Washington, MA
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Description of Washington, Massachusetts

The Town of Washington lies on rough and mountainous terrain almost entirely in the Green Mountain range in Berkshire County. The early history of the town begins with a real estate scam when Robert Watson of Sheffield in 1757 sold the land on which the town would be established to investors, claiming that it was his to sell. By 1760, the purchasers discovered that the claim was untrue and had to repurchase the properties from the Indians. After the new owners started settling the property, the government claimed ownership of the territory and the whole tangle of claims and counter-claims didn't get straightened out until 1763. However, despite these delays and setbacks, the first marriage was celebrated in 1774 between John Phelps and Mary Ashley and there were enough settlers in Washington by 1777 to warrant formal incorporation, drawn there by the fertile land in the valleys between the mountain ridges. The town has a great deal of good grazing land rather than grain growing land and boasts five small lakes, a number of clear streams and many springs of clear water.

Unlike many of its neighboring communities with abundant supplies of water, Washington developed few industries beyond charcoal making, and has remained down through the years, a small rural community. In 1885, the Berkshire County Gazetteer noted that the town had "no shops, no mills, no store".

Western Massachusetts, bordered by Middlefield on the east; Becket on the southeast; Lee on the southwest; Lenox on the west; Pittsfield on the northwest; and Dalton, Hinsdale, and Peru on the north. Washington is 8 miles southwest of Pittsfield, 21 miles north of Great Barrington, and 132 miles west of Boston.

Narrative compiled by the Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD).



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