Main streets are important to a town. They are a constant, rarely demolished. Drive down a main street and it gives you the pulse of the town. It can be a strong pulse with the hustle and bustle of activity, stores busy with shoppers or a slow pulse of quiet streets and vacant storefronts.
Lisa Ahlberg and I were traveling to small towns in Oregon and Eastern WA and found Athena OR half way between Pendleton OR and Walla Walla WA. 2010 census found about 1200 people living in Athena.
We were hoping to find a small town like Athena, its past reflected in the buildings along main street. A quiet has overtaken Athena. It was the quiet that made us stop.