Mendon still keeps its stone walls, and the fields along Route 16 hold hay and hawks and a good long view before the woods close the horizon back up. Shawn's Landscaping tends the lawns set well off those roads — mowing, trimming, edging, mulch and bed weeding, fertilization, overseeding, and cleanups at either end of the growing season. Country driveways run long out here, so winter means plowing the whole length of them, shoveling walks and porch steps, and sanding or salting the shaded curves that never catch the sun. Snow drifts across open ground and fills a drive back in, which simply means going around again. Mendon anchors the route, with the Blackstone Valley towns on either side.