MADRID TOWNSHIP — Few visitors to the Star Barn Bed & Breakfast drop by because they want to know more about the tiny rural township.

Those who make their way to the gracious renovated homestead a few miles north of Phillips often are trekking the Appalachian Trail, planning a celebration or vacationing in the area. Last week, proprietors Ginni and David Robie greeted three unexpected guests from Madrid, Spain, who were looking for accommodations. Eloy Parra, his brother Pedro and their friend Carlos De Pedro have been filming a documentary about the nine U.S. towns named Madrid. Why Madrid?

“One day I decided to check the weather for Madrid, Spain, on the Internet, and I found all of these other places named Madrid,” Eloy said. “I was curious about what these places might be like, and we decided to do this trip and make a film about it.”

Before they left Maine for Madrid, N.Y., they ate homemade pancakes with maple syrup from neighbor Carl Bunnell’s Sugar Shack. After New York, they will continue to Kentucky, Virginia and Alabama. Earlier in July, they visited Madrids in Colorado, New Mexico, Iowa and Nebraska.

“The biggest Madrid was in Iowa, with 2,500 people,” Eloy said. “The smallest was in Colorado, which was more of a ghost town, with only 25 people.”

Madrid, Iowa, started as Swede Point, a Swedish settlement in the mid-1800s.
Forty years later, it was renamed Madrid, but history hasn’t provided a definitive basis for the name change.

In Madrid Township in Maine, they were struck by the distance between houses of the 173 residents. In Spain, they are accustomed to smaller living spaces, with residents living very close to their neighbors. They’ve enjoyed the differences among the towns and the unique flavors of each. And why is there a Madrid, Maine?

“In Maine, there is lot of towns with European names, so maybe it was fashionable at that time,” Eloy said.

All three share skills and have their own businesses or jobs in Web design, commercial graphic arts and photojournalism. Fans of the travelers may follow their adventures through photos and video clips on www.madridsintheusa.com or on their Facebook page, Madrids of the USA.