Submitted by wojtekthesoldierbear t3_11x6vn8 in newhampshire
Hey! I would like to take my wife to a town that is heavily French (without going to Canada) but I can't seem to find much information on anywhere interesting. Anyone have a good idea on where to go? NH, VT, ME and (if I must, MA) would be fine.
I just spit my coffee out when I read that
Was it French roast?
You’re probably not going believe this, but it actually was. Fair Trade Organic, #430 at my co-op.
Hehe. This gave me a giggle.
You'll run in to more french speaking people in northern NE but that's about it.
Why not just go to Canada? Getting a passport isn't much of a hurdle and it'll open the door to more interesting travel.
Agreed. While Canada does have some rules for entry, it's an easy trip and Quebec is pretty neat.
I just applied for my passport and waiting for it to arrive. I can't wait to go to Canada! I've lived a sheltered life. lol
There's a whole world out there. The US is great but plenty of other places are too.
Indeed.
Not sure if it’s related but traveling within the US is amazing too if you haven’t gotten the chance. Go to the southwest or somewhere like glacier and you’ll feel like you’ve been transported to a different world
I would love to go to Alaska, it looks so pretty up there. Lived in TX and S FL now in the NE. Visited AZ (work trip) but it was summer and not doing that ever again!
I need to find friends that want to go places. Most everyone I know has family/kids and won't leave the immediate vicinity. I want to go see things! Thankfully NE is just coming out of winter (kinda) and it's beautiful here too, it will keep me occupied in the interim.
I’m born and raised in AK and now reside in NE. I recommend AK. It’s great.
I have a passport. I'll consider it.
If you haven't been, Montreal is so awesome and hip. Quebec city is a bit further but straight up feels like a small french city. It's absolutely beautiful and they don't speak much English lol. Very romantic city too with lots to do. The cafes and bakeries are phenomenal
I have been to Montreal! Haven't wanted to travel up there though unless necessary.
Why wouldn't you?
You're basically saying "I want to go see a thing but I don't want to go see it"
Edit: Also looks like round trip tickets to Paris from Boston can be had for about $500 up through May on Play (A budget Icelandic airline). It might be worth a trip.
I'd consider that. But South France or Normandy is where the real fun is at.
Once you're in Paris it's easy enough to take another flight or the train to wherever. I haven't been to southern France personally but it sounds like your wife would love it. If you can afford it I think you're doing yourself a disservice if you don't go.
If you want good pouting, by the way, check out Duckfat in Portland Me. It isn't remotely French Canadian but it is delicious. Just be aware that there will be a line to get in.
What’s pouting?
An autocorrected poutine.
Fantastic.
Isn’t that exactly the kind of thing you’re looking for though?
Indeed. But I want to stay stateside. I'd rather fly to New Orleans to be honest.
So, the most cosmopolitan French speaking city in North America is about three hours away, and you’d rather travel 1500 miles south to a city that spoke creole 200 years ago?
Yup
You feel naked without your gun on you, correct?
Not really. Don't know how that is relevant either.
Why though? Haven’t renewed the passport? I get it if Montreal wasn’t French enough for you (you’d find plenty of Quebecois who’d agree too), but that’s clearly not it.
Dude go take advantage of the strong dollar. America is the worst place in the world for a culture oriented vacation. Everything is the same everywhere. Copy pasted strip malls and chain restaurants and it’s all so goddamn expensive. DC and NYC are cool for a couple days, see the museums and whatnot, but that’s about it. The US is a good place to vacation for outdoorsy types, but not what you’re going for.
If you were looking for Spanish speakers, I’d say go to Miami. If you were looking for Vietnamese speakers, I’d say go to San Jose. If you were looking for Mandarin speakers, I’d say go to Chinatown. But French? Nah. The vast majority of French speakers in the US won’t be native speakers, unless you count Haitian Creole as French, which no one does. If you do, consider a trip to Brockton, MA! Not the nicest place but you’re actually less likely to get stabbed there than New Orleans.
Anyway, there are some towns in far northern New England (especially Maine) where double digit percentages of households speak French at home, but these are very rural areas. You’re gonna look like a lunatic going to the one store in town on a mission to find native French speakers. They might speak passable French as a second language, but that’s to accommodate the Quebecois visitors.
All my stuff is current. I have personal reasons I am hesitant over.
Ah, sorry, I was being uncharitable, assuming it was some weird nationalistic thing. I think I get what you’re implying now.
In that case, New Orleans might not be a bad option. NYC might be better though. Go see some French paintings at the Met, go to a French restaurant… California wine country might hit the spot, too. Obviously it’s more culturally Spanish, but it’s a very similar climate to Southern France.
California wine country definitely would fit the bill. I used to drive party buses through Temecula. That isn't Napa Valley but it was still pretty cool.
Just stay on the highway and don't go exploring through a more rural crossing. Perhaps entry into Canada is easy this way but wow I got the third degree coming back over the two lane crossing near richford Vermont in the Northeast Kingdom. Took me more than an hour of searching and I was the only car. Stay on 89.
Manchester still has French parishes but it is rare that you still hear it on the street anymore as it was in the '60s when I was growing up. I know plenty that speak French but do not use it anymore.. Better luck if you go all the way up to Berlin, more isolated. But yes others have stated at that point just go to Quebec
We were in Chez Vachon this morning in Manchester and there was a table of older men speaking anglicised French like my mother used to speak when I was growing up in Maine. It was pretty nostalgic to hear.
Yep that's still a pretty good hot spot to catch a little French, maybe in pinardville too, or maybe Saco Biddeford, right?
Quebec city is beyond great, the only walled city on the north american continent north of Mexico city. Super charming, very french Canadian, and the perfect getaway for two or three days.
Agreed. It feels like you're in Europe, as cliched as that sounds.
Is not cliche though, it’s the truth, and its a 5 hour drive for me. Its a great weekend trip with wifey.
Manchester NH's West Side had a lot of Quebecois, but not sure how much of that culture is is retained after several generations.
Almost none. Chez Vachon and street names but that’s about it.
When I was a kid they even had Catholic mass on the West side in French. But don't think that's a thing anymore. Growing up and playing hockey in Manchester (Flames) was a trip as the coaches would tell yell at us in French if they got really pissed.
I was told there were even local businesses/banks that only spoke in French not so long ago in Manch
What are you hoping to experience?
A nice bakery/cafe, a museum of some sort. My wife is Ukrainian but really enjoys French things so I wanted to at least see if there is somewhere local we could take a trip to.
Go to Quebec. New England's French heritage has long faded, and the Quebecois immigrants have been integrated for nearly three generations.
Also, Quebec City is one of the hidden jewels of North America, and is only a five and a half hour drive from Manchester. You will love it.
Stay at the Chateau Frontenac, hire a guide for a walking tour of the old city, have dinner at the Le Café du Monde, ride a toboggan on the boardwalk, and generally dig the scene.
Seconded, went last September. It was a great time, beautiful city and plenty to see, very European-esque.
This is the best answer
So you can’t be bothered to go to Quebec? Um yeah that’s smart. There’s a French restaurant in Norway Maine that has escargot on the menu, seems to be about your speed.
You've willfully misrepresented or purposefully misunderstood... Everything, really.
Quebec is local my dude. Go hiking in the Whites in the summer, and it’s almost inevitable you’ll run into a French speaking visitor. They clearly think it’s local…
Paris, ME
There ain't none. Take it from someone whose lived here for 20 years et as etudier le francis pour sept ans. Les Americans ne parlez pas francais en New England. You would have better luck in Quebec I am afraid. If there are any towns in NE that speak french, it would be a small minority such as my French professor who emigrated from France to teach it here.
Broadly true aside from Aroostook County, Maine. Places like Ft Kent and Madawaska still have French in daily life
Fort Kent is definitely bilingual
Just looked it up on wiki(yeah I know). It quotes the 2000 census with 62% of residents speaking French primarily at home. Interesting.
Used to find some in Bar Harbor in the summer, not sure if that's still a thing. But otherwise, yea.. everyone assimilated.
It’s unfortunately slowly dying as the population ages, but Berlin, NH used to have its own French dialect. You’d still probably be able to speak some outside a church service, but it used to be far more prevalent. I think that’s going to be the case for a lot of New England towns.
It’s still here. When my Memere and Dad get snippy they slip into it. I remember starting high school French in Gorham and being cocky that I knew French. My poor teacher’s resigned sigh when I started babbling away about being my Memere’s petit chou 😁
Visit Ogunquit in the summer. About half of the tourists are Québécois.
Old Orchard Beach, Maine too
Ha, I've been there for that!
Nice! If you want to visit a genuinely French town/city, I cannot recommend Quebec City enough.
Berlin?
They speak meth, not french
Just dialects of each other up there.
A friend of mine who is in her mid 50s is from Berlin and they spoke French at home. I wonder if there still are many families like that now.
Manchester's West Side. Chez Vachon is a French Canadian restaurant here. It's amazing! Classic gorton, poutine, you name it. The West Side is known for its French-Canadian roots.
Chez Vachon is great but the area is decidedly not French anymore, my grandfather still bemoans the loss of the community and culture
Yeah I can definitely see how it's probably not like how it used to be. But there are still some hidden gems!
I work right around the corner from Chez Vachon. Can confirm, not super French.
Goddam French and there assimilation!
Interesting. That is right around the corner from my office too.
franco-American center Manchester NH OP-also a French museum in manchesta
I feel like Madawaska and Presque Isle in Maine are the closest you will come.
Mars Hill folks speak it in the street still
Try Old Orchard Beach this summer. You can spot them everywhere in their grape-smugglers.
Biddeford, ME is known for it's French Canadian heritage, although it's dying out. They still have their La Kermesse festival in June, which celebrates Franco-Americaine tradition.
I'll be buggered, that's a good one.
I haven't been to the La Kermesse festival in over 25 years! I really enjoyed it when I went; I'm half French-Canadian by heritage, and have some family in Biddeford/Saco.
You won’t find much French or Quebecois spoken in public. Parts of Northern Maine speak Chiac, which is a pidgin of French, but is mostly spoken at home. Even some border towns in QC don’t seem very French. Get your passport and go to Montreal or Quebec City. Warning though, most French speakers from Quebec DO NOT like Americans and may refuse to speak any English with you even though it’s a bilingual province.
Absolutely untrue. While there are “anti-outsider” sentiments to be found anywhere, as long as you are a respectful and polite tourist, Quebec is as friendly and safe a place to travel as you can find. Also, Quebec is French-speaking, not officially bilingual. If they have English service, it’s as a courtesy to their customers—only French is required. Would you expect universal English service in Paris? What you might be experiencing as “not liking Americans” is frustration that you’re in their country speaking a foreign language and assuming they should accommodate you universally. That said, in Montreal it is virtually impossible to find a place that won’t serve an English speaker, even if it takes a little bit of patience on the latter’s part.
Bro, I speak French. They wouldn’t even speak to me in French because they thought my accent was garbage. I speak with an Alsatian dialect FROM FRANCE. I’ve been refused service MANY times.
So then what does that have to do with hating Americans
Quebec also tends to have a lot of antisemitism as well. Your experience isn’t mine.
Of course it isn’t — but I lived in Quebec for four years and was a tourist there many times in my youth with my Anglophone-only family. You made a sweeping point about Americans being disliked and a factually incorrect statement about language laws. As far as my experience goes, and the experiences of the many other people I know from the US who’ve lived there, Quebec is a wonderful, safe, and welcoming place for Americans to visit, almost all the time. You may well have experienced something negative, but your extrapolation is unfounded and slightly defamatory. All places have shitty people, and sometimes tourists get the shaft— it’s not unique to QC. Additionally, it shows your ignorance of Quebec culture and history to act as though their reluctance to pander to Anglo or France-French myopia indicates hatred or an inhospitable nature. And while your experience of antisemitism may be real, it is neither here nor there in respect to the original point, which is that Americans generally are somehow unwelcome.
I was born and raised in America and grew up speaking French with my father. Just because I speak a dialect from France doesn’t mean I’m from France. When you have to flash your passport to get a drink, they find out you’re American.
And I barely speak any French and have, over thousands of instances, NEVER been denied service. Nor do I know anyone who speaks only English and has lived in montreal—and I know many—who has been. At worst, one will have people switch to English because the French is bad OR you will have people unable to speak English who are a bit annoyed at having to use pidgin to muddle through a coffee order. Not only would that be an impractical paradigm in a city with 1 million English speakers, it would be an absurd way for businesses to conduct themselves. What people DO get angry about is being forced to speak English when they are customers, or the expectation that they switch to English. And as far as les métropolitains, well, I’ve never met a quebecois who couldn’t understand French from France, though I’ve meant plenty of French people who sneer at québécois.
The only person I ran into in Quebec City that didn’t speak English was a very nice person at Subway. They did their best in broken English and I did my best in broken French and we had a giggle. Everyone else was super nice and spoke great English.
I wish I had your experience
This is not true. I’ve never had an issue in Quebec
You haven’t, but I have every time I’ve gone and so have plenty of other people.
I went to Montreal, Quebec City and rural Quebec last year as an American who doesn't speak a word of French and everyone was great. Maybe they didn't like you?
What are you on bail? Go to Quebec ya gooba
If you want to see Canadian men in banana hammocks smuggling grapes...Old Orchard Beach in the summer
Northern Maine still has a few Acadian villages like Madawaska
Berlin for sure
Berlin is as French as it gets.
Northern Maine is basically Canada
Quebec City is 100% worth the drive. You’re not going to find anything even close in Northern New England.
There are still some French speaking households in northern Maine, but it’s really on the decline. Pretty much only elderly people.
woonsocket RI ,check its history at least. its a bit different today. ca va.
Yeah Woonsocket is not going to be a destination for a romantic French-themed getaway…
ha, yeah…. different romantic themes …
https://www.rimonthly.com/woonsocket-hasnt-lost-french-accent/
There was a little restaurant downtown that used to have French printed menus for folks from the nearby elder home. I also seem to remember that if there were dual language items in a store it would be english/french instead of the more common english/spanish.
This was of course 20+ years ago and that was really the only evidence at the time other than some decidedly french sounding last names.
Lots of luck. Both my parents were from Canada. They never found any French areas except for the people the knew that migrated here too. Even when they moved to northern Maine.
Brockton, MA has a large French speaking population and the Papa Gino’s also serves french fries I hear.
Berlin, Lewiston, Augusta, I’m sure northern. Vermont towns
Lewiston I know about, I have a semi-estranged sister there.
Pinardville, NH. Goffstown NH West side of Manchester, NH The amount of Canadian French people directly relates to the number of stores and restaraunts that sell Gorton, and pork pies.
Stewardstown, NH.
It’s a really remarkable place in northern New Hampshire where the Canadian border runs into the State of NH and is on the other side of the river. The library is half in Canada half in the USA and it’s a really interesting Bordertown. That is your best bet while staying in the US.
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I’m French and so far I did not found any French speakers that much around NH
Gardner
Old Quebec is the most French place I’ve found outside of France. Feels like you’re in France. Otherwise, try Acadia but don’t expect cities and amenities. It’s pretty French, but also super rural.
I French kissed a girl in Caribou ME one time. Edit: and I liked it.
Definitely just take the extra time on the trip and go to Montreal.
Anywhere north of Berlin and you’ll get Québécois radio stations, maybe even TV. Not sure you’ll find anyone walking down the street speaking French, unless they’re tourists too.
Madawaska Maine
Near the border in northern Maine is your best bet.
There really aren’t any Francophone areas in northern New England anymore (outside some old folks homes), maybe some individual families who still speak it at home. A lot of newer French speakers to New Hampshire are African immigrants but they mostly live in the cities & larger towns
Goffstown
honestly, you won't find what you're looking for unless you go to Québec. And you absolutely won't be disappointed in Québec City
Not at all in disagreement with either of your statements. Just don't really want to go to Canada unless I have to at the moment.
Aroostook County, ME and Coos County NH have the highest concentration of Francophones in the Northeast
What you’re looking for doesn’t exist. Trust me I live in north Troy Vermont. I’m literally on the boarder of Canada and you won’t find jack shit. Just go to Canada
What i hear from my parents (as we went when covid was around) is old orchard Beach a lot of Canadians head to the beach and a lot of the surrounding restaurants and shops have some French design and culture to them.
Little pockets of the Manchester, NH west-side. I would go to breakfast at Chez Vachon and ask locals there.
Old Orchard beach Maine..
Chez Vachon on the West Side of Manchester has a pretty great poutine. But, seriously, if you’re willing to travel to New England to find a French town you might as well just go to Quebec. It’s right next door.
Or, go to New Orleans.
Berlin has a large population of francophones. They even have their own dialect supposedly unique from even quebecoise French.
The Saint John Valley in Maine is full of French speakers. Summer is full of festivals. The Acadian Festival in early July in Madawaska Maine is full of fun events.
Madawaska looks like a cool place to visit. Gonna have to check that out I think.
Beecher Falls VT
This is so dog whistley lol
Uh.... what does that even mean?
Obligatory "lol"
Don't think you'll find much in NH but possibly Vermont near the river/lake on the western border. From the very little I know about French descendant migration a lot of it would follow the Mississippi river and great lakes region, that might extend to lake Champlain but it's a stretch.
Next closest thing would be like a French Canadian culture festival? Which I have seen advertised stapled to electric poles a few times in my life but perhaps googling would work better if you're seeking it out.
I grew up in NW Vermont, a lot of us have French Canadian ancestry but outside of names and some family traditions it's not very different from the rest of New England.
Makes sense. As I said, it was a stretch. Thanks for giving some more info.
There are no French communities in Vermont, either, and definitely not along the western border. I don't understand why OP is opposed to going to Canada, since RIGHT over the border...
This is America
Yup. But even here, I can go find Poles in Boston, Germans in Cincinnati and all over Texas, Italians in San Diego, Cubans in Florida....you get the picture.
French in Montreal...
Yet decidedly not America.
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Being on the losing end of a couple world wars and being discriminated against will do that.
lantonas t1_jd1s2zu wrote
McDonald's in Lancaster has french fries.