At its center are two churches, Unitarian and Congregational, and a few shops run by merchants and cottage craftsmen such as the shoemaker, the blacksmith and the wheelwright.
Unpaved roads radiate outwards, providing access to the surrounding farms and neighboring towns.
This is what the town of Bedford, Massachusetts, was like in 1840. During the 1840s, moved by compassion for the unfortunate people of Ireland dying in the potato famine, the citizens of Bedford took Irish immigrants into their homes and gave them jobs as farm workers and household help. By 1850 one fifth of Bedford's population were Catholics who had been born in Ireland. In subsequent years Catholic immigrants from other countries settled in town, adding ethnic diversity to the population. The newcomers were gradually assimilated into the society of the community.