Petersham, Massachusetts
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Petersham, Massachusetts
Petersham is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 1,194 at the 2020 census. Petersham is home to a considerable amount of conservation land, including the Quabbin Reservation, Harvard Forest, the Swift River Reservation, and Federated Women's Club State Forest. History Petersham was first settled by Europeans in 1733 and was officially incorporated on April 20, 1754. On February 4, 1787, it was the site of the second battle of Shays' Rebellion. The town is noted for its common, part of the Petersham Common Historic District. About 45 buildings are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Country Store, an 1842 Greek Revival structure that has housed a general store on its main floor since its opening, sits just to the East of the common. The town's lands were expanded greatly by the building of the Quabbin Reservoir in 1938. When the towns of the Swift River Valley were disincorporated, Petersham and neighboring New ...
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Petersham Common Historic District
The Petersham Common Historic District encompasses the historic town center of Petersham, Massachusetts. Laid out in 1733 and centered on the town common bounded by Main and Common Streets, it retains most of its 19th-century character, with only a few turn-of-the-20th-century civic buildings adding later character. The district was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982. Buildings within the district include the Petersham Memorial Library and the Nichewaug Inn. Description and history Land in what is now Petersham was first granted to colonists in 1733, and the town was incorporated in 1754. Its town common was laid out in 1733, along with a series of house lots extending to the north and south, along what is now Main Street (Massachusetts Route 32). It is where the town's first colonial meeting house, meeting house was built, and it is where all of its town halls have been located. Since 1878, the common has been cared for by a village improvement soci ...
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Federated Women's Club State Forest
Federated Women's Club State Forest is a Massachusetts state forest located in the towns of Petersham and New Salem. Notable forest scenery is found along wooded roads with views of Fever Brook, which has been dammed and provides a stopover for migrating birds. The forest's most prominent geological feature, "The Gorge," is found in the southwest part of the property. The forest is managed by the Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR). Activities and amenities *Camping: There are a limited number of primitive campsites which are first-come, first-served. Registration is at Erving State Forest Erving State Forest is a publicly owned forest with recreational features located north of the Millers River in the towns of Erving, Warwick, and Orange, Massachusetts. The property is centered on Laurel Lake, a body of water that has been a po .... *Trails are used for hiking and cross-country skiing. *The forest also offers fishing and restricted hunting. References Exte ...
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Middleborough, Massachusetts
Middleborough (frequently written as Middleboro) is a town in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 24,245 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. History The town was first settled by Europeans in 1661 as Nemasket, later changed to Middlebury, and officially incorporated as Middleborough in 1669. The name Nemasket came from a Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Native American settlement along the small river that now bears the same name. ''Nemasket'' may have meant "place of fish", due to the large amount of herring that migrate up the river each spring. There are no contemporary records that indicate the name Middlebury was taken from a place in England. The names Middlebury and Middleborough were actually derived from the city of Middelburg, Zeeland, Middelburg, Zeeland, the westernmost province of the Netherlands. Middelburg was an international intellectual center and economic powerhouse. The English religio ...
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Plymouth, Massachusetts
Plymouth (; historically known as Plimouth and Plimoth) is a town in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States. Located in Greater Boston, the town holds a place of great prominence in American history, folklore, and culture, and is known as "America's Hometown". Plymouth was the site of the colony founded in 1620 by the ''Mayflower'' Pilgrims, where New England was first established. It is the oldest municipality in New England and one of the oldest in the United States. The town has served as the location of several prominent events, one of the more notable being the First Thanksgiving feast. Plymouth served as the capital of Plymouth Colony from its founding in 1620 until the colony's merger with the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1691. The English explorer John Smith named the area Plymouth (after the city in South West England) and the region 'New England' during his voyage of 1614 (the accompanying map was published in 1616). It was a later coincidence that, after an ab ...
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Western Massachusetts
Western Massachusetts, known colloquially as “Western Mass,” is a region in Massachusetts, one of the six U.S. states that make up the New England region of the United States. Western Massachusetts has diverse topography; 22 colleges and universities, with approximately 100,000 students; and such institutions as Tanglewood, the Springfield Armory, and Jacob's Pillow. The western part of Western Massachusetts includes the Berkshire Mountains, where there are several vacation resorts. The eastern part of the region includes the Connecticut River Valley, which has a number of university towns, the major city Springfield, and numerous agricultural hamlets. In the eastern part of the area, the Quabbin region is a place of outdoor recreation. History Native inhabitants Archeological efforts in the Connecticut River Valley have revealed traces of human life dating back at least 9,000 years. Pocumtuck tradition describes the creation of Lake Hitchcock in Deerfield by a gia ...
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Benjamin Lincoln
Benjamin Lincoln (January 24, 1733 ( O.S. January 13, 1733) – May 9, 1810) was an American army officer. He served as a major general in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. Lincoln was involved in three major surrenders during the war: his participation in the Battles of Saratoga (sustaining a wound shortly afterward) contributed to John Burgoyne's surrender of a British army, he oversaw the largest American surrender of the war at the 1780 Siege of Charleston, and, as George Washington's second in command, he formally accepted the British surrender at Yorktown. Lincoln served from 1781 to 1783 as the first United States Secretary of War. While Secretary of War, Lincoln became an original member of The Society of the Cincinnati of the state of Massachusetts and was elected as the first president of the Massachusetts Society on June 9, 1783. After the war, Lincoln was active in politics in his native Massachusetts, running several times for lieuten ...
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Hampshire County, Massachusetts
Hampshire County is a historical and judicial county located in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. Following the dissolution of the county government in 1999, county affairs were managed by the Hampshire Council of Governments, which itself ceased operations in 2019, due to a "fundamentally flawed, unsustainable operational model". As of the 2020 census, the population was 162,308. Its most populous municipality is Amherst, its largest town in terms of landmass is Belchertown, and its traditional county seat is Northampton. The county is named after the county Hampshire, in England. Hampshire County is part of the Springfield, MA Metropolitan Statistical Area. Together with Hampden County, Hampshire County municipalities belong to the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission. History Hampshire County was constituted in 1662 from previously unorganized territory comprising the entire western part of Massachusetts Bay Colony. It included the original towns of Springfield, Northampt ...
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Prescott, Massachusetts
Prescott was a town in Hampshire County, Massachusetts. It was incorporated in 1822 from portions of Pelham and New Salem, and was partially built on Equivalent Lands. It was named in honor of Colonel William Prescott, who commanded the American forces at the Battle of Bunker Hill. It was disincorporated on April 28, 1938, as part of the creation of the Quabbin Reservoir. It was the least populous of the four unincorporated towns, with barely 300 residents by 1900. Upon dissolution, portions of the town were annexed to the adjacent towns of New Salem and Petersham. The majority of the former town (the New Salem portion) is still above water, and is known as the Prescott Peninsula. The public is not allowed on the peninsula except for an annual tour given by the Swift River Valley Historical Society, or for hikes conducted by the Society. None of the land is in Hampshire County any longer; the New Salem portion is in Franklin County; and the Petersham portion is in Worcester C ...
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Greenwich, Massachusetts
Greenwich () was a town in Hampshire County, Massachusetts. The town was lost as a result of the formation of the Quabbin Reservoir in order to supply Boston's growing water needs. History Greenwich was established in 1739 as Quabbin, incorporated as Quabbin Parish in 1754, and became the town of Greenwich (named for John Campbell, 2nd Duke of Argyll, John Campbell, Duke of Greenwich) in 1754. It was located along the East and Middle branches of the Quabbin Valley, Swift River. The Athol Branch of the Boston and Albany Railroad ran through the center of town, as did Route 21 (Massachusetts), Route 21. It was well known for its lakes and ponds, which were popular vacation spots. It bordered four towns—Enfield, Prescott, Dana, and Hardwick. H. P. Lovecraft's fictional town of Dunwich (Lovecraft), Dunwich in his seminal story "The Dunwich Horror" was partially based on the town of Greenwich. Additionally, Lovecraft's story "The Colour Out of Space" is set in this valley before it ...
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Dana, Massachusetts
Dana was a town located in Worcester County, Massachusetts. Dana was lost as a result of the formation of the Quabbin Reservoir. History Formed from parts of Petersham, Greenwich, and Hardwick, it was incorporated in 1801. The town was named for Massachusetts statesman Francis Dana. The town was disincorporated on April 28, 1938, as part of the creation of the Quabbin Reservoir. Upon disincorporation, all of the town was returned to the adjacent town of Petersham. The majority of the land of the former town is still above water. As with the nearby town of Prescott, after the disincorporation, houses were moved or razed, but cellar holes remained. The public is only allowed to visit the former town of Dana by foot, as the old narrow road is blocked off to cars. In the town center (which is still somewhat maintained by the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation), a stone marker has been installed, which reads: "SITE OF DANA COMMON 1801-1938 To all those who sa ...
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New Salem, Massachusetts
New Salem is a town in Franklin County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 983 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area. History New Salem was first settled in 1737 and was officially incorporated in 1753, named for the settlers from Salem that founded the town. The geography of New Salem benefited greatly from the construction of the Quabbin Reservoir. Prior to its building, New Salem, which has always been the southeast corner of Franklin County, did not extend much further south than the village of Cooleyville, now along U.S. Route 202. However, with the forming of the reservoir, the town received all lands above the water line between the two forks of the reservoir, as it was the only land connection to the peninsula. With its southern borders now following former branches of the Swift River, New Salem now includes most of the former town of Prescott (except for a small corner east of the Middle Branch ...
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Quabbin Valley
Quabbin may refer to: * Quabbin Aqueduct * Quabbin Reservoir * Quabbin Valley * Greenwich, Massachusetts Greenwich () was a town in Hampshire County, Massachusetts. The town was lost as a result of the formation of the Quabbin Reservoir in order to supply Boston's growing water needs. History Greenwich was established in 1739 as Quabbin, incorpora ... first organized as Quabbin in 1739 and Quabbin Parrish in 1754. {{geodis ...
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