My question involves real estate located in the State of: MA

Over 100 years ago, two abutting property owners created an easement for a common, dead-end private way to better access their large parcels. The parcels have been subdivided and six homes now use this road to access their homes; it does not lead to anywhere else. The easement still exists in all of the relevant deeds. The road is clearly marked "private way" where it intersects with the public highway. The homeowners pay for all maintenance and plowing of this road. No public funds are used. The Town now wants to declare this a "private way ... open or dedicated to public use". Their reasoning is that people other than the homeowners use the road (eg, the mailman). It is our contention that use of the road by nonresidents has always been permissive, and that the road was never intended to be "open to public use". Who's right?