Once a month the selectmen of Hart's Location meet in the basement of a private residence, otherwise known as the town hall. Marion and Mo Varney live here; Marion is the town clerk, Mo is the moderator.

During a state or federal election, when voters must have their privacy Marion Varney drapes a curtain over the wall a few feet from her washing machine so residents may vote without an audience. The ballot box is kept over by the furnace.

There was a time when all the voters here would meet at the polling booth a minute after midnight on election day Within three or four minutes the results would be tallied and wired to every state in the country to let all know how the "first in the nation" voted.

"But now," says Marion Varney "We don't bother staying up so late. I guess you could say we just stay in bed and let Dixville Notch steal the show."

Two miles wide and about eleven miles long, Hart's Location is crannied along some pretty rugged terrain in the White Mountains. Following the upper portion of the Saco River through Crawford Notch, the scenery is virtually unmarred. Not much change has come to the last town in New Hampshire to get electricity. In fact, electric bills are about the only expense (other than housing) that residents pay. The state maintains the only road. And since the town government has a surplus, there are no property taxes.

Yet even though there is not very much paperwork for the town clerk to keep track of, Marion Varney insists on strict order and maintains all her files on a computer. "After all," says Marion, "might as well start while we're still small."