Rural, quiet, and family-oriented, Burrillville’s Pascoag neighborhood attracts people looking for a home away from the fast lane — but not too far away. A small village within a small town, Pascoag had a population of 4,742 compared to 15,796 for the whole of Burrillville, according to the 2000 Census.

“It’s very, very low-key, and yet it’s very close to the city, and it’s close to the Mass. line,” said Linda Bessette, of Bessette Realty. “It’s right by the water for fishing; a lot of avid fishers come from Pascoag.” The Clear River connects the Pascoag Reservoir to Wallum Lake in northwest Burrillville.

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Pascoag was established in 1819, but a saw and gristmill reportedly operated there in the early 1700s. At one time there were five mills in and around the village center. Pascaog is now a bedroom community, but retains a busy center, with its own grocery store, health center, churches, bars, restaurants, hair salons and a variety of other small businesses.

“Almost everything you need is in one square mile: post office, bank, community health, pharmacy, a grocery store … you have a little bit of almost everything,” said Roger Bourbonniere, former president of the Downtown Pascoag and Neighborhood Association. “You don’t have a Gap, and you don’t want that. You want the little mom-and-pop businesses, the corner stores.”

“I’ve seen a lot [of businesses] come and go over the years,” Bourbonniere said. Because Pascoag, unlike nearby Chepachet, does not have a busy road like Route 44 cutting through it, businesses have to rely almost exclusively on their local clientele to succeed. “They need to have a niche,” he said. “And they need to have a little something for everybody.”

Bourbonniere said Pascoag is a “meat and potato” kind of place. “That’s what French people say,” he said with a laugh.

“It’s a good family community, where people sit on the porch in the good weather, and everybody knows each other,” said Bob Jensen, the developer that renovated the former Pascoag Grammar School. Nineteen condos are now where the schoolrooms used to be, but from Sayles Street, the building still looks very much like an elementary school.

Despite the wood floors, central air, and stainless appliances, the Pascoag Grammar School is an affordable housing development, built for low- and moderate-income families.

The condos range in price from $60,000 for a studio to $229,000 for a three-bedroom, two-bath unit. Bessette said more than half of the units have buyers.

For single-family houses, prices in Pascoag range from $174,900 for a one bedroom, one-bath ranch built in 1940 up to $409,900 for a four-bedroom, two-bath Cape built in 2002. There are also houses on the market in Pascoag with prices of $829,000 and $960,000, but one comes with 20 acres and the other comes with a four-lot subdivision.

cdunn@projo.com