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109-461: In 1644, Eastham, Massachusetts was settled by Pilgrims who were no longer satisfied in the Plymouth Colony . The town's name was officially changed from Nauset to Eastham when the town was incorporated. Nevertheless, the official "creation" of Eastham's first library was not until February 11, 1878 when town meeting approved allotting $ 175 for a library. The Eastham library was first housed in

218-475: A town meeting form of government, as many still are today. Towns originally were the only form of incorporated municipality in New England. The city form of government was not introduced until much later. Boston , for instance, was a town for the first two centuries of its existence. The entire land areas of Connecticut and Rhode Island had been divided into towns by the late 18th century, and Massachusetts

327-688: A town meeting , an assembly of eligible town residents. The great majority of municipal corporations in New England are based on the town model; there, statutory forms based on the concept of a compact populated place are uncommon, though elsewhere in the U.S. they are prevalent. County government in New England states is typically weak, and in some states nonexistent. Connecticut , for example, has no county governments , nor does Rhode Island . Both of those states retain counties only as geographic subdivisions with no governmental authority, while Massachusetts has abolished eight of fourteen county governments so far. Counties serve mostly as dividing lines for

436-658: A CDP which is coextensive with the entire town. CDPs are only recognized within towns, not cities. Because the primary role of CDPs is to establish "place" data for communities located in unincorporated areas, a CDP cannot be within an incorporated place. Since the Census Bureau recognizes New England cities as incorporated places, a CDP cannot be within a city. Data users from outside New England should be aware that New Englanders usually think in terms of entire towns (i.e., MCD data), making CDP data of marginal local interest. Since virtually all territory in New England outside of Maine

545-455: A borough or city can span more than one town. In practice, though, most cities in Connecticut today do not function any differently from their counterparts elsewhere in New England. See the section below on boroughs and villages for more background on this topic. There are far fewer cities in New England than there are towns, although cities are more common in heavily built-up areas, and most of

654-479: A borough, a city can cover only a portion of a town rather than being coextensive with the town. This is rare today—only one or two examples remain—but it was more common in the past. At least one borough historically spanned more than one town: the borough of Danielsonville originally laid over parts of Killingly and Brooklyn , until the Brooklyn portion petitioned to be reorganized as a fire district and concurrently

763-538: A building on Samoset Road that also contained a general store and the Post Office. William H. Nickerson gave the land that the library still resides on to the Village Improvement Society (V.I.S.) in 1887. It took several years to build the library, but the trustees opened the building to the public on January 8, 1898. The V.I.S. eventually sold the library to the town in 1903 for one dollar. That same year,

872-521: A city, it is coextensive and consolidated with the Town of Hartford; governed by a single governmental entity with the powers and responsibilities of the Town being carried out by the entity referred to as the City of Hartford. In legal theory though not in current practice Connecticut cities and boroughs could be coextensive (covering the same geography as the town) without being consolidated (a single government); also

981-420: A fair number of unincorporated, named communities that lie within the incorporated territory of a municipality. Connecticut is one of two New England states to have any type of incorporated general-purpose municipality below the town level, namely incorporated boroughs (Vermont has incorporated villages). There are nine remaining in the state, with one, Naugatuck , having consolidated with the town. Additionally,

1090-452: A few cases in Maine where a township or gore does not border any other unorganized land, it is treated as its own MCD rather than being folded into a larger UT. In theory, a CDP could probably be defined within an MCD representing an unorganized area. Due to the extremely sparse population in most such areas, however, there are few if any cases in which the Census Bureau has actually done so. For

1199-617: A field just west of Nauset Light. According to the United States Census Bureau , the town has a total area of 25.7 square miles (66.6 km ), of which 14.0 square miles (36.2 km ) is land and 11.7 square miles (30.4 km ), or 45.68%, is water. It is bordered by Cape Cod Bay and the Atlantic Ocean on its western and eastern sides, respectively. Eastham is also bordered by the towns of Wellfleet and Orleans on its northern and southern sides, respectively. Eastham

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1308-490: A historical example in New Hampshire, see Plantation number four . Most areas of New England never developed municipal forms based on the compact populated place concept. This contrasts with states with civil townships, which typically have extensive networks of villages or boroughs that carve out or overlay the townships. Two of the New England states do have general-purpose municipalities of this type, however, to at least

1417-470: A limited extent. Connecticut has incorporated boroughs , and Vermont has incorporated villages . Such areas remain a part of their parent town, but assume some responsibilities for municipal services within their boundaries. In both states, they are typically regarded as less important than towns, and both seem to be in decline as institutions. In recent decades, many boroughs and villages have disincorporated, reverting to full town control. The term "village"

1526-474: A list of all New England towns and other town-level municipalities, see the following articles: Note: All population statistics are from the 2020 United States census . Connecticut contains 169 incorporated towns. Put into terms that are equivalent to the other New England states, 20 are cities/boroughs and 149 are towns. (As discussed in the Cities section of Other types of municipalities in New England above,

1635-461: A normal-sized town, these areas were known by a variety of names, including gores , grants, locations, purchases, surpluses, and strips. Sometimes these areas were not included in any town due to survey errors (which is the technical meaning of the term "gore"). Sometimes they represent small areas that were left over when a particular region was carved into towns, not large enough to be a town on their own. Some appear to have simply been granted outside

1744-550: A part of a town — within Barnstable, the seven villages correspond to districts for fire, water, sewer and elementary schooling, for instance. (In Maine and New Hampshire, the term "village corporation" is used for a type of special-purpose district.) Many villages also are recognized as places by the United States Postal Service (some villages have their own post offices , with their names used in mailing addresses) or

1853-487: A particular area. This was very common in the mid to late 18th century—although there were towns which predated that period and were not part of this process in southeastern New Hampshire, such as Exeter . Once there were enough residents in a town to formally organize a town government, no further action was necessary to incorporate. This practice can lead to inconsistencies in the dates of incorporation for towns in this region. Dates given in reference sources sometimes reflect

1962-520: A particular municipality. All municipalities titled as cities are classified as incorporated places, even if their population-distribution pattern is no different from that of a typical town; towns are never classified as incorporated places, even if they are thoroughly built up. The ambiguity over whether certain municipalities in Massachusetts should be classified as cities or towns, and the Census Bureau's inconsistent handling of these municipalities (see

2071-451: A reference/local history room as well. The local history section contains 1750 titles that reflect the town's long history and its position in history as one of the early settlements of the Mayflower pilgrims . Throughout the year, the library offers programs for adults, children, and teens. While the library is one of the lowest staffed libraries on Cape Cod , it stays open 5 days a week for

2180-413: A result, Maine has developed more of an infrastructure for administration of unincorporated and unorganized areas than the other New England states. The existence of this fallback probably explains why Maine has had significantly more towns disincorporated over the years than any other New England state. There have been numerous instances of towns in Maine disincorporating despite populations that numbered in

2289-513: A similar purpose to MCDs in other states in terms of governmental function or civic-identity importance. New England towns are classified as MCDs not because they are not "incorporated" but rather the data that the census gathers on places is analyzed based on different models (those of compact settled places and open rural places) that is not well represented by the New England Town system of organization. In order to better fit their own purposes,

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2398-412: A single compact populated place. Plantations in Maine are similarly classified as MCDs. That New England towns serve, in essence, the same function as incorporated places in other states, but are not treated as incorporated places by the Census Bureau, can be a source of confusion. The Census classifications should not be understood to imply that New England towns are not incorporated, or necessarily serve

2507-405: A small portion of Chatham . Eastham town was officially incorporated in 1651. Eastham is the birthplace of Freeman Hatch, who in 1853 set the world record for a single-hull wooden sailing vessel from San Francisco around Cape Horn to Boston at the helm of the clipper ship Northern Light . Fishing and especially farming were early industries in the town, and writers and artists also came to

2616-538: A total of 38 hours. The Board of Library Trustees is composed of three elected members who govern the library along with the library's director (an employee of the Town of Eastham) For over 30 years, the library has received enormous support from the Friends of the Eastham Library. They provide the library with a volunteer corps of over 30 volunteers that the library heavily relies on in order to keep functioning. Most of

2725-423: A town and a city have become blurred. Since the early 20th century, towns have been allowed to modify the town meeting form of government in various ways (e.g., representative town meeting , adding a town manager ). In recent decades, some towns have adopted what effectively amount to city forms of government, although they still refer to themselves as towns. As a practical matter, one municipality that calls itself

2834-719: A town and another that calls itself a city may have exactly the same governmental structure. With these changes in town government, a reluctance to adopt the title of city seems to have developed, and few towns have officially done so since the early 20th century. In Massachusetts, nine municipalities ( Agawam , Barnstable , Braintree , Franklin , Palmer , Randolph , Southbridge , West Springfield and Weymouth ) have adopted Mayor-Council or Council-Manager forms of government in their home rule charters, and are therefore considered to be legally cities, but nevertheless continue to call themselves "towns". They are sometimes referred to in legislation and other legal documents as "the city known as

2943-426: A town disincorporated or a plantation surrendered its organization). The remaining eight counties contain significant amounts of unincorporated/unorganized territory. Most of these areas are in very sparsely populated regions, however. Only about 1.3% of the state's population lives in areas not part of a town, city, or plantation. (Since the 2000 Census, two towns, Madrid and Centerville, have disincorporated. Thus, at

3052-557: A town meeting as its legislative body; instead, a city's legislative body is an elected representative body, typically called the city council or town council or board of aldermen . City governments are typically administered by a mayor (and/or city manager ). In common speech, people often generically refer to communities of either type as "towns", drawing no distinction between the two. The presence of incorporated boroughs in Connecticut and incorporated villages in Vermont has influenced

3161-460: A unique type of entity called a plantation . Beneath the town level, Connecticut has incorporated boroughs , and Vermont has incorporated villages . In addition to towns, every New England state has incorporated cities. However, cities are treated in the same manner as towns under state law, differing from towns only in their form of government. Most cities are former towns that changed to a city form of government because they grew too large to have

3270-475: A very rudimentary organization that does not rise to the level of an organized general-purpose municipal government (e.g., a town clerk 's office exists for the purpose of conducting elections for state or federal offices). In general, unorganized areas fall into one of the three categories below. During the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, as town boundaries were being drawn up, small areas would sometimes be left over, not included in any town. Typically smaller than

3379-508: Is a town in Barnstable County , Massachusetts , United States, Barnstable County being coextensive with Cape Cod . The population was 5,752 at the 2020 census. For geographic and demographic information about the village of North Eastham, please see North Eastham, Massachusetts . Originally inhabited by the Nauset tribe, Eastham was the site of the 1620 landing of a hunting party from

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3488-544: Is approximately 30 inches (76 cm). The average snowiest month is February, which corresponds to the annual peak in nor'easter activity. U.S. Route 6 passes from south to north through the town. The Cape Cod Rail Trail , as well as several other bicycle routes, also pass through the town. There is no rail or air service in town; the nearest regional air service is at the Chatham Municipal Airport , though better and more regularly scheduled air service between

3597-533: Is currently represented by William Keating . The state's senior member of the United States Senate , elected in 2012, is Elizabeth Warren . The junior senator, elected in 2013, is Ed Markey . Eastham is governed by the open town meeting form of government, and is led by a town administrator and a board of selectmen . The town hall, police and fire department headquarters are all located along Route 6 across from Windmill Park. The Eastham Public Library

3706-470: Is divided into a children's room, a hall for young adults, a small multipurpose room, a staffroom, a restroom, storage, a conference room, and the Eastham Historical Society's archives. The top level holds the adult collection, which is composed of nonfiction, fiction, large print, audiovisual materials, and a magazine collection. There is a small reading room, public computers, two restrooms, and

3815-411: Is incorporated, CDPs do not really serve the same purpose as they do elsewhere; CDPs in New England invariably represent territory that is not "unincorporated", but part of a larger incorporated town. The extent to which such an area has its own distinct identity can vary, but is not usually as strong as identification with the town as a whole. There are numerous instances where the Census Bureau recognizes

3924-501: Is located just west of the park, along Samoset Road (which leads from Route 6 to First Encounter Beach). There are separate post offices for Eastham and the village of North Eastham, both of which are located along Route 6 (the former being just across from the town hall, south of the park). Eastham, along with Brewster, Orleans, Provincetown, Truro and Wellfleet, make up the Nauset Regional School District . Each town

4033-532: Is located on the "forearm" of Cape Cod, and is 23 miles (37 km) south of Provincetown , the same distance east-northeast of Barnstable , 38 miles (61 km) east of the Sagamore Bridge , and 92 miles (148 km) (by land) southeast of Boston . Approximately one-third of the town is located within the Cape Cod National Seashore . There are several freshwater ponds near the center of town,

4142-433: Is no area that is outside the bounds of a municipality. Using usual American terminology, there is no "unincorporated" land in Massachusetts. Of the 351 municipalities, the number that are cities and the number that are towns is a matter of some ambiguity. Depending on which source is consulted, anywhere from 39 to 53 are cities. The ambiguity is the result of questions around the legal status of municipalities that have since

4251-499: Is one of the few states in the region that is an exception to this rule; the Massachusetts Constitution requires a town to have a population of at least 10,000 people before it can switch its government from a town meeting form to a city form. Nevertheless, even without a hard and fast population limit for city status, the practical threshold to become a city seems to be higher in the three southern New England states than in

4360-657: Is represented in the Massachusetts Senate as a part of the Cape and Islands District, which includes all of Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket except the towns of Bourne, Falmouth, Sandwich and a portion of Barnstable. The town is patrolled by the Second (Yarmouth) Barracks of Troop D of the Massachusetts State Police . On the national level, Eastham is a part of Massachusetts's 9th congressional district , and

4469-797: Is responsible for operating its own elementary schools, with the middle and high school students attending regional schools. Eastham Elementary School serves students from kindergarten through fifth grade, and is located near the CCNS Visitor Center and the Schoolhouse Museum. Middle school students attend the Nauset Regional Middle School in Orleans, and the Nauset Regional High School is located in North Eastham, on

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4578-481: Is sometimes used in New England to describe a distinct, built-up place within a town or city. This may be a town center , which bears the same name as the town or city (almost every town has such a place), or a name related to that of the town, or a completely unrelated name. The town of Barnstable, Massachusetts , for example, includes the villages of Barnstable Village , West Barnstable , Centerville , Marstons Mills , Osterville , Cotuit , and Hyannis . Except for

4687-460: Is sufficiently populated to be covered by a town or a city. In colonial times, Massachusetts also used the term "plantation" for a community in a pre-town stage of development (Maine originally got the term from Massachusetts, as Maine was part of Massachusetts until 1820, when it became a state via the Missouri Compromise ). The term "plantation" had not been much used in Massachusetts since

4796-552: Is the site of the Eastham Windmill , the oldest windmill on Cape Cod. Another registered historic place, Nauset Light , is located on the grounds of the Cape Cod National Seashore . The Edward Penniman House and barn, a retired whaling captain's home, is located near Fort Hill. Eastham is the home to four museums maintained by the Eastham Historical Society: the 1869 Schoolhouse Museum, located on Route 6 opposite

4905-428: The United States Census Bureau (which recognizes some villages as census-designated places and tabulates census data for them). Towns with an example of the former, such as Richmond, Rhode Island , do not have a post office themselves, but instead use villages in town or villages in nearby towns as a mailing address. This leads to a weaker town identification in such towns, with residents more strongly identifying with

5014-549: The United States Census Bureau does not classify New England towns as "incorporated places". They are instead classified as " minor civil divisions " (MCDs), the same category into which civil townships fall. The Census Bureau classifies New England towns in this manner because they are conceptually similar to civil townships from a geographic standpoint, typically exhibiting similar population-distribution patterns. Like civil townships, but unlike most incorporated municipalities in other states, New England towns do not usually represent

5123-460: The 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. Town boundaries were not usually laid out on any kind of regular grid, but were drawn to reflect local settlement and transportation patterns, often affected by natural features. In early colonial times, recognition of towns was very informal, generally connected to local church divisions. By 1700, colonial governments had become more involved in the official establishment of new towns. Towns were typically governed by

5232-446: The 1840s, and for many years prior to the 1860s Vermont had just one city. Even Massachusetts, historically New England's most populous state, did not have any cities until 1822, when Boston was granted a city form of government by the state legislature. In most of New England, population is not a determining factor for what makes a city or town, and there are many examples of towns with larger populations than nearby cities. Massachusetts

5341-717: The 18th and 19th centuries as what might be termed "future towns", but never saw enough settlement to actually commence operation of a formal town government. All three of the northern New England states also include at least one unorganized township that was once a town but has disincorporated and reverted to unorganized territory, generally due to population loss. Maine also has some unorganized townships that were once organized as plantations. Maine has significantly more unorganized territory than Vermont or New Hampshire. Fewer than 100 Vermont residents and fewer than 250 New Hampshire residents live in unorganized areas. In Maine, by contrast, about 10,000 residents live in unorganized areas. As

5450-489: The 18th century. Massachusetts also once had "districts", which served much the same purpose. They were considered to be incorporated, but lacked the full privileges of a town. On August 23, 1775, in order for more representation for the Revolutionary War, 36 towns in Massachusetts and 6 in Maine were incorporated, effectively eliminating the district meaning. Maine and Rhode Island are also known to have made limited use of

5559-457: The 1970s, through home-rule petition, adopted corporate charters approved by the state legislature with forms of government that resemble city government and do not include elements traditionally associated with town government (especially, a board of selectmen and a town meeting). Of the fourteen communities that have done so, all but three call themselves a "town" in their municipal operations, and are usually referred to by residents as "towns", but

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5668-450: The 20th century, however. One late instance was the separation of Sugar Hill, New Hampshire , from the town of Lisbon in 1962. It has not taken place anywhere in New England in the last fifty years; boundary changes of any type are fairly rare. Towns are the basic building block of the New England municipality system, although several other types of municipalities also exist. Every New England state has cities . In addition, Maine also has

5777-582: The CCNS include several islands, divided by channels which lead from Nauset Bay and Salt Pond Bay to the ocean. The town also shares Town Cove with neighboring Orleans. Several creeks and the Herring River run inland from the bay side. The town of Eastham has a mild summer Humid continental climate (Dfb). The plant hardiness zone is 7a, with an average annual extreme minimum air temperature of 4.1 °F (–15.5 °C). The average seasonal (Nov-Apr) snowfall total

5886-475: The CDP. At the same time, not all built-up places with significant populations are recognized as CDPs. The Census Bureau has historically recognized relatively few CDPs within urbanized areas in particular. Many towns located in such areas do not contain any recognized CDPs and will thus be completely absent from Census materials presenting the population of "places". Greenwich, Connecticut, is one prominent example. While

5995-510: The Cape and Boston can be found in Provincetown and Hyannis through Cape Air , and the nearest national and international air service can be found at Logan International Airport in Boston. Eastham is also served by an inexpensive regional bus service, The Flex . As of the census of 2010, there were 4,956 people, 2,396 households, and 1,634 families residing in the town. The population density

6104-410: The Census Bureau, can be another source of confusion. The Census classifications should not be understood to imply that cities are incorporated but towns are not, or that cities and towns represent two fundamentally different types of entities. The Census classifies New England municipalities strictly based on whether they are towns or cities, with no regard to the actual population-distribution pattern in

6213-448: The Census only counts cities and certain fully urbanized towns as "places" in its categorization. In other towns, those with small built-up central villages, the Census designates one or more census-designated places (CDPs) and considers all other land to be parts of "minor civil divisions". This classification is done only for the Census's own data analysis, and otherwise has no connection to

6322-514: The Killingly portion was renamed Danielson by the General Assembly. There are no legal restrictions in Connecticut that would prevent a city or borough today from similarly overlaying the territory of more than one town, provided it is not consolidated with one of the underlying towns. Cities actually developed earlier in Connecticut than in the other New England states, and were originally based on

6431-620: The Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth's Office considers all fourteen to be legally cities. Other sources within state government often refer to all fourteen municipalities as towns, however. The U.S. Census Bureau listed all as towns through the 1990 Census. For the 2000 Census, some were listed by the Federal government as towns and some as cities, a situation that continues in Census materials since 2000. Massachusetts appears to be

6540-701: The National Seashore Center, the 1741 Swift-Daley House, the Antique Tool Museum and the Dill Beach Shack, all on Route 6 adjacent to the Eastham Post Office. The museums are open in July and August. New England town The town is the basic unit of local government and local division of state authority in the six New England states. Most other U.S. states lack a direct counterpart to

6649-446: The New England town. New England towns overlie the entire area of a state, similar to civil townships in other states where they exist, but they are fully functioning municipal corporations , possessing powers similar to cities and counties in other states. New Jersey's system of equally powerful townships, boroughs, towns, and cities is the system which is most similar to that of New England. New England towns are often governed by

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6758-466: The Statistics and Superlatives section below), further blurs matters. To fill in some of the "place" data, the Census Bureau sometimes recognizes census-designated places (CDPs) within New England towns. These often correspond to town centers or other villages, although not all such areas are recognized as CDPs. In cases where a town is entirely or almost entirely built-up, the Census sometimes recognizes

6867-512: The Town of ..." Greenfield, in December 2017, dropped the "town" designation, which some called "embarrassing" and which legislators said made paperwork more difficult. Common parlance labeling a community a "city" or a "town" may have more to do with its current size, whether its current size or its historical size and reputation. In addition to towns and cities, Maine has a third type of town-like municipality not found in any other New England state,

6976-524: The Town of Greenwich appears in MCD materials, the Census Bureau does not recognize Greenwich as a "place". In New Hampshire and Vermont, the Census Bureau treats each individual unorganized entity (township, gore, grant, etc.) as an MCD. In Maine, it seems, due to the extent of unorganized area, the Census Bureau typically lumps contiguous townships, gores, and the like together into larger units called "unorganized territories" (UTs), which are then treated as MCDs. In

7085-611: The U.S., except that it uses the town as its basic unit rather than the county. Even though the Census Bureau does not treat New England towns as "incorporated places", it does classify cities in New England as such. The rationale behind this is that cities are likely to be more thoroughly built-up and therefore more readily comparable to cities in other states than towns are. Boroughs in Connecticut and incorporated villages in Vermont are also treated as incorporated places. That New England states, in general, regard cities and towns on equal footing, yet they are handled in two different ways by

7194-556: The US Census Bureau treats Groton Long Point as a borough, as an act of the state legislature gives it the same powers as a borough, although it has never formally organized as one. They were once more numerous. Many of those that remain are very small. Connecticut also has at least one remaining city ( Groton ) that is within, but not coextensive with, its parent town . A second non-coextensive city, Winsted , still exists on paper, but its government has been consolidated with that of

7303-530: The Vivian Andrist Room on the lower level and the public can access it by appointment. Layout: Two floors- the lower level is mostly underground Square Footage: 8,632 square feet (801.9 m) Hours Circulation The library building is now over 20 years old and is not compliant with Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 . In 2005, the Board of Trustees and library staff began to look into expanding

7412-470: The actual organization or legal status of New England towns. The census bureau does uniquely recognize towns, however, in that it classifies metropolitan areas in New England on the basis of town boundaries rather than county boundaries as it does in other parts of the U.S. Unique to New England is the New England city and town area , which is analogous to Metropolitan Statistical Areas in other parts of

7521-421: The age of 18 living with them, 55.0% were married couples living together, 9.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 31.8% were non-families. 25.5% of all households were made up of individuals, and 12.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.24 and the average family size was 2.66. In the town, the population was spread out, with 17.7% under

7630-462: The age of 18, 5.0% from 18 to 24, 23.7% from 25 to 44, 27.6% from 45 to 64, and 26.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 48 years. For every 100 females, there were 93.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 89.0 males. The median income for a household in the town was $ 42,618, and the median income for a family was $ 51,269. Males had a median income of $ 36,642 versus $ 32,109 for females. The per capita income for

7739-505: The borough concept. At one time, all cities were non-coextensive; the practice of making cities coextensive with their towns was a later adaptation intended to mimic the city concept that had emerged in the other New England states. Over time, many non-coextensive cities have expanded to become coextensive with their parent town. As with boroughs, many have also disincorporated and reverted to full town control. These two trends have combined to make non-coextensive cities very rare in recent times;

7848-625: The boundary with New York State , housing the Stratford Shoal Light , is not part of any town and is administered directly by the United States Coast Guard . In general, inhabited minor off-shore islands are administered as part of a nearby town and in some cases, are their own independent towns, such as the town of Gosnold , Massachusetts, which encompasses the Elizabeth Islands . Unlike municipalities in most other states,

7957-415: The built-up area around a town center as a CDP, resulting in a CDP that bears the same name as the town. In these cases, data for the CDP is, in general, meaningless to local residents, who seldom draw any particular distinction between the built-up area around the town center and outlying areas of the town. A local source citing data for such a community will almost always use the data for the entire town, not

8066-399: The date when the town was chartered, which may have been long before it was settled, and not the date when its town government became active. In other parts of New England, some "future towns" were laid out along these lines, but such areas would not be formally incorporated as towns until they were sufficiently settled to organize a town government. A typical town in the northern three states

8175-434: The district concept. Districts have not been at all common since the first half of the 19th century, and there have not been any districts anywhere in New England in over a century. Maine is the only New England state that currently has a significant amount of territory that is not sufficiently populated to support town governments; thus, it is the only New England state that still needs the plantation type of municipality. For

8284-817: The edge of the Cape Cod National Seashore. The school's teams are known as the Warriors, and their colors are black and gold. High school students also have the option of attending Cape Cod Regional Technical High School in Harwich free of charge. There are no private schools in Eastham; the nearest are in Brewster. Eastham is home to a number of sites that are listed on the National Register of Historic Places . The Eastham Center Historic District, located near Town Hall,

8393-400: The evolution of cities in those states. In Connecticut in particular, the historical development of cities was quite different from in the other New England states, and at least technically, the relationship between towns and cities is today different from elsewhere in New England. Just as boroughs in Connecticut overlay towns, so do cities; for example, while Hartford is commonly thought of as

8502-484: The exception rather than the rule in the New England system, and the number of New England residents who live in them is extremely small in comparison to those who live in towns and cities, even in Maine. Most such areas are located in very sparsely populated regions. Much of the barely inhabited interior of Maine is unorganized, for example. The majority of the unincorporated areas in New Hampshire are in Coos County , and

8611-797: The hundreds. While these were not large communities, they were large enough to realistically operate a town government if they wanted to, but simply elected not to. In Vermont and New Hampshire, disincorporation has, in general, not been brought up for discussion unless a town's population has approached single digits. In general, coastal waters in the New England states are administered directly by either state or federal agencies and are not part of any town. Several towns, however, have chosen to include all or part of their corresponding coastal waters in their territory. Coastal waters include human-made structures built within them. In Connecticut, for example, an artificial, uninhabited island in Long Island Sound at

8720-510: The income of the Friends of the Eastham Library comes from membership dues and from book sales. The library received $ 32,000 from them in FY 2005 in order to purchase materials, furniture, books, and equipment. The money is also used to support programs for adults and children. Address: 190 Samoset Road, Eastham, MA Wireless: Available 24/7 because it is accessible from outside the library Archives: The Eastham Historical Society's archives are housed in

8829-490: The incorporated villages in Vermont, these "villages" are not incorporated municipalities and should not be understood as such. Towns do sometimes grant a certain measure of recognition to such areas, using highway signs that identify them as "villages", for example. These informal "villages" also sometimes correspond to underlying special-purpose districts such as fire or water districts, which are separately incorporated quasi-municipal entities that provide specific services within

8938-548: The largest being called Great Pond, which has two public beaches. Powerboats with 50 and under horsepower motors are allowed on Great Pond after receiving an inspection and sticker from the Natural Resources Department. Water skiing is permitted only on Great Pond and only on even numbered days. On all other Eastham freshwater ponds motorboats three horsepower and under are allowed. Along the Atlantic coast, portions of

9047-464: The largest municipalities in the region are titled as cities. Across New England as a whole, only about 5% of all incorporated municipalities are cities. Cities are more common in the three southern New England states, which are much more densely populated, than they are in the three northern New England states. In early colonial times, all incorporated municipalities in New England were towns; there were no cities. Springfield, Massachusetts , for instance,

9156-413: The library received $ 15,000 from the will of Robert C. Billings. In 1927, electricity was brought to the building and a toilet was installed in 1934. In 1961, the building was expanded to double its size in order to match the quickly growing town. Between 1961 and 1985, the year-round population of Eastham tripled and this meant that the library needed to expand as well. The library almost tripled in size and

9265-716: The library to meet the new needs of the ever-increasing Eastham community. They hope to demolish everything but the historic portion of the current library and build a 16,800-square-foot (1,560 m) building. The new building would be ADA compliant (important for Eastham's generally older population, especially) and energy efficient, with flexible spaces to provide a cultural center for the town to use as needed. The new library would also provide much needed space for new technologies and formats. 41°49′57.85″N 69°58′58.48″W  /  41.8327361°N 69.9829111°W  / 41.8327361; -69.9829111 Eastham, Massachusetts Eastham ( / ˈ iː s t h æ m / )

9374-612: The majority of the unincorporated areas in Vermont are in Essex County . Two additional counties in New Hampshire and three additional counties in Vermont contain smaller amounts of unincorporated territory. In Maine, eight of the state's sixteen counties contain significant amounts of unorganized territory (in essence, those counties in the northern and interior parts of the state). Four other counties contain smaller amounts. Most of these areas have no local government at all; indeed, some have no permanent population whatsoever. Some areas have

9483-402: The mid-19th century. The gatherings were at times attended by at least "one hundred and fifty ministers (!) and five thousand hearers" at a site called Millennium Grove, in the northwest part of town. (The area is now a residential neighborhood, among the only reminders being Campground Road and Millennium Lane.) Today, Eastham is known as the "Gateway” to the Cape Cod National Seashore , which

9592-443: The only New England state where this issue has arisen, though other New England states also have municipalities that have adopted what amounts to city forms of government but continue to call themselves "towns". In the other New England states, it does not appear that any need to officially label such municipalities as "cities" has been identified. For purposes of determining the "largest town" and "smallest city", in this article, only

9701-530: The only one currently incorporated is the city of Groton , located in the southwestern part of the town of Groton, Connecticut . In Vermont, if a village becomes a city, it does not continue to overlay its parent town, but breaks away and becomes a completely separate municipality. Most cities in Vermont today are actually former villages rather than former towns, and are much smaller than a typical town in terms of land area. The above process has created several instances where there are adjacent towns and cities with

9810-411: The original existing towns. This was an especially common practice during the 18th and early 19th centuries. More heavily populated areas were often subdivided on multiple occasions. As a result, towns and cities in urbanized areas are often smaller in terms of land area than an average town in a rural area. Formation of new towns in this manner slowed in the later part of the 19th century and early part of

9919-524: The plantation. A plantation is, in essence, a town-like community that does not have enough population to require full town government or services. Plantations are organized at the county level and typically found in sparsely populated areas. There is no bright-line population divider between a town and a plantation, but no plantation currently has any more than about 300 residents. Plantations are considered to be "organized" but not "incorporated." Not all counties have them; in some southern counties, all territory

10028-421: The relationship between towns and cities in Connecticut is different from the other New England states, at least on paper; thus, in the technical sense, all 169 of the above municipalities are really towns, with 20 overlaid by a coextensive city or borough of the same name.) Together, these 169 municipalities cover the entire state. There is no unincorporated territory, but, as in all New England states, there are

10137-439: The remaining 32 are organized as plantations. These 485 organized municipalities together cover much of, but not all of, the state's territory. Of Maine's sixteen counties, only four are entirely incorporated. Four other counties are almost entirely incorporated, but include small amounts of unincorporated/unorganized territory (three of these four counties were entirely incorporated or organized at one time, but lost that status when

10246-589: The sailing vessel Mayflower , which had stopped in Provincetown harbor on Cape Cod Bay after a rough crossing of the Atlantic Ocean. This led to the first encounter of the Pilgrims with the local Nauset people at what became known as First Encounter Beach. The area would not be settled by Europeans, however, until 1644. The original lands included what are now the towns of Truro , Wellfleet , Eastham, Orleans and

10355-506: The same name. In all cases, the city was originally the "town center" of the town, but later incorporated as a city and became a separate municipality. All three of the northern New England states ( Vermont , New Hampshire , and Maine ) contain some areas that are unincorporated and unorganized, not part of any town, city or plantation. Maine has significantly more such area than the other two states. While these areas do exist, their importance should not be overstated. They are certainly

10464-452: The states' judicial systems and some other state services in the southern New England states while providing varying (but generally limited) services in the more sparsely populated three northern New England states. Towns date back to the time of the earliest English colonial settlement , which predominated in New England, and they pre-date the development of counties in the region. Areas were organized as towns as they were settled, throughout

10573-452: The three northern New England states. In Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island, almost every city has at least 10,000 people, and all but a few have at least 20,000. In Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont, however, there are a number of cities with fewer than 10,000 people, and there are five (three in Maine and two in Vermont) with fewer than 5,000. Over time, some of the distinctions between

10682-399: The time of the 2000 Census, Maine had 22 cities, 434 towns, and 34 plantations, for a total of 490 organized municipalities. Also since the 2010 Census, Sanford adopted a new charter that included designation as a city.) Massachusetts contains 351 municipal corporations, consisting of cities and towns. These 351 municipalities together encompass the entire territory of Massachusetts; there

10791-444: The town of Winchester for many years, making it more of a special-purpose district than a true municipality. Winsted is no longer recognized by the Census Bureau as an incorporated place, although data is tabulated for a Census Designated Place that is coextensive with that of the original city. As of the 2020 census, Maine contains 485 organized municipalities, of which 23 are incorporated as cities, 430 are incorporated as towns, and

10900-524: The town was $ 24,642. About 4.5% of families and 7.0% of the population were below the poverty line , including 6.5% of those under age 18 and 7.3% of those age 65 or over. Eastham is represented in the Massachusetts House of Representatives as a part of the Fourth Barnstable district, which includes (with the exception of Brewster) all the towns east and north of Harwich on the Cape. The town

11009-683: The town. Gustavus Franklin Swift , born in Sagamore, MA , began his first meatpacking business in Eastham. It later moved to Brighton, MA , Albany, NY , and eventually started the meatpacking industry in Chicago . It was in Eastham that Henry Beston wrote The Outermost House . The town is discussed at some length in Henry David Thoreau 's Cape Cod as the somewhat rugged site of one of New England's largest summer " camp-meeting " evangelistic gatherings in

11118-621: The usual town structure, sometimes in areas where it was probably not contemplated that towns would ever develop. Over time, those located in more populated areas were, in general, annexed to neighboring towns or incorporated as towns in their own right. No such areas exist today in Massachusetts, Connecticut or Rhode Island, but some remain in New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine. All three of the northern New England states contain some town-sized unorganized entities, referred to as "unorganized townships" (sometimes, just "townships") or "unorganized towns". Most of these are areas that were drawn up on maps in

11227-451: The village they live in. However, villages or CDPs have no existence as general-purpose municipalities separate from the town (if they even have any legal existence at all), and are usually regarded by local residents as a part of the town in which they are located, less important than the whole. It is possible for a Connecticut borough or Vermont village to become a city. In Connecticut, cities overlay towns just as boroughs do, and, just like

11336-471: Was 390 inhabitants per square mile (150/km ). There were 5,535 housing units at an average density of 396 per square mile (153/km ). The racial makeup of the town was 96.31% White , 1.49% African American , 0.15% Native American , 0.31% Asian , 0.04% Pacific Islander , 0.29% from other races , and 1.41% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.83% of the population. There were 2,396 households, out of which 21.9% had children under

11445-547: Was almost completely covered early in the 19th century. By 1850, the only New England state that still had large unincorporated areas was Maine ; by the end of the 19th century, most areas in Maine that could realistically be settled had been organized into towns. Early town organization in Vermont and much of New Hampshire proceeded in a somewhat different manner from that of the other New England states. In these areas, towns were often "chartered" long before any settlers moved into

11554-582: Was founded in 1961 by President John F. Kennedy to protect Cape Cod's coast from erosion and overpopulation. The town is the site of many beaches, both on the Atlantic and on Cape Cod Bay, as well as the Nauset Light , which was moved to the town in 1923 from its former location in Chatham , and the Three Sisters Lighthouses, which have since been moved away from their now-eroded perches on the coast to

11663-486: Was laid out in a 6-by-6-mile (9.7 by 9.7 km) square. Each contained 36 sections, 1 mile (1.6 km) squares or 640 acres (260 ha). One section was reserved for the support of public schools. This was copied when the Continental Congress laid out Ohio in 1785–87. Many early towns covered very large amounts of land. Once areas had become settled, new towns were sometimes formed by breaking areas away from

11772-535: Was opened to the public in July 1988. In 1999, the part of the library that was the original library was added to the National Register of Historic Places as a part of the Eastham Center Historic District . The original library is the front room of the current library that now holds the Reference and Local History collections. As of the 1988 addition, the library now has two floors. The lower level

11881-442: Was settled as a "plantation" (in colonial Massachusetts, the term was synonymous with town) as early as 1636, but the city of Springfield was not established until 1852. The oldest cities in New England date to the last few decades of the 18th century, (e.g. New Haven, Connecticut , was chartered as a city in 1784). In New England, cities were not widespread until well into the 19th century. New Hampshire did not have any cities until

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