On Thursday, August 17, Clinton’s Village Green was filled with art, food, homemade knick-knacks and, most importantly, townspeople. From the young girl playing the clarinet in the gazebo to the tattooed mom taking photos of her children by the tents, the Farmer’s Market was bustling with activity.

One man in particular, who appeared to be in his 50s, sat with his dog by a fountain. A calm presence amidst the clamor, he appeared to exist in his own separate world. Mike, a self-proclaimed recluse, was not originally from Clinton, but moved here from New Hartford 20 years ago in search of anonymity.

“It’s nice here. If you don’t want to interact, you don’t have to. And if you do want to, there’s all types of stuff, you know, they have this little cultural scene,” he said.

From its New England-esque village square, to its low crime rate and trusting community, it seems that Clinton has developed a reputation for friendliness and amiability.

Throughout the conversation, Milo, Mike’s large one-year-old rescue dog, jostled around our feet. According to his owner, he weighed only 11 pounds and was ridden with parvovirus when Mike adopted him, although Milo showed no signs of his tough past as he nuzzled up against our hands. Mike said, “I go to Hamilton College every day to walk to the woods with my dog […] We go up on the woods on the Kirkland side. See, I go back long enough to remember when Kirkland was a separate college. ”

Mike went to college in a similar town, but, in his case, the school spilled out right into the village and did not have the same physical divide as Hamilton has from Clinton. He had not seen much interaction between Hamilton and the town, but, as an intentional outsider, he admitted that he would not have been aware of it if there was.

In a village where his neighbors do not feel the need to lock their doors and where Hamilton’s tranquil trails are readily available, Mike feels at home. As he puts it, “I don’t know anybody, and I like that.”