Learning from Augusta, Maine

From a Boston Globe travel article, "Capital pleasures: On the way by, stop in at a fort, an arboretum, a children's museum, and more," about Augusta, Maine.

When I travel, I check out libraries, local cultural resources, and yes, neighborhood commercial districts. I really like to look at local independent retail outlets. And in the interim, for commercial district revitalization efforts, to generate ideas, with regard to a wide variety of the issues I am involved with, I read travel sections of newspapers and magazines like National Geographic Travel, plus city magazines and the local alternative newspapers. There are lots of good ideas out there...

A great way to "electrify" a store window. Vacuum store owner Dale Hatch posed in his storefront with a circa 1895 vacuum cleaner. "This makes them stop in their tracks," he said of this particular vacuum. Photos by Fred J. Field for the Boston Globe.)

Talk about having a commercial district worth visiting. A pedestrian walks along the East side of Water Street in downtown Augusta. Brick and stone are the primary architectural ingredients in the center of the city.

Here's a solid use of the riverfront in a city/community affirming manner. Maine's capital, also home to a rail trail and the state museum, straddles both sides of the Kennebec River.

Index Keywords: traditional-commercial-districts, riverfronts