While I was staying in Rowe, I decided that this was my chance visit a few other of the towns in the area. Just up the street was the least populated town on the Massachusetts mainland, Monroe. With only 121 residents as of the 2010 census, there’re not a lot of people there! After heading down the steep hill into town, you see the mill next to the Deerfield River, and then come onto Depot Street, where there are about 10 houses and the town hall. One of the houses had a pub/restaurant in it, where a number of motorcyclists had stopped.
This is a town that you certainly wouldn’t get to unless you wanted to get there. There’s no numbered routes in the town, and it’s right on the Vermont border with no larger towns around it. I understand that it had a little boom when the Hoosac Tunnel was built in the mid 1800’s, (population 3000) but it’s been pretty sleepy since. With so few people, there are few municipal services (they have a library, fire station, and post office, but no schools or police station). It seemed like the type of place that would be a village within another town anyplace else, but they’ve managed to keep their own identity.
So, when have you been able to stick it out when others went elsewhere?