In the small western Maine town of Upton, near Umbagog Lake, where outdoor recreation often replaces traditional community life, there are few places left for the town’s 70 residents to meet.

A couple from New Hampshire with a home in Upton hope that reopening the Upton Village Store at 240 Thistle St. will give people a place to find community again.

Owners Adam and Carol Fleury plan to remodel it.

“We want to make it look more rustic, like a country store,” Adam Fleury said of the business that has been closed since September 2023.

“The Upton Village Store has been a go to spot for this and the surrounding community for decades,” reads the real estate listing, now closed with the Fleurys’ purchase.

In Upton, the list of places where people gather is short — and getting shorter.

“The library is never open,” Upton Select Board Chair Wanda Hall said. “We had it open, but nobody ever shows up. It’s so outdated — the books, the computers, everything. It’s because you can get it online.”

Nearby is the former Ladies Aid Club building, once a schoolhouse and now owned by local snowmobile and ATV clubs.

“Most of the people in the Ladies Aid have passed away,” Hall said.

Across the street, the Upton Union Church is also closed. The pastor and the parishioners are all gone, too. Hall said she had only been there once.

“After you’ve been in the boat all day, you really don’t feel like going to church,” she said.

Life in Upton and the Umbagog region has long attracted people who prefer the outdoors. One of the best known was Louise Dickinson Rich, who lived with her family at Forest Lodge in the 1930s and 1940s. Her writing about wilderness life became best sellers and helped put Upton on the map.

The Fleurys hope to reopen the store by Memorial Day, though the timeline depends on renovation.

They will sell groceries, prepared food and Maine souvenirs year-round. The store will also offer live bait, small camping supplies and check stations for wild game and furs.

The Fleurys also hope to offer fuel for snowmobiles and four-wheelers.

A farmer’s porch and an additional room will provide space for people to sit and visit. They hope to congregate with the many nice people they have met in Upton.

“It’s a place where people help each other out,” Adam Fleury said.

Like many Upton residents, the Fleurys are drawn to the outdoors.

“We have snowmobiles, a side-by-side. We ride motorcycles,” Fleury said. “We want to be outside.”

And if their plans succeed, they hope the store will give people a reason to come inside for a while, too.