Belfast Maine Real Estate

Belfast ME General Information

Belfast is a town in Waldo County, Maine, United States with its population at 6,808 in 2003. It is located approximatley 107 miles from Portland, ME and within 25 minutes of Camden ME. Shoe manufacturing became an important business . After World War II, however, the Belfast economy was driven by its poultry industry, including 2 of the state's larger processors, Maplewood and Penobscot Poultry. Waldo County farms supplied the factories with up to 200,000 birds a day. The annual Broiler Festival became a popular summer event, attracting both local people and tourists. But the poultry business collapsed in the mid-1970s during a national recession, devastating the city and surrounding towns. In the early 1980s, the defunct chicken-feed silos that once fed millions of chickens at the foot of Main Street were demolished. There was an exodus of people seeking employment prospects elsewhere through the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. But as they left, artists and young college graduates moved in.
In the early 1990s, credit-card giant MBNA established a large facility in Belfast. The company was instrumental in establishing the Hutcinson Center of the University of Maine, an outpost of the University of Maine System, less than a mile from the main MBNA campus. Jobs provided by MBNA, which was recently acquired by the Bank of America, helped increase Belfast's population significantly. Movies filmed in Belfast include Peyton Place (1957), Thinner (1996) and In the Bedroom (2001).

REAL ESTATE
Unlike reports through national news media, the real estate market in Belfast is active with the average sales price in Belfast for 2007 in the high $198,000s for single family homes. There were more homes sold in 2007 (78) than in 2006 (58) Te median price for 2007 increased slightly in 2007 over 2006. Click here to view all Belfast ME real estate listings!

EDUCATION
There are both public and private schools available in Belfast at the elementary level, and high schools are available at Belfast High School. Post-secondary education is not that far away with the University of Maine approximately 45 miles away, with satelite campuses in Belfast and Rockland, the University of Southern Maine at 107 miles, and the University of New Hampshire-Main Campus at 167 miles from Belfast.

RECREATION
There is never a lack of things to do in and around Camden. In the summer, enjoy golfing at Rockland Golf Club in Rockland, the Goose River Golf Course in Rockport, the Northport Golf Club in Northport , and the Samoset Resort Golf Club in Rockport, and family golfing outings at Golfers Crossing Family Golf Center in Rockport. Other summer outdoor activities can be enjoyed at the Camden Hills State Park, Lincolnville Recreation areas, the Rockport Recreation Park, like tennis, volleyball and basketball courts, basefield fields and playgrounds, soccer fields and cross-country tracks, fishing, cycling, camping, kayaking and canoeing, and horseback riding. Megunticook Lake offers swimming and boating activities in Camden. In winter, join in with the U.S. National Toboggan Championships held each year, during the second weekend of February, one of New England's premier cold-weather events. The iced chute is 400 ft. long and the four-man teams attain speeds of up to thirty-five miles an hour. Enjoy downhill skiing at The Camden Snow Bowl on trails named Clipper, Windjammer, Foxy, Mussel Ridge, Spinnaker, Northeaster, Lookout and Terrain Park with hiking and snowshoeing trails available. Go snow tubing on the Tubing Hill and ice skating on Hosmer Pond. Midcoast Maine is the premier sailing destination, with weekly Windjammer cruises and sailboat rentals