NEW ENGLAND - in 1980

Travel back to New England in 1980—a region of triple-deckers and town greens, mill cities and fishing ports, church suppers and clambakes. The film captures a lifestyle rooted in neighborhood families, union shifts, paper and textile mills, shipyards, and cod boats; Saturdays meant high-school ballgames, diners, and local newspapers. Commerce leaned heavily on manufacturing and maritime work, while the tech scene was just beginning to form along Boston’s Route 128 corridor, where early computer companies hinted at the digital age to come.

Seen from today, the picture has changed dramatically. Population has grown and concentrated around metro Boston and southern New England, while smaller northern towns have stayed frozen in time. The old mill economy gave way to biotech, healthcare, higher education, and green technology, while tourism, farm-to-table food, and coastal recreation now anchor much of the region’s commerce. The salt air and fishing boats remain—but the business model has gone global.

Nowhere is that shift more visible than in Maine’s most famous export: the lobster roll. What was once a local seaside delicacy is now a national brand, thanks to Cousins Maine Lobster, launched in 2012 by two cousins from Portland and boosted by investor Barbara Corcoran after its appearance on Shark Tank. The franchise transformed a New England tradition into a nationwide food-truck sensation—proof that heritage and innovation can coexist beautifully.

This regional film captures the pace, accents, and character of New England at a turning point—before the malls faded, before tech took over, when family-run businesses still defined the landscape. Watching it now reminds us what has changed, and what never will: pride, craftsmanship, and that unmistakable Yankee resilience.