Dunstable, Massachusetts is the kind of town that makes you realize silence is a real sound. It’s a rural community just south of the Nashua, NH border that takes up a little under 17 square miles, which is perfect if your favorite amenities are “space,” “trees,” and “not hearing your neighbors’ Bluetooth speaker through the wall.”

Population-wise, it’s about 3,358 people (2020)—which means you can live here for years and still meet someone new and immediately say, “Ohhh, so you’re the other one.” (Also, yes, I’ve described it as basically 3,000 people in real life, because that’s the correct vibe.) 

It’s proudly old-school New England: open town meeting energy, “we’ve been here since 1673” energy, and a motto that basically translates to “the field profits us all” — which is a classy way of saying we like land and we’re not sorry. 

And let’s be honest: Dunstable is ideal if you want the horse-and-cow neighbor experience without moving to “actual farm country.” I’ve literally told people my nearest neighbors are cows and horses, and I wasn’t being metaphorical. It’s the perfect place to raise kids, keep a horse, and still be close enough to civilization to remember what takeout tastes like. 

In short: Dunstable is“Unstable… with a D”—but in the best possible way