I was a young bride of 18. My hubby and I were both students. When we returned 20 years later I had changed—now a working (RN) mom to 5 preteen and teenaged children, concerned for aging parents. Suburbia did not seem much different.
Yes, Anne. Moving back so many years later gives us a different perspective of the life we used to have as we look at it through adult eyes.
I grew up on a dairy farm in northern Illinois and moved to the woods of Upper Michigan when I married my husband. The first year was hard – I missed my family so much – but now (after 47 years!) these woods are my home. Growing up about a hour from Chicago, things have changed incredibly with the city moving out and eating up all the rich farmland and covering it with concrete and steel. Very sad, in my opinion. And the traffic there is horrendous! I still travel down to visit relatives but it is definitely NOT the same anymore.
Kathy, what a difference between a big city like Chicago and the woods of the U.P.! I’ve been to both places, and I prefer the woods and farmland to the city as well.
My family moved from my hometown in my teens due to my dad’s business. We have been back to visit a few times. But, moving is officially in our blood. We all parted ways and moved across the country from each other. Yet, within the last 5 years, we moved closer together within 3 hrs of each other. I still miss my southern hometown, but it’s fun living in the midwest now. 🥰 Thanks for sharing about your book. Maine is on my bucket list!
Hi Becky, You should definitely visit Maine when all this mess is over!
The towns you described sound so peaceful! I’m just not sure those Maine winters are my cup of tea. The Pennsylvania winters are enough. LOL I did move away from my hometown, but I visit regularly as it’s only a few hours away and the majority of my family still lives there. I remember one time driving up for a visit and being struck by the amazing beauty of the mountains where I had grown up. Sometimes it takes leaving and coming home to see what was right there all along.
Joy, how true! Sometimes we have to leave before we can see things differently or appreciate them. I agree, this Southern girl would not like to be in Maine in the winter, hence the reason many people only go there in the summer.
I grew up on a farm in rural Kentucky where the county seat has a population of around 1500. At 18, I moved to the state capital which is about 40 minutes away. Forty years later, my husband (who grew up in Louisville) and I built a home on 40 acres in my home county. I have lots of family still here. My parents are 90 and 95 and live about 10 minutes away from me. It’s different moving back “home”. In some ways, it hasn’t changed but in other ways it has. There are a lot of people that I don’t know (or don’t recognize!). I’m thrilled to be back in the country and not have neighbors right next door. But what few stores are here struggle to survive and Covid19 has made it even harder for them. The small local hospital closed shortly after we moved back. So the closest emergency room is 45 minutes away.
I moved away after high school to go to nursing school and then went to work at a hospital there for a couple of years. After five years away from my family, though, I was ready to come home, so I moved back. Nothing much had changed in that amount of time.
Congratulations on your new release, Marilyn! What a great setting for your novel. I’d love to visit Maine one day. 🙂
I was born and raised in a small (pop. 2000) town in central Michigan. In my late teens my family headed south to be close to my grandmother in her later years
I’ve now spent more of my life in the south then in the north. The town I live in is about a population of 20,000, so definitely bigger than where I grew up but not a large town by any means. My husband and I own a small business, and I enjoy running into my customers all over town=)
Great post, it was really interesting. I have actually never moved in my whole life.
Great post! I’ve been to Bar Harbor and loved it! (The national park near there is amazing!) In fact we got a Bar Harbor bell wind chime as a souvenir and it sounds out the Bar Harbor buoy bell’s distinctive tones when the wind blows. 🙂
I did move away to another country and then was forced to return home two years later because of my health. It is good to be near family again and I know God had a purpose for that season of my life and how it made me grow and become the person I am now.
Congrats on the new book! I’d love to “visit” your Hope Harbor! Will there be other books based in this lovely area?
Great post, thank you for sharing! Being a lighthouse keeper sounds so cool! We never really lived in one place long enough to get attached to it like a hometown, but there have been places I was sad to leave due to the people and places to go/see. I think having a hometown, leaving and then coming back would probably be both nice and difficult because its comfortable but also maybe suffocating depending on how the people there see you. Thank you for the chance to win your book!
Love the post have never moved from my hometown! Thank you for the chance to win your book I sounds like a great book!
I did move away when I accepted a teaching job in Chicago. While there I married and we moved a couple of times until we ended up in Colorado. We have stayed here for 50 years this month.
As a child my family went to Maine one summer and loved it! I look forward to your story.
I grew up in Northwestern Minnesota right by the Red River of the North. Not many people live in that area any more because of the river flooding.
I moved away for college (same state but different city) but came home in the summers. I moved away when I got married, first to another state and then to another continent. We lived in Germany for 4 years and then moved back a state that is not my home state. I visit my mom and brothers but I have no desire to move back. Unless God should will that for us….:)
Your setting sounds charming! Welcome to the blog, Marilyn! So nice to have you posting here!
I moved from Kansas to New York shortly after I got married. But we came back to Kansas two years later when I was 8 months pregnant with our first son. We wanted our kids to have the same happy childhoods we had, living near their grandparents in Kansas.