Town file
Amity, Maine
Amity, Maine (Aroostook County, Maine) is the town in one episode of Small Town Murder, the comedy true-crime podcast: episode 471, "The Talented Mr Psychopath" (29 February 2024). Amity is a small town in Aroostook County in the far north-east of Maine, close enough to the Canadian border that James says you can walk east for five miles and be in Canada.
- Town
- Amity
- County
- Aroostook County
- State
- Maine
- Country
- USA
- Episodes
- 471
- Approximate location
- 45.913, -67.845
Episode 471 / 29 February 2024 / 173 min / full
The Talented Mr Psychopath
"It's Amity, Maine... It's in Aroostook County" about 0:05:25
The case: Murder of Jeffrey Ryan, Jesse Ryan and Jason DeHaan (June 2010). Read the case file.
The figures, as told in 2024
- Population
- 217
- Median age
- 55.2
- Median household income
- $28,594
- Median home value
- $96,900
- Two-bedroom rent
- $790
- Cost of living
- $75,000
- Religious
- 46%
- Property crime
- ▼ about one third below
- Violent crime
- ▼ one third of
History, in brief
- First settled in 1826 and incorporated in 1836 from a township originally called T-10 R-1 WELS. about 0:08:17
- Some say the town was named for the 1794 Treaty of Amity Commerce and Navigation between England and the United States, which aimed to end the boundary dispute between Maine and New Brunswick. about 0:09:00
- In 1839 the so-called Aroostook War ended with the signing of a treaty that gave Maine the town, whose ownership had been disputed. about 0:09:45
- Surveyors placed a monument in Monument Brook right on the border, known as Monument 1 and Monument 2. about 0:10:03
- The town had its highest population in 1880, with 432 people. about 0:10:13
- The population reached its low point of 156 in 1970. about 0:10:31
The reviews read out
3 stars
"The town I live in is very small, everyone knows each other and outsiders are kind of left out; the university two towns over brings diverse cultures together."about 0:10:47
5 stars
"A remote place to visit and an interesting piece of history; go in dry weather and wear high rubber boots to walk out to it."about 0:11:31
1 star
"It's not Canadian."about 0:12:05
5 stars
"A once-in-a-lifetime experience, as in I'm not walking through the woods again to get there."about 0:12:26
Nearest Small Town Murder towns
- Caribou, Maine64 miles
- Old Town, Maine79 miles
- Machiasport, Maine92 miles
- Carmel, Maine95 miles
- Hartland, Maine106 miles
- Fayette, Maine149 miles
Everything here is as told in the episode, on the date it went out; figures and places may have changed since. Endings are covered: open an episode and use the spoiler switch to read them.