Once, when Cynthia Sweet was about 7 years old, she got lost not far from the home she grew up in, on Apple Street in Essex. Ernie Nieberle, who owns Ernie’s Service Station on Main Street, was one of the people who went looking for her.

Thirty-five years later, he changes the oil in Sweet’s car.

It’s that kind of old-fashioned community in Essex, the little North Shore town of 3,500 or so located about 25 miles outside Boston. Sweet, who founded Sweet Paws Rescue — a shelter-free organization that uses foster families for its dogs — six years ago, went to college in New York and has traveled internationally. Otherwise, though, she has never really left her hometown.

“Why leave?’’ Sweet said. “It’s absolutely beautiful, and the public school system nowadays is fantastic.’’

Known for its main drag of antiques dealers and restaurants (most famously Woodman’s of Essex, the fried seafood mecca that Zagat has called “an enduring American cult favorite’’), Essex has little in the way of typical contemporary chain stores. There’s no big grocery store, Sweet noted, and she’s not sure many of her fellow residents are clamoring for one: “The town is so tiny. We don’t want any more traffic,’’ she said.

Zoning laws are less strict than in neighboring communities, she said, one more indicator of the town’s laissez-faire attitude.

“I grew up playing in the woods, running through backyards, riding my bike. Essex has always stayed a little ‘Live Free or Die.’ ’’

James Sullivan can be reached at jamesgsullivan@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @sullivanjames.