Carlisle is a town located northwest of

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

in Middlesex County,

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

, United States. As of the 2020 U.S. Census, the town had a population of 5,237.

History

English colonists first settled the area now incorporated as the town of Carlisle in 1651 on parcels of land of the neighboring towns of Acton, Billerica,

Chelmsford Chelmsford () is a city in the City of Chelmsford district in the county of Essex, England. It is the county town of Essex and one of three cities in the county, along with Colchester and Southend-on-Sea. It is located north-east of London ...

and Concord. Carlisle became a district of Concord in 1780 and was incorporated as a town by an act of the legislature in 1805.

Activities

Carlisle contains a library, a book store, a dentist's office, a school (Carlisle Public School), and many residential homes. There are two ice cream stores: one of the four branches of Kimball Farms, and Great Brook Farm State Park which is home to the first robotic milking system in Massachusetts and serves ice cream made from the farm's milk. Great Brook Farm is also the site of one of the premiere cross-country ski touring centers in New England. On the east end of town there is an auto body shop, the (closed in 2025) Ferns Country Stores, and the (closed in 2012) Blue Jay Recording Studio, where artists such as

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Aimee Mann Aimee Elizabeth Mann (born September 8, 1960) is an American singer-songwriter. Over the course of four decades, she has released ten studio albums as a solo artist. She is noted for her sardonic and literate lyrics about dark subjects, often d ...

Amy Grant Amy Lee Grant (born November 25, 1960) is an American singer-songwriter and musician. She began her music career in contemporary Christian music (CCM) before crossing over to pop music in the mid-1980s. Grant has been referred to as "Honorific ...

Alice Cooper Vincent Damon Furnier (born February 4, 1948), known by his stage name Alice Cooper, is an American rock singer and songwriter whose career spans sixty years. With a raspy voice and a stage show that features numerous props and stage illusion ...

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and the Boston Pops, Buckwheat Zydeco,

Billy Joel William Martin Joel (born May 9, 1949) is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. Nicknamed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Piano Man" after his Signature song, signature 1973 song Piano Man (song), of the same name, Joel has ha ...

Lauryn Hill Lauryn Noelle Hill (born May 26, 1975) is an American musician. She is celebrated as one of the most influential musical artists of her generation. Hill is credited with breaking barriers for female rappers, contributing to the popular music, m ...

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Roy Orbison Roy Kelton Orbison (April 23, 1936 – December 6, 1988) was an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist known for his distinctive and powerful voice, complex song structures, and dark, emotional ballads. Orbison's most successful periods were ...

, k. d. lang,

Pat Metheny Patrick Bruce Metheny ( ; born August 12, 1954) is an American jazz guitarist and composer. He was the leader of the Pat Metheny Group (1977–2010) and continues to work in various small-combo, duet, and solo settings, as well as other side pr ...

Yo Yo Ma Yo-Yo Ma (born October 7, 1955) is a French-born American cellist. Born to Chinese parents in Paris, he was regarded as a child prodigy there and began to study the cello with his father at age four. At the age of seven, Ma moved with his fami ...

Carly Simon Carly Elisabeth Simon (born June 25, 1943) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and author. She rose to fame in the 1970s with a string of hit records; her 13 Billboard Hot 100, top 40 U.S. hits include "Anticipation (song), Anticipatio ...

the Pussycat Dolls The Pussycat Dolls were an American girl group and dance ensemble, founded in Los Angeles, California, by choreographer Robin Antin in 1995 as a neo-burlesque troupe. At the suggestion of Jimmy Iovine, Antin decided to take the troupe mainstrea ...

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and

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have recorded. The town newspaper, the ''Carlisle Mosquito'', has appeared as the weekly independent newspaper of the town since 1972. It is a non-profit publication distributed free to all town residents. The paper includes local news, announcements, and logs. The Gleason Public Library is one of the 36 libraries in the Merrimack Valley Library Consortium. Gleason Public Library also contains a

seismograph A seismometer is an instrument that responds to ground displacement and shaking such as caused by quakes, volcanic eruptions, and explosions. They are usually combined with a timing device and a recording device to form a seismograph. The out ...

. Cultural organizations include the Carlisle Chamber Orchestra, the Carlisle Community Chorus, and the Savoyard Light Opera Company. Carlisle Old Home Day has been held for over 100 years on the weekend prior to the Fourth of July as a free public event with family-friendly games and activities.

Geography

Carlisle is located about south-southwest of Lowell and northwest of Boston. It borders the towns of Concord, Acton, Westford,

, Billerica, and

Bedford Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population was 106,940. Bedford is the county town of Bedfordshire and seat of the Borough of Bedford local government district. Bedford was founded at a ford (crossin ...

. According to the

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, econ ...

, the town has a total area of , of which is land and (1.09%) is water. Conservation land makes up about a quarter of the town's area. Besides town-owned land overseen by the town's Conservation Committee, Carlisle is home to the Carlisle Conservation Foundation, Great Brook Farm State Park, and a portion of the Great Meadows National Wildlife Refuge neighboring the

Concord River The Concord River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed October 3, 2011 tributary of the Merrimack River in eastern Massachusetts, United States. The river drains a s ...

Demographics

As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2000, there were 4,717 people, 1,618 households, and 1,372 families residing in the town. The population density was . There were 1,655 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the town was 93.47%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 0.17%

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 0.06% Native American, 4.69% Asian, 0.04%

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...

, 0.13% from other races, and 1.29% from two or more races.

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race were 1.19% of the population. There were 1,618 households, out of which 46.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 78.6% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

living together, 4.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 15.2% were non-families. 11.4% of all households were made up of individuals, and 4.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.92 and the average family size was 3.18. In the town, the population was spread out, with 30.6% under the age of 18, 3.4% from 18 to 24, 23.3% from 25 to 44, 34.3% from 45 to 64, and 8.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 42 years. For every 100 females, there were 98.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 96.4 males. The median income for a household in the town $176,228 (Average household income is $244,544). The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the town was $87,470. Carlisle maintains a minimum zoning law on new development. File:Carlisle MA forest path.jpg, The path between the school and library File:Carlisle MA Gleason Library.jpg, Gleason Public Library File:Carlisle MA Old Burying Ground.jpg, The Old Burying Ground in the center of town File:Graves in the Central Burying Ground, Carlisle, Massachusetts.JPG, Graves in the Green Cemetery

Climate

In a typical year, Carlisle, Massachusetts temperatures fall below 50 °F (10 °C) for 195 days per year. Annual precipitation is typically 45.6 inches (115.8 centimeters) per year (high for the US) and snow covers the ground 62 days per year, or 17.0% of the year (high in the US). It may be helpful to understand the yearly precipitation by imagining nine straight days of moderate rain per year. The humidity is below 60% for approximately 25.4 days, or 7.0% of the year.

Notable people

John Berman John Berman (born March 21, 1972) is an American news anchor who is a co-anchor of the morning edition of '' CNN News Central'' and a regular relief presenter of ''Anderson Cooper 360°''. Berman is the former co-anchor of CNN's '' New Day'' w ...

, journalist and CNN anchor *

Clairo Claire Elizabeth Cottrill (born August 18, 1998), known professionally as Clairo, is an American singer-songwriter. She began posting music on the internet at age 13. Clairo rose to prominence following the viral success of the music video for ...

, musician and recording artist

Notes

External links

*
''The Carlisle Mosquito''
town newspaper
Carlisle Conservation Foundation
*History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, compiled by Samuel Adams Drake, published 1879
Volume 1, page 359 Carlisle
by B.F.Heald. {{authority control Towns in Middlesex County, Massachusetts Towns in Massachusetts 1651 establishments in the Massachusetts Bay Colony