NASHVILLE PLANTATION – There is not much in Nashville other than the Irving sawmill. Nevertheless, with a population increase of 28 percent since 1990, the little town has the honor of having the largest percentage of population growth in Aroostook County in the last decade.

The population went from 43 in 1990 to 55 last year.

“We have [had] two new families with four children each move into town,” Sue Baulier, clerk for the plantation, said with a laugh. “That’s it.”

Technically, the honor for the largest population increase goes to Moro Plantation, which is south of Nashville on Route 11. The population there went from 38 to 63, an increase of 66 percent.

But according to town Assessor Carroll Gerow, not all is as it seems.

A few years ago, a large group of people moved to the area from Virginia. Most left last year after the census was taken.

“We haven’t got the big crowds here anymore,” Gerow said this week, adding that the population as of Tuesday, at 44 people, “is back to normal.”

As for Nashville, Baulier said the low tax rate – $5 per $1,000 in property valuation – was the big attraction that prompted the population jump.

“Everybody wants to build their house out here,” she said.