Originally an agricultural community embracing the headwaters of the Acushnet River, the residential Town of Acushnet has retained its rural atmosphere while also providing a home for various industries. Through the 1800s the town was the site of water powered factories and boat yards; in the 1990s...
Attleboro is a small manufacturing city with a unique combination of the advantages of urban and suburban living. Known as the birthplace of the jewelry industry in New England, the city has its share of red brick mill buildings and a healthy legacy of jewelry and metal fabrication jobs that make...
Avon has both the smallest land area and population of any community in the region. It has a compact population density of over 1,000 persons per square mile, typical of many suburban communities.
Avon is considered to be a prestigious community located along Route 24, approximately twenty miles...
Bellingham is a moderate sized residential community situated on the southwestern semi-rural fringe of metropolitan Boston. Although settled since the colonial era, the town has never experienced any prolonged periods of intensive industrial or commercial development. Bellingham evolved from...
The notably stony soil of Berkley did not discourage the early settlers of the community who did some shipbuilding but essentially concentrated on agriculture. The town is still rural in character, and has retained much of its 18th century landscape.
Berkley was a well known Indian settlement area...
Chartered in 1656, the Town of Bridgewater historically flourished as an industrial and agricultural center within Southeastern Massachusetts. The raising of livestock and crop cultivation on farms comprising several hundred acres were common in the outlying areas of the community. As early as the...
The City of Brockton is a major urban community south of Boston with a rich industrial history. Brockton was the shoe manufacturing center of the region from the late 18th century through the 1950's. In the Civil War, it was claimed that half of the Union Army wore boots made in Brockton and at...
The Town of Dartmouth is unusual in exemplifying from its earliest history the tension between the established Calvinist Puritan religion and those who wished to worship in their own way.
In 1652, Massasoit, Chief Sachem of the Wampanoag Federation, sold the land covering Dartmouth and 4 other...
Dighton, the geographic center of Bristol County, is also a rural economic center. It is the location of the Bristol County Agricultural High School and of the Dighton-Rehoboth Regional High School. It is a mixture of suburban and rural settings with a strong industrial presence.
The Town of East Bridgewater was an early industrial inland town located on the northern portion of the Taunton River system. Situated in Plymouth County, the town's European community had been heavily damaged in King Philip's war. Nine of the ten homes in the area were destroyed during the...
Easton is a pretty, pleasant suburban community now, but the town began its history as the rough frontier of the Taunton North Purchase and acted as the hunting, fishing and lumbering preserve of early Taunton settlers.
Permanent settlement by colonists about 1695 and formal establishment of the...
The Town of Fairhaven is a suburban/fishing/resort community on Buzzard's Bay. The town suffered both material damage and loss of life during the raids and battles of King Philip's war and significant settlement took place only after the war. Until the middle of the 18th century, the town's...
The City of Fall River is an industrial community on the banks of the Taunton River in Bristol County with a long and fascinating history. The first settler was Benjamin Church, a hero of King Philip's war, who built a sawmill in 1690. The city's geography determined its destiny; as historians...
Located at the intersection of Interstates 95 and 495, Foxborough is a growing community of 15,000 known to its residents as "the gem of Norfolk County". The town is the home of the New England Patriots National Football League franchise. The team has performed at Foxborough Stadium on Route One...
The Town of Franklin is a suburban industrial community on the watershed between the Charles and the Blackstone Rivers, 22 miles southwest of Boston. It is one of the highest towns in Norfolk County. Settlement came late, in 1676, after the ending of King Philip's war. Its early years saw...
The Town of Freetown is a pastoral community in Bristol County with a small summer colony and a maritime history. The town's early economy was based mostly on agriculture, but the water power of the Assonet River eventually brought grist, saw and fulling mills after 1695 and in the 18th century the...
The Town of Lakeville is an inland rural town on the Plymouth-Bristol county boundary. First settlement of the town was in approximately 1702 when a forge was erected to use the bog iron in Assawompset and Long Ponds.
The town was basically agricultural since it lacked the major water resources to...
The Town of Mansfield is an industrial railroad town in Bristol County. In its earliest days, the town was the unsettled frontier of Taunton, used for hunting, fishing and some livestock grazing. The earliest permanent settlement took place in the 1680's. During the Colonial era, the town's...
Marion is a delightful residential town, felt by its residents to have rare natural beauty and charm. The small town character, blended with the flavor and benefits of a seacoast community with lovely residential neighborhoods and modern conveniences, makes Marion an ideal town for year round...
Mattapoisett was settled in 1750 and officially incorporated in 1857. Originally a part of Rochester, the area had most likely been visited by European traders and sailors. There is also evidence of prior Wampanoag Indian settlements, including burial grounds, throughout the town. In fact, the word...
The Town of Medfield is an historic suburban town on an important crossing point of the Charles River valley leading to the western interior of the state. Located on a rugged upland watershed area and the adjacent river meadow, Medfield was the site of major native settlements and of early European...
The Town of Medway is a beautiful residential town in the southwestern suburbs of Boston with easy access to Route 495. It is predominantly a single-family home community with a handful of apartments and condos.
Henry Gamsey was the first settler in town. Beginning in 1700 with the first modest...
The Town of Middleborough is a 70-square mile historic industrial town on the Nemasket River and was a major native settlement area used for seasonal fishing, hunting, and berry gathering. The town is one of only a handful of southeastern Massachusetts communities that retained a sizeable Indian...
The Town of Millis is a suburban industrial town in the Charles River Valley, incorporated in 1885. First settled in 1658, the first mill was built in town in 1662 on Bogestow Pond. The town's early economy was based largely on agriculture and grazing. King Philip's war destroyed every building...
The City of New Bedford is seen by its residents as a wonderfully diverse and culturally rich community with a proud past, present and future. The whaling capital of the world in the 18th century, the city has evolved to become the home of many major industries, which manufacture products used...
The Town of Norfolk is a rural suburban town on the periphery of metropolitan Boston, located on an upper valley of the Charles River.
There were a half dozen small farms in the town after 1669, the result of a determined effort to populate the Colonial frontier. This was seen as a difficult task...
North Attleborough is an industrial town in Bristol County on the Rhode Island border. In pre-Colonial times, it was the site of the Bay Path, a major Indian trail to Narragansett Bay, the Seekonk River and Boston. John Woocock and family established a small settlement in North Attleborough in...
Established on March 17, 1710 as a part of Taunton, a bill to perfect the Norton Grant was passed on June 12, 1771. Parts of Norton were originally established as Easton on December 21, 1725, and as Mansfield on April 26, 1770.
Located in Bristol County, Norton is approximately 30 miles southwest...
Residents feel that the Town of Plainville exemplifies a small, rural community in an idyllic country setting. Geographically positioned along the northeast border of Rhode Island, the commute to Boston or Providence is both quick and convenient. A family oriented community, Plainville is heavily...
The Town of Rehoboth is an historic pastoral community in Bristol County incorporated in 1745. The town never had a large amount of agricultural land because of its extended marshy terrain and hills, but there was always good fishing on the Palmer River and an annual herring run provided abundant...
The Town of Rochester was founded in 1679 and incorporated in 1686. At that time the area now known as Marion, Mattapoisett and West Wareham were all part of Rochester. These towns were subsequently separated from Rochester and by 1857 Rochester stood alone, having had the foresight to reserve...
The Town of Seekonk is a suburban community on the Rhode Island border. It was incorporated in 1812 from the western half of Rehoboth and contains rolling hills with extensive swamp acreage in the central portions of the town. During King Philip's war, settlers fled the Seekonk area and took...
Sharon is a growing town of 16,000 people midway between Boston and Providence. An active network of civic organizations, shared appreciation of the diversity of its population and a cherished history make Sharon a vibrant community.
The community spirit of Sharon residents is exemplified by a...
The Town of Somerset is a suburban community in Bristol County, on the west side of the Taunton River. This area was originally known as the Shawamat Lands and was incorporated as a town in 1790. Although there was a significant Indian population when colonists arrived, by the end of King Philip's...
The Town of Stoughton is a medium sized suburban community with great ethnic and religious diversity. Stoughton is located twenty miles south, southwest of Boston. The town is primarily a residential community with an excellent range of commercial properties that provide jobs, economic prosperity...
The Town of Swansea is a suburban/rural community founded on the premise of religious tolerance for all. Unfortunately, the town also turned out to be the starting place of King Philip's war in 1675 and the site of the first bloodshed of the war. Before that war there were several historic Indian...
Taunton is a city of rich diversity and is divided into five primary neighborhoods; Weir, Whittenton, Oakland, Westville and East Taunton. Each neighborhood has its own corner stores, churches, neighborhood associations, parks and playgrounds. Regardless of where one lives in this city of nearly...
A group of sawmill residents who built along the great Cedar Swamp petitioned the Annual Town Meeting of Dedham in 1721 for the privilege of becoming a separate Town with their own minister. Their petition was finally accepted in 1724 and they chose their Town's name in honor of the Prime Minister...
Wareham, situated at the head of Buzzards Bay, offers an exceptional location within easy travelling distance to the Boston and Providence metropolitan areas. Boston is about one hour away and Providence is about 45 minutes away. All of the tourist amenities of the Cape Cod area are available in...
West Bridgewater is a small residential town bordering on the City of Brockton, and located at the junction of Routes 24 and 106. It is also close to Route 495, making the town's accessibility one of its greatest assets. This access along with availability of land has resulted in increased...
Westport is a town of farms, of beautiful scenery, of people who live from the water, of small businesses and of homes. Each of these aspects of the community is characterized and strengthened by the superb natural resources to be found within the town's borders. The key to Westport's recreational...
Wrentham is a small, semi-rural community located outside the fringe of the Boston and Providence metropolitan areas. The town is very proud of its New England heritage and has actively sought to preserve this type of atmosphere over the years. Its large tracts of open space areas, recreational...