On a sparkling October morning, with peak fall foliage blazing red and yellow, the residents of Lewiston emerged from two long days of lockdown on Saturday into a city forever changed.
Sidewalks came to life.
And the families of 18 people killed by a mass shooter here on Wednesday night tried to move on in a haze of grief, their losses piling an almost unbearable weight on a place that prides itself on its resilience.
Lewiston, Maine — a city of 36,000 that feels more like a small town — sits away from the picturesque harbors and privileged enclaves of the coastline, in the sprawling inland interior of this vast rural state.
With a history bookended by two waves of immigration, a century apart, and hollowed out by the lost textile mills that once defined its economy, it is frequently described by outsiders with well-worn, vaguely disparaging adjectives.
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Locations:
Lewiston, Lewiston , Maine