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I know Mapleville has a 50-yard roadway called Mapleville Main Street and the same with Harrisville with their Harrisville Main Street.
500 yards, but yeah, it isn't much.
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Pascoag's Main Street is South Main toward Chepachet and North Main toward Harrisville, but you still need to use a zip code on any delivery to get correct delivery.
There is also Pascoag Main Street in between North Main and South Main, through "downtown."
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There is a Whipple Road from North Smithfield that reaches into Burrilville, but is delivered by North Smithfield. Pascoag Whipple is delivered from Pascoag and Oakland's Whipple is delivered from Harrisville. Pascoag, Harrisville and Oakland are all villages of the Town of Burrilville.
I'm not familiar with Whipple in North Smithfield. There is a Whipple Road in Glocester that enters Burrillville, but it changes to Peach Orchard Road on the Burrillville side of the line.
Dunno. Woods Hole. Pocasett. Sagamore. Osterville. I live in Padanaram. Assonet. Massachusetts has plenty.
My town has a half dozen distinct villages that date back to more rural times. In much of the 20th century, they all had a general store, gas station, church, and school. Many of them vanished as working villages.
I was going to say much of the Cape is similar to RI in how it is set up. And you do get outliers like Dartmouth and Freetown. As a general rule though; I mean you get Fairhaven and "Downtown Fairhaven", Middleboro and "Downtown Middleboro", Mansfield and "Downtown Mansfield", Franklin and "Downtown Franklin", etc.
I think it has more to do with colonial development and walkability. Compare the original colonies to the newer states.... doubt there are many "villages" in the Dakotas.
East Greenwich was never a mill town though. It started near the bay and grew out from there. It wasn't very developed for a long time other than that hill and harbor area.
Think of West Warwick with Harris, Natick, Lippitt, Riverpoint, Arctic, Phenix, Crompton. Arctic was the commercial main street/ town hall center linking them. All the rest are villages formed around mills along the river.
Same with Coventry and Quidnick/Anthony/Washington or Cumberland with Lonsdale/Ashton/Berkeley/Valley Falls. Western Coventry being more rural and spread out, they had their own closer trading spots like Summit or Rice City or Coventry center. I imagine Northern Cumberland might be the same - Cumberland Hill or Manville being less of a hike than going to Valley Falls.
Manville is part of Lincoln with close ties to Woonsocket, just for clarification.
I think it has more to do with colonial development and walkability. Compare the original colonies to the newer states.... doubt there are many "villages" in the Dakotas.
I think it’s more recent than colonial era. Paved roads and automobiles weren’t all that common until at least the 1920s. People walked to school. The range of a horse and wagon was pretty limited to get to a church or a store. We’re in a very high population density part of the country where suburban sprawl overwhelmed the village structure of the early 20th century. It still survives in the less dense areas. You also see mill villages with the mill on the millpond and the cluster of worker housing around it with school, church, and store. Until cars got reliable, the gas station/auto repair business. Danville in Killingly CT springs to mind. Ballardvale and Shaswheen in Andover Ma.
The other confusing aspect to that area is that Washington County used to be named Kings County. It was renamed after independence in honor of George Washington who actually stopped in Kingston during the war. Making matters even worse, far more people refer to this area as South County which is technically not a real county name.
I think it’s more recent than colonial era. Paved roads and automobiles weren’t all that common until at least the 1920s. People walked to school. The range of a horse and wagon was pretty limited to get to a church or a store. We’re in a very high population density part of the country where suburban sprawl overwhelmed the village structure of the early 20th century. It still survives in the less dense areas. You also see mill villages with the mill on the millpond and the cluster of worker housing around it with school, church, and store. Until cars got reliable, the gas station/auto repair business. Danville in Killingly CT springs to mind. Ballardvale and Shaswheen in Andover Ma.
Yes, evolving over time since the colonial era. Thanks for expanding my point.
I have family in Manville, RI. I didn't know it was part of Lincoln until well into my 20s. I regularly got weird looks even from Rhode Islanders when I said "Manville." I also love that the only way to get to Acoaxet (Westport, MA) from elsewhere in Westport is to drive through Adamsville (Little Compton).
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Originally Posted by massnative71
I was going to say much of the Cape is similar to RI in how it is set up. And you do get outliers like Dartmouth and Freetown. As a general rule though; I mean you get Fairhaven and "Downtown Fairhaven", Middleboro and "Downtown Middleboro", Mansfield and "Downtown Mansfield", Franklin and "Downtown Franklin", etc.
I don't really think it's all that unusual in MA, nor is it that unique to the Southeastern part of the state. Even excluding the Boston area (there are a ton) where it could be argued that places like Auburndale in Newton are different from small town villages. Off the top of my head you have Magnolia (Gloucester), Beverly Farms (Bevery), Baldwinville (Templeton), Cordaville (Southborough), Bondsville (Palmer), Haydenville (Williamsburg), Florence (Northampton), Housatonic (Great Barrington), etc. Shelburne Falls is a weird one in that the village is actually split between two towns (Shelburne and Buckland). Montague is arguably better known by its semi-independent villages like Turner's Falls and Miller's Falls than the town itself.
I have family in Manville, RI. I didn't know it was part of Lincoln until well into my 20s. I regularly got weird looks even from Rhode Islanders when I said "Manville." I also love that the only way to get to Acoaxet (Westport, MA) from elsewhere in Westport is to drive through Adamsville (Little Compton).
I don't really think it's all that unusual in MA, nor is it that unique to the Southeastern part of the state. Even excluding the Boston area (there are a ton) where it could be argued that places like Auburndale in Newton are different from small town villages. Off the top of my head you have Magnolia (Gloucester), Beverly Farms (Bevery), Baldwinville (Templeton), Cordaville (Southborough), Bondsville (Palmer), Haydenville (Williamsburg), Florence (Northampton), Housatonic (Great Barrington), etc. Shelburne Falls is a weird one in that the village is actually split between two towns (Shelburne and Buckland). Montague is arguably better known by its semi-independent villages like Turner's Falls and Miller's Falls than the town itself.
The difference is that most of those MA places do have an actual "downtown" (Newton Center, Downtown Gloucester, etc.) that is the main center of development and civic activity. There is no "Downtown Lincoln, RI" or "Downtown Smithfield" or "Downtown Johnston". I guess another MA exception would be Northbridge, where Whitinsville is kind of the "center" (is there anywhere called Downtown Northbridge???).
Central Falls was "Downtown Smithfield." It became "Downtown Lincoln" when Lincoln split off from Smithfield, until it became its own city.
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