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 N ...
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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. The Nichewaug Inn formerly occupied the district until its demolition in 2022. 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, ...
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Swift River Reservation
The Swift River Reservation is a open space preserve located in Petersham, Massachusetts, United States. The property, named after the East Branch of the Swift River (a tributary of the Ware River), is managed by the land conservation non-profit organization The Trustees of Reservations and offers of trails available for hiking, horseback riding, mountain biking, and cross country skiing. Ledges, river corridor, woodlands, scenic vistas, and wetlands characterize the preserve. The property is divided into three contiguous parcels, the ''Slab City Tract'', ''Davis Tract'', and ''Nichewaug Tract.'' Trailheads are located off Massachusetts Route 32/122, Glen Valley Road, and Nichewaug Road in Petersham. A network of trails runs between the Davis and Nichewaug tracts; the Slab City tract is not connected to the other two parcels via trail. The East Branch of the Swift River passes through the Slab City and Nichewaug tracts. History and Conservation The reservation was farmland un ...
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Plymouth, Massachusetts
Plymouth ( ; historically also spelled as Plimouth and Plimoth) is a town in and the county seat of 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 (Plymouth Colony), 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 Thanksgiving (United States)#Harvest festival observed by the Pilgrims at Plymouth, 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 (explorer), John Smith named the area Plymouth (after the city in Sou ...
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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 including UMass in Amherst, MA, 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 L ...
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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 lieu ...
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Hampshire County, Massachusetts
Hampshire County is a historical and judicial county located in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. As of the 2020 census, the population was 162,308. Its most populous municipality is Amherst (due to seasonal student population; the largest year-round is Northampton), 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, Northampton, and Hadley. The original Hampshire County also included territory that is now in modern-day Hampden County, Franklin County, and Berkshire County ...
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Prescott, Massachusetts
Prescott was a town in Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States. 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 ...
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Greenwich, Massachusetts
Greenwich () was a town in Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States. The town was disincorporated by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in 1938 for the construction of the Quabbin Reservoir which was constructed to supply water to the metropolitan Boston area. History Greenwich was established in 1739 as Quabbin, incorporated as Quabbin Parish in 1754, and became the town of Greenwich (named for John Campbell, Duke of Greenwich) in 1754. It was located along the East and Middle branches of the Swift River. The Athol Branch of the Boston and Albany Railroad ran through the center of town, as did 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 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 was f ...
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Dana, Massachusetts
Dana was a town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ... located in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. 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 ceded 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 ...
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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 southeastern corner of Franklin County, did not extend much further south than the village of Cooleyville, now along U.S. Route 202. However, with the formation 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 Middl ...
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Quabbin Valley
Quabbin may refer to: * Quabbin Aqueduct * Quabbin Reservoir * Quabbin Valley * Greenwich, Massachusetts, first organized as Quabbin in 1739 and Quabbin Parrish in 1754. {{geodis ...
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National Register Of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Historic districts in the United States, districts, and objects deemed worthy of Historic preservation, preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic value". The enactment of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) in 1966 established the National Register and the process for adding properties to it. Of the more than one and a half million properties on the National Register, 95,000 are listed individually. The remainder are contributing property, contributing resources within historic district (United States), historic districts. For the most of its history, the National Register has been administered by the National Park Service (NPS), an agency within the United States Department of the Interior. Its goals are to ...
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