New England town
Quaint northeastern municipality
A New England town is a unit of local government in the northeastern United States, distinct from incorporated cities.
These towns encompass both village centers and surrounding rural areas, governed through direct democracy at town meetings where residents vote on budgets and ordinances.
The New England town meeting is often cited as pure democracy in action.
The term also evokes a cultural image: white church steeples, village greens, colonial architecture.
- selectmenElected municipal board members
- colonial settlementOutpost in claimed territory
- village greenShared central lawn
- general storeAll-purpose rural shop
- congregationalOf member-governed worship communities
church supper · farmers' markets · local ordinances · saltbox · maple · covered bridges · meetinghouse · historic churches · clapboard · stone walls · picket fence · steeple · nor'easter · Cape Cod · abolitionist movement · planning commission · zoning board · green
- TownshipsSoweto, Alexandra, Meadowlands, Zola, Sharpeville
- town governmentselectmen, alderman, aldermen, assessor, constable
New England townexurb
Semirural fringe settlement
suburban sprawl · bedroom community · gated community · master-planned community · unincorporated area
New England townunincorporated area
Region lacking municipal governance
town, downtown, uptown, towns, English, township, England, townie, New England