Explore the real-world places that appear in Amy and Isabelle by Elizabeth Strout. Each location on the map shows what happens there in the novel, the real history of the place, and what's there today. Featured locations include Bates Mill Complex, Tilton and Tilton (Isabelle's Workplace), Lewiston High School (Shirley Falls High), Lewiston Public Library, Androscoggin River and Great Falls and 5 more.
Canal Street — the mill-town backbone of Shirley Falls
Shirley Falls is a former mill town whose brick factories and canals shape the daily lives of Isabelle Goodrow and her neighbors. The mills stand for the town's faded working-class identity, the world that Isabelle, a single mother who came there to hide her past, feels trapped in. Strout uses the weathered industrial landscape to echo the emotional constraint in which mother and daughter live.
The Bates Mill complex was built beginning in 1850 along the Androscoggin River canals and became one of the largest textile operations in Maine. Textile production declined through the 20th century, and the mills finally closed in 2001.
The mill buildings have been redeveloped into offices, studios, and public space. Visitors can walk along the canals and see the huge brick structures that give Lewiston its character.
Visit: Bates Mill Complex (landmark)
Downtown Lewiston — office where Isabelle and Amy work side by side
Isabelle works as a secretary at the Tilton and Tilton office, and in the summer Amy works there too. Mother and daughter sit in the same workplace, close but silent after Isabelle learns of Amy's relationship with her math teacher. Fat Bev, Dottie Dubois, and other co-workers surround them with gossip, small kindnesses, and comic relief.
Lewiston's downtown, centered on Lisbon Street, was historically the commercial heart of the Androscoggin mill district and was crowded with offices, shops, and department stores. The fictional firm is placed here as a typical downtown business.
Lisbon Street remains Lewiston's main downtown corridor, now with a mix of small businesses, restaurants, and civic buildings. No single building corresponds to the fictional firm.
East Avenue — Amy's school and her math teacher's classroom
Amy Goodrow, shy and self-conscious, attends the local high school where her math teacher, Mr. Robertson, becomes the object of her devotion. Their relationship begins in the classroom, in the charged space between a teacher's attention and a lonely girl's fantasies. When it is discovered, the scandal spreads through the school and the town.
Lewiston High School has served the city's students for generations, drawing from the French-Canadian mill families who settled there. The current campus on East Avenue reflects the city's growth in the 20th century.
Lewiston High School is still an active public high school, so it is not open to casual visitors.
Lisbon Street — a quiet refuge in town
Libraries and quiet public spaces are where a shy girl like Amy might retreat in a small town, a setting in keeping with her inward, bookish life. This is an equivalent real place for the town's civic spaces, where the characters' lives briefly cross while they carry their private shames.
The Lewiston Public Library was established in 1902 with support from Andrew Carnegie-era philanthropy, in a landmark Beaux-Arts building. It grew with the city's industrial wealth.
The library remains a busy public library with reading rooms, community programs, and local history materials.
Visit: Lewiston Public Library (library)
The falls that gave the town its name
The river and falls that power Shirley Falls's mills form its natural heart, a presence behind the characters' stifled lives. Strout's town takes its name from the falls, and the surrounding water and woods provide contrast to the cramped houses where mother and daughter fail to speak.
The Androscoggin's falls drove the development of Lewiston's textile industry in the 19th century. The Great Falls, a roughly 50-foot drop, were harnessed by canals built in the 1850s.
The falls can be viewed from the riverfront near downtown, and a trail runs along the water. Great Falls Park offers views across to Auburn.
Visit: Great Falls Park (park)
Pine and Park Streets — the town green
Public green spaces like this one stand in for the places in Shirley Falls where townspeople gather and talk, and where rumors about Amy and Mr. Robertson spread. The town's various dramas, including the UFO sighting and the missing child, play out in the shared outdoor spaces of the community.
Kennedy Park is Lewiston's central public park, once known as Lewiston Park, and a community gathering place since the 19th century. It has long hosted concerts, protests, and festivals.
The park has open lawns, a bandstand, and playgrounds, and it hosts community events throughout the year.
Visit: Kennedy Park (park)
Lisbon and Ash Streets — Catholic heart of the mill town
The Catholic and Franco-American world of the mill town surrounds Isabelle, whose sense of shame and propriety is shaped by what neighbors might think. Churches in Shirley Falls represent community judgment as well as comfort, a reminder of the secrets Isabelle hides about Amy's father.
The Basilica was built in 1938 from granite in a Gothic Revival style, replacing an earlier church. It was named a basilica in 2004, serving the area's large French-Canadian Catholic community.
The Basilica is an active parish church and a striking landmark of Lewiston's skyline, open for services and visits.
Visit: Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul (landmark)
Lincoln and Oxford Streets — working-class housing near the mills
The Goodrow home sits in the working-class mill-town streets where neighbors know everyone's business. Inside, Isabelle and Amy eat, sleep, and live in angry silence while the town's gossip passes between porches. Fat Bev's kindness and meddling come from the same close-packed community.
Little Canada was the dense neighborhood of French-Canadian mill workers who came to Lewiston in the late 19th century. Many of its tenements were demolished in the 20th century.
Some of the surviving streets and buildings are near the Franco Center and the mill district. The area is largely residential and private.
Canal Street, inside Bates Mill No. 5 — the mill town's story
The labor history of Shirley Falls underlies the lives of Isabelle and her co-workers, women who spend their days in the town's offices and shops. Though the museum itself is not in the book, it preserves the mill-town world Strout dramatizes.
Museum L-A opened in 1995 as the Lewiston-Auburn Museum to document the area's industrial and immigrant history. It is housed in the Bates Mill complex.
Museum L-A presents exhibits on the area's mill workers, French-Canadian heritage, and local industries.
Visit: Museum L-A (museum)
Campus Avenue — the nearby college on the town's edge
The nearby college is a world apart from Isabelle's mill-town life, the kind of institution that stands for education and escape beyond Shirley Falls. For Amy, hopes of leaving the town and her mother's shame lie in schools and learning like this.
Bates College was founded in 1855 and was one of the first coeducational colleges in New England. Its campus sits on the edge of Lewiston's downtown.
Bates is a liberal arts college with a historic quad, the Olin Arts Center, and the Museum of Art, open to visitors.
Visit: Bates College Museum of Art (museum)
More by Elizabeth Strout: Olive Kitteridge locations map · All Elizabeth Strout books
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