In Maine village, locals ponder future of summer resident Tucker Carlson following ouster from Fox News
In Bryant Pond, a close-knit village in Western Maine, news travels fast.
And when news broke last week that its most famous summer resident, conservative provocateur Tucker Carlson, had been unceremoniously ousted from his prime-time perch at Fox News, the quiet community took it personally.
Since his childhood, Carlson has vacationed during the summer at Bryant Pond in Woodstock, a town with fewer than 1,400 people where his family has owned a home for more than 40 years and he has often broadcast his prime-time cable news show, first at the local library and later his own studio.
After his stunning departure from Fox, residents are buzzing over his future plans — and whether Carlson may use his rural retreat as his headquarters as he seeks to rebuild his career.
Carlson has referred to Bryant Pond as his “favorite place in the world” and described the time he has spent in town, about 60 miles north of Portland, as the “one constant” in his life.
“I know a lot of people. I am grateful for their kindness and friendship. I like the continuity. I even have plots in Lakeside Cemetery. I plan to spend a lot of time there, actually an eternity,” he told writer Pamela Chodosh in a 2018 column.
In town, Carlson has traded his bellicose on-screen persona for a more neighborly temperament, although the hallmarks of his wealth and status remain: a cohort of security guards, several black luxury vehicles, a renovated studio for work.
Carlson is no friend of the left, but in small-town Maine, people’s politics lean right. In the 2020 presidential election, Oxford County, where Bryant Pond is located, backed Donald Trump by a considerable margin. While Carlson has his detractors, even those who disagree with his politics acknowledged that he has been widely accepted in town.
“When he’s in town, he blends right in. He’s just a regular old guy,” said Tonya Lewis, the town clerk of Woodstock. “He’s been coming here since he was a child. He spent, I think, almost all his summers since childhood here on Lake Christopher. And now he owns a few properties here.”
Still, locals are somewhat divided over the prospect of Carlson living in Bryant Pond on a more regular basis. While some championed the idea and said they were disappointed that he was dropped by Fox, others denounced his peddling of disinformation and expressed concern over the low-key area becoming the focus of national attention.
“We’ve had reactions on both sides,” said Lewis, adding that calls to the town office have exploded since the news of Carlson’s exit, with reporters from all over asking for details. “Some people are absolutely upset that it happened, and some people are rejoicing.”
Matthew Jones, the pastor of Bryant Pond Baptist Church, said he and his parishioners welcome Carlson to join the community on a more permanent basis. Calling the polarizing pundit “the last truth teller of any of the major media sources,” Jones said Carlson used to attend service regularly with his family while on vacation but has not been back in many years.
“I would welcome Tucker bringing his show to our community full time. I would say most of our church family supports Tucker. He has the courage to stand against the orthodox beliefs of both the Democrat and Republican parties,” Jones said by e-mail. “Tucker is not afraid to speak truth.”
Carlson, 53, who grew up California, has other ties to New England. He received his secondary education at St. George’s School in Middletown, R.I., an elite prep-school where he met his wife, Susan Andrews, the daughter of the headmaster at the time. He graduated from Trinity College in Hartford in 1991.
But it’s Bryant Pond that keeps drawing him back.
For several years, he broadcast his show in the summertime from a makeshift studio built in the basement of the Whitman Library, which he rented out. Before the pandemic, in a move that spurred some controversy, he bought the old town garage, just down the road from his home, the Sun Journal reported.
After a series of renovations, he quietly began filming “Tucker Carlson Tonight” from the small studio in 2020, the Sun Journal reported. The next year, he launched a daytime show, “Tucker Carlson Today,” on Fox Nation from the set, with a backdrop of a wooden log cabin and an American flag.
Carlson couldn’t be reached for comment through his lawyer.
EmmaMaagic Einhorn, 49, who uses they/them pronouns, lives across the street from the studio and has watched the visitors come and go for years.
Some Carlson fans knock on Einhorn’s door to ask about his whereabouts, which has prompted Einhorn to install a security camera. In the past week, Einhorn has seen sports utility vehicles with tinted windows on the property, as well as Carlson’s pickup truck, “but he’s not here, from what I understand.”
“To see this much traffic around Tucker’s and everybody standing outside the building talking, it is definitely the talk of the town,” Einhorn said.
“I don’t look at him as someone famous,” Einhorn added. “He’s just a person. There’s definitely an air of trust fund kid when you speak to him in person, but he’s not unkind.”
Bryant Pond, known as the last place in the country that used crank phones, is so small that you could easily miss it while driving on Route 26. There’s a post office, a town office, an elementary school, a library, and not much else. But Carlson often shops at one of the few businesses in town, a yellow clapboard convenience store.
Bob Breau, 65, owned the store and gas station, Breau’s Too, with his wife for 27 years before selling the business. An occasional viewer of Carlson’s show, he was shocked when Fox cut ties with Carlson, calling him “well respected” in the area and expressing appreciation for his patronage, when they would exchange polite small talk.
“I’m sure this isn’t the end of Tucker Carlson,” said Breau, who lives in nearby Greenwood.
On Wednesday night, Carlson spoke publicly for the first time since his ouster, posting a video to social media in which he told viewers, “See you soon.”
Some in this village would prefer otherwise.
James Daugherty, 62, who described himself as one of the few Democrats in town, said he was disgusted by Carlson’s baseless and dangerous theories about election fraud, coronavirus vaccines, and the Jan. 6 insurrection.
“My personal feeling is we’re going to be seeing tons of him now,” Daugherty said. “I am glad to see him take a little fall. But who knows what the second act is going to be.”
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