Once a year Carroll and Deanna Gerow, first selectman and town clerk, respectively, of Moro Plantation, open their home, Gerow’s Bear Mountain Lodge, to their neighbors. All 40 of them. This year nine adults and two children showed up to do the plantation’s business, and, as Deanna dryly puts it, to vote on the same issues they voted on last year. The Gerows pretty much run the town. Not by choice, but more because, as Deanna says, there’s no one else to do it.

Far from stoplights and streetlights Moro Plantation, about 90 miles northeast of Bangor, is a new beginning for Tim and Crysty Allen. The two moved to Moro Plantation from Westbrook 2 1/2 years ago. They were looking for a place to grow spiritually. Tim, who was a foreman for S.D. Warren, gave up his job and now works at the local transfer station. He is also the plantation’s third selectman.