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Benjamin Franklin was born in Boston, Massachusetts on January 17, 1706.
George Washington slept here - On October 31, 1789, George Washington concluded a ten-day presidential visit to Massachusetts. Adoring crowds of grateful citizens greeted him everywhere. People preserved the dishes he used, the chairs he sat in, and the beds he slept in. Many of the streets he traveled down were renamed "Washington Street."
The design used above and below the navigation on our Home page, is the stencil border on the walls of the Great Hall in the West Brookfield Town Hall.
The Ten Footers of West Brookfield were small sheds known as "ten footers" and varied from 10x10 to 15x15 with an average of 12x12. They had one door and two or three windows - sometimes there was a small loft or storage space accessible by a ladder. Some had stoves. The ten footers were used by employees of shoe and boot factories for some work that could be done at home. The process done in these sheds was called "bottoming". It meant attaching the soles to the "uppers" by hand sewing or pegging with wooden pegs (By Walter Fullam, August 30, 1995).
Daniel Henry Chamberlain, Citizen - Educator - Soldier - Planter -Statesman - Governor of South Carolina, was born in West Brookfield, MA on June 23, 1835.West Brookfield can be justly proud of two early natives who carried the banner for a freer America.
- Lucy Stone, the 12 year old, advocating the right of a woman to vote at the trial of a Deacon (Josiah Henshaw) who dared to speak for the abolition of slavery.
- Daniel Chamberlain who fought to help free the slaves and later became their political champion
Foster Hill is the modern name for what was originally called "The Town Plot".
Massachusetts is the 3rd most densely populated state in the nation.
"Third Flag Act" - In 1818, Congress prescribed that the number of stripes on the U.S. flag should always be 13, and that the number of stars should equal the number of states. The flag used on "Our Soldiers" was the first result.

A look at how Jamestown, VA and Plymouth, MA compare:

The settlements side by side

Jamestown, VA	Plymouth, MA
Founded: 1607	Founded: 1620
First settlers: 105 men and boys on 3 ships: Godspeed, Susan Constant and the Discovery.	First settlers:102 men and woman, aboard the Mayflower.
Leaders: Capt. John Smith, John Rolf, Capt. Christopher Newport.	Leaders: Miles Standish, William Bradford, John Winthrop.
Legacy: Commerce, representational government.	Legacy: Religious freedom, Mayflower Compact.
Quote: "The Virginia Company was a capitalistic enterprise, with all the strengths, weaknesses, and politics of a modern corporation". As was said in the book "Love and Hate in Jamestown" by David A. Price, 'English America was a corporation before it was a country'.	Quote: "Instead of money-grubbers, they were motivated by a search for religious freedom (even if they were not so nice to the Quakers). But most important, they had a national holiday named in honor of their first celebratory meal with the Native Americans". "Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War", Nathaniel Philbrick.