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Williamstown, Massachusetts
Williamstown is a town in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It shares a border with Vermont to the north and New York to the west. Located in Berkshire County, the town is part of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts metropolitan statistical area. The population was 7,513 at the 2020 census. A college town, it is home to Williams College, the Clark Art Institute and the Tony-awarded Williamstown Theatre Festival. History Originally called West Hoosac, the area was first settled in 1749. Prior to this time, its position along the Mohawk Trail made it ideal Mohican hunting grounds. Its strategic location bordering Dutch colonies in New York led to its settlement, because it was needed as a buffer to stop the Dutch from encroaching on Massachusetts. Fort West Hoosac, the westernmost blockhouse and stockade in Massachusetts, was built in 1756. The town was incorporated in 1765 as Williamstown according to the will of Col. Ephraim Williams, who was killed in the Fre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Berkshire County, Massachusetts
Berkshire County (pronounced ) is the Western Massachusetts, westernmost County (United States), county in the U.S. state, U.S. state of Massachusetts. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 129,026. Its largest city and traditional county seat is Pittsfield, Massachusetts, Pittsfield. The county was founded in 1761. The The Berkshires, Berkshire Hills are centered on Berkshire County. Residents are known as Berkshirites. It exists today only as a historical geographic region, and has no county government, with the exception of the retirement board for former county workers, and the offices of the sheriff and the registrar of deeds. Law and government Of the fourteen List of counties in Massachusetts, Massachusetts counties, Berkshire County is one of eight that exists today only as a historical geographic region; it has limited county government. Berkshire County government was abolished effective July 1, 2000. Most former county functions ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
United States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, economy. The U.S. Census Bureau is part of the United States Department of Commerce, U.S. Department of Commerce and its Director of the United States Census Bureau, director is appointed by the president of the United States. Currently, Ron S. Jarmin is the acting director of the U.S. Census Bureau. The Census Bureau's primary mission is conducting the United States census, U.S. census every ten years, which allocates the seats of the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives to the U.S. state, states based on their population. The bureau's various censuses and surveys help allocate over $675 billion in federal funds every year and it assists states, local communities, and businesses in making informed decisions. T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Agriculture
Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to live in the cities. While humans started gathering grains at least 105,000 years ago, nascent farmers only began planting them around 11,500 years ago. Sheep, goats, pigs, and cattle were domesticated around 10,000 years ago. Plants were independently cultivated in at least 11 regions of the world. In the 20th century, industrial agriculture based on large-scale monocultures came to dominate agricultural output. , small farms produce about one-third of the world's food, but large farms are prevalent. The largest 1% of farms in the world are greater than and operate more than 70% of the world's farmland. Nearly 40% of agricultural land is found on farms larger than . However, five of every six farm ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
French And Indian War
The French and Indian War, 1754 to 1763, was a colonial conflict in North America between Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and Kingdom of France, France, along with their respective Native Americans in the United States, Native American allies. European historians generally consider it a related conflict of the wider 1756 to 1763 Seven Years' War, although in the United States it is viewed as a singular conflict unassociated with any European war. Although Britain and France were officially at peace following the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle (1748), tensions over trade continued in North America. These culminated in a dispute over the Forks of the Ohio, and the related French Fort Duquesne which controlled them. In May 1754, this led to the Battle of Jumonville Glen, when Colony of Virginia, Virginia militia led by George Washington ambushed a French patrol. In 1755, Edward Braddock, the new Commander-in-Chief, North America, planned a four-way attack on the French. None s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ephraim Williams
Ephraim Williams Jr. (Wyllis Eaton Wright, Colonel Ephraim Williams, a documentary life' (1970), p. 4.Correct date of birth of February 24, 1714 is obtained from primary source: Massachusetts Vital Records "Newton Births 1674-1801 Book 1 Vol 106" – September 8, 1755) was an American landowner and militia officer from the Province of Massachusetts Bay who was killed in the French and Indian War. Born in Newton, Massachusetts, he was the benefactor of Williams College, located in northwestern Massachusetts. The school's athletic programs, the Ephs, are named after Williams. Life Early life Ephraim Jr. was the eldest son of Ephraim Williams Sr. and Elizabeth Jackson Williams (d. 1718). He was born in Newton, Massachusetts, on February 24, 1714, and was raised by his maternal grandparents after his mother died giving birth to a second son, Thomas, in 1718. His family was influential in western Massachusetts; they were preeminent in a group of families then called the "River ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stockade
A stockade is an enclosure of palisades and tall walls, made of logs placed side by side vertically, with the tops sharpened as a defensive wall. Etymology ''Stockade'' is derived from the French word ''estocade''. The French word was derived from the Spanish word ''estacada''. As a security fence The troops or settlers would build a stockade by clearing a space of woodland and using the trees whole or chopped in half, with one end sharpened on each. They would dig a narrow trench around the area, and stand the sharpened logs side-by-side inside it, encircling the perimeter. Sometimes they would add additional defence by placing sharpened sticks in a shallow secondary trench outside the stockade. In colder climates sometimes the stockade received a coating of clay or mud that would make the crude wall wind-proof. Builders could also place stones or thick mud layers at the foot of the stockade, improving the resistance of the wall. From that the defenders could, if they had the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Blockhouse
A blockhouse is a small fortification, usually consisting of one or more rooms with loopholes, allowing its defenders to fire in various directions. It is usually an isolated fort in the form of a single building, serving as a defensive strong point against any enemy that does not possess siege equipment or, in modern times, artillery, air force or cruise missiles. A fortification intended to resist these weapons is more likely to qualify as a fortress or a redoubt, or in modern times, be an underground bunker. However, a blockhouse may also refer to a room within a larger fortification, usually a battery or redoubt. Etymology The term '' blockhouse'' is of uncertain origin, perhaps related to Middle Dutch '' blokhus'' and 18th-century French '' blocus'' (blockade). In ancient Greece Blockhouses existed in ancient Greece, for example the one near Mycenae. Early blockhouses in England Early blockhouses were designed solely to protect a particular area by the use of a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dutch Empire
The Dutch colonial empire () comprised overseas territories and trading posts under some form of Dutch control from the early 17th to late 20th centuries, including those initially administered by Dutch chartered companies—primarily the Dutch East India Company (1602–1799) and Dutch West India Company (1621–1792)—and subsequently governed by the Dutch Republic (1581–1795) and modern Kingdom of the Netherlands (1815–1975). Following the ''de facto'' independence of the Dutch Republic from the Spanish Empire in the late 16th century, various trading companies known as '' voorcompagnie'' led maritime expeditions overseas in search of commercial opportunities. By 1600, Dutch traders and mariners had penetrated the lucrative Asian spice trade but lacked the capital or manpower to secure or expand their ventures; this prompted the States General in 1602 to consolidate several trading enterprises into the semi-state-owned Dutch East India Company (, VOC), which was g ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mohican
The Mohicans ( or ) are an Eastern Algonquian Native American tribe that historically spoke an Algonquian language. As part of the Eastern Algonquian family of tribes, they are related to the neighboring Lenape, whose indigenous territory was to the south as far as the Atlantic coast. The Mohicans lived in the upper tidal Hudson River Valley, including the confluence of the Mohawk River (where present-day Albany, New York, developed) and into western New England centered on the upper Housatonic River watershed. After 1680, due to conflicts with the powerful Mohawk to the west during the Beaver Wars, many were driven southeastward across the present-day Massachusetts western border and the Taconic Mountains to Berkshire County around Stockbridge, Massachusetts. They combined with Lenape Native Americans (a branch known as the Munsee) in Stockbridge, MA, and later the people moved west away from pressure of European invasion. They settled in what became Shawano County, Wis ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mohawk Trail
The Mohawk Trail began as a Native American trade route which connected Atlantic tribes with tribes in Upstate New York and beyond. It followed the Millers River, Deerfield River and crossed the Hoosac Range, in the area that is now northwestern Massachusetts. Route Today the Mohawk Trail is a part of Routes 2 and 2A, following much of the original Indian trail. The exact path of the trail is not officially defined, and there is some disagreement among various sources as to its endpoints. The broadest definition runs 75 miles (121 kilometers) from Athol, Massachusetts to the border with New York in Williamstown, Massachusetts, passing through the communities of Orange, Erving, Gill, Greenfield, Shelburne, Buckland, Charlemont, Savoy, Florida, and North Adams. However, other sources use a narrower definition, with the eastern terminus being in Millers Falls, Greenfield, or Charlemont. The trail is generally considered to follow Route 2A in the east (which diverges f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Williamstown Theatre Festival
The Williamstown Theatre Festival is a resident summer theater on the campus of Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1954 by Williams College news director Ralph Renzi and drama program chairman David C. Bryant. It was awarded a Tony Award in 2002 and the Massachusetts Cultural Council Commonwealth Award in 2011. History Inception The Williamstown Theatre Festival was conceived as a way to use the Adams Memorial Theatre on Williams College campus for a resident theatre company. Marcia Henderson, a Theatre World winner and Williamstown native, performed in the first play of the festival. Her co-star was Canadian actor Jonathan Frid, who portrayed Barnabas Collins on the gothic television serial ''Dark Shadows''. Other notable actors have since participated in the festival, including Sigourney Weaver, Gwyneth Paltrow, Christopher Reeve, Christopher Walken, Nathan Lane, Richard Chamberlain, Kate Burton, Olympia Dukakis, Paul Giamatti, Bradle ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in Manhattan. The ceremony is usually held in June. The awards are given for Broadway productions and performances. One is also given for regional theatre. Several discretionary non-competitive awards are given as well, including a Special Tony Award, the Tony Honors for Excellence in Theatre, and the Isabelle Stevenson Award. The awards were founded by theatre producer and director Brock Pemberton. They are named after Antoinette "Tony" Perry, an actress, producer and theatre director who was co-founder and secretary of the American Theatre Wing. The trophy consists of a spinnable medallion, with faces portraying an adaptation of the comedy and tragedy masks, mounted on a black base with a pewter swivel. The rules for the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
