A quintessential small New England town, Cheshire was founded in 1766 and incorporated in 1793. Named after Cheshire County in England, the town was founded by Baptists from Rhode Island. Most of the early residents were followers of Roger Williams and settled in the area to be able to worship their religion freely. One of those settlers was Colonel Joab Stafford who lived on what is now called ‘Stafford Hill’. Stafford’s claim to fame is that he lead the men of Cheshire in the Revolutionary War at the Battle of Bennington.
Although we currently live in a very partisan country, things were not so different back in 1793 in Cheshire. The folks in town were strong supporters of Thomas Jefferson during the Adams-Jefferson election of 1800, in fact the only Berkshire town to favor him. When he won the election, the town decided to send a tribute to their candidate to show their support. But what, you ask, can a town like Cheshire send that would be representative of their constituency? Like their namesake in England, Cheshire was a cheese town. Answer: Everyone in town donated milk from the towns 900 cows and they sent the president a big cheese. No, not just a big cheese, but a giant cheese. The citizens of Cheshire imprinted the cheese with Jefferson’s personal motto: ‘Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God.’
The resulting cheese was 4 feet in diameter, 18 inches thick and weighed 1,235 pounds. It was proported to be moved on a sled drawn by six horses when it was shipped off to Washington, D.C. but this is still a debated fact. President Jefferson was so impressed that he sent the town a letter of thanks. One of the two monuments in Cheshire commemorates the cheese; the other memorializes the founders of the town. The Pioneer Monument is on Stafford Hill and is a fieldstone replica of Benedict Arnold’s Norse Mill in Newport, Rhode Island. The view from the monument is arguably one of the most beautiful views in the Berkshires.
The town was home to early forges, saw mills, grist mills and tanneries. In 1812, the Cheshire Crown Glass Company opened. The town also was home to the first factory in western Massachusetts to manufacture cotton-making machinery. It also had Lime Kilns and silica sand quarries.
Mt. Greylock is technically not part of the Berkshire Mountains, but rather is geologically part of the Taconic Mountains. A seasonal automobile road (open annually from late May through November 1) climbs to the summit as well as a network of hiking trails. Mount Greylock State Reservation was created in 1898 as Massachusetts’ first public land for the purpose of forest preservation. From the summit, views of up to 72 mi (116 km) are possible into five different states: Massachusetts, New York, Connecticut, Vermont, and New Hampshire. The mountain was known to 18th century English settlers as Grand Hoosuc. In the early 19th century it was called Saddleback Mountain because of its appearance. The current name is believed to be in tribute to a legendary Native American, Gray Lock, (c. 1670-1750) a Western Abenaki Missisquoi chief. Gray Lock distinguished himself by conducting guerrilla raids into Vermont and western Massachusetts.
In 1863, the first organized hiking and nature study club in the United States, the Alpine Club, frequently camped on the mountain. By the mid-19th century, improved transportation attracted many writers and artists inspired by the mountain scene to the area: Nathaniel Hawthorne, William Cullen Bryant, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Herman Melville, and Henry David Thoreau. Melville is said to have taken part of his inspiration for Moby-Dick from the view of Greylock from his home, since its snow-covered profile reminded him of a great white sperm whale’s back breaking the ocean’s surface. By the late 19th century, clearcutting logging practices had stripped much of the mountain. Along with this came devastating forest fires and landslides. Following a fire on the summit, a group of local businessmen concerned about the mountain incorporated the Greylock Park Association (GPA) on July 20, 1885, and purchased 400 acres (1.6 km2) on the summit. On June 20, 1898 the Mount Greylock State Reservation was created, with the stipulation that the state add to the original land (to ultimately total 10,000 acres (40 km2). With this acquisition the first public land in Massachusetts for the purpose of forest preservation was created, later to become the state park system. By 1929, the Appalachian Trail route up Mount Greylock was first cut, and most of the Massachusetts section route was complete by 1931. Due to disputes between the local Berkshire Hills Conference trail group and both the Appalachian Trail Conference and the Appalachian Mountain Club Berkshire Chapter, the trail was in jeopardy of growing back in until the local Mount Greylock Ski Club assumed maintenance in 1937.
Fun famous people facts: Chesire is home to Bernice Madigan, supercentenarian and one of the oldest verified people ever AND Horace Smith, inventor, gunsmith, co-founder of Smith & Wesson.
Source of information: Wikipedia
