The New England town is the basic unit of local government in each of the six New England states. Without a direct counterpart in most other U.S. states, New England towns are conceptually similar to civil townships in other states, but are incorporated, possessing powers like cities in other states. New England towns are often governed by town meeting. Virtually all corporate municipalities in New England are based on the town model; statutory forms based on the concept of a compact populated place, which is prevalent elsewhere in the U.S., are uncommon. County government in New England states is typically weak, sometimes even non-existent; for example, Connecticut and Rhode Island retain counties only as geographic subdivisions that have no governmental authority, while Massachusetts has abolished eight of fourteen county governments so far.
Read more about New England Town: Characteristics of The New England Town System, Historical Development, Other Types of Municipalities in New England, Unorganized Territory, List of New England Towns
Famous quotes containing the words england and/or town:
“The instincts of merry England lingered on here with exceptional vitality, and the symbolic customs which tradition has attached to each season of the year were yet a reality on Egdon. Indeed, the impulses of all such outlandish hamlets are pagan still: in these spots homage to nature, self-adoration, frantic gaieties, fragments of Teutonic rites to divinities whose names are forgotten, seem in some way or other to have survived mediaeval doctrine.”
—Thomas Hardy (1840–1928)
“As for the sacred Scriptures, or Bibles of mankind, who in this town can tell me even their titles? Most men do not know that any nation but the Hebrews have had a scripture.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)