Maine has a tradition of strong local control and weak county government, so residents may go for years without realizing that people are working in Alfred to keep the wheels of the county in motion. The county commission, which presides over much of the operation, is rarely noticed except at budget time - and not always then.

But the keepers of county government here are in a special position. They’re preserving a tradition that stretches back to the county’s founding in 1636, long before the United States ceased to be a set of the British colonies and Maine ceased to be a part of Massachusetts.