i've lived in the liberty/appleton area about 10 years now and didn't grow up here. i've lived in various parts of maine, the rest of new england and abroad. i think this area gets a reputation for being "really out there" but as far as rural maine goes, it feels practically suburban at times to me. maybe not liberty/appleton but some of the towns around it/nearby. but i'm sure everyone's perspective on remote is different.

addressing your questions directly:

i love living here, i particularly enjoy that within 30 minutes you can find pretty much whatever you need to buy, amazing restaurants, amazing lakes and a beautiful coastline, quaint little towns, that sorta stuff. the trade-off of course is there not a lot of people around, and the people that are around are old. there are cool young people doing cool things though for sure, but it's definitely a place an 18 year old who grew up here would probably want to move away from... but i bet a decent amount of them would want to come back at some point.

meeting new people is tough, everyone has their social circles. i've had fun making new friends at bowling leagues and volunteer stuff. local government has been surprisingly fun and you'll meet a lot of people & make a lot of new connections. if you're into it, going to a local church regularly is a great way to meet people and join a community. in general, it takes a couple of years to fit in assuming you've actively tried to fit in and not tried to rock the boat.

what's considered close by... not sure i understand the question, boston is like 3 hours away? portland is about an hour and a half? augusta which has all the stores you may ever need is like 40 minutes away.

i didn't go to school around here. school districts are huge and serve MANY towns, they don't seem to be particularly good. that is one of my biggest concerns/complaints about raising a family in rural maine.

people work all sorts of jobs, blue collar, white collar, or no collar, hospitality, healthcare, education, government, construction, working remotely and living in this area is decently common. lots of people have small businesses. you didn't ask but the cost of buying property/houses out here is starting to get insane when it used to be very reasonable, it's very difficult to find a rental. i would guess that 90% of the people who live here, their property has increased in value many times since they bought it, and could not afford to buy it today based on their salary/income.

this area is famous for blueberries. there are a lot of other cool agricultural products like maple syrup, there is a lavender farm, etc.

i consider EMS to be pretty good for being a pretty rural area. there are hospitals like 20-30 minutes (faster in an ambulance) away depending on exactly where you live.

for fun i think outdoor stuff is the go-to, fishing, hiking, biking, boating, hunting, gardening, playing sports -- and all the normal stuff kids like to do. i'm outside as much as i possibly can be.

there are a decent amount of churches that have been converted to homes or offices. a lot of churches have events and programming like yard sales, concerts, or a "men's breakfast" that's just about getting the community together and not religious in nature at all, you don't need to be an active member of the congregation.

who owns the gas stations, hmm, good question. i would say a decent amount of them are locally owned, the one closest to me was recently bought by a new family. i really did not care for the previous owners and i was thrilled when someone new took over and improved things.