Cheshire, Massachusetts, in northern Berkshire County, is celebrating its 225th birthday today.
“Well, I can tell you that Cheshire has had a very interesting history,” said Barry Emery.
Emery is a member of the town historical commission, and is arguably the man who knows the most about Cheshire. He’s written six books on the town’s history.
“Begun in the 1760s when men from Rhode Island bought property that was being sold in western Massachusetts. They moved to create a community known as New Providence. And they fought very bravely in our Revolution, and after that, wanted to become a town. It took quite a while, 17 years as a matter of fact, before they were granted permission to become the town of Cheshire,” Emery said.
Those men from Rhode Island were Baptists, making them the first non-Puritans among the European colonizers to put down roots in what would become the Bay State. It was at the Battle of Bennington in next door Vermont in 1777 where they made their mark in the Revolutionary War. On March 14, 1793, Cheshire officially came into existence.
“Special? It’s 225 years, I guess that’s special enough," said select board member Carol Francesconi. She has served the town since 1989.
“To make it as a town, a good town, a caring town, a town that’s trying to progress, and a town that is not dying. A town that always maintains a level population or grows slightly, not a declining community at this point,” said Francesconi.
Nestled in a valley above a reservoir, Cheshire boasts access to some of the state’s defining outdoor recreational opportunities, from the Appalachian Trail to Mount Greylock, which rises above the town of about 3,250. And of course, there’s the monument to the cheese.
“That’s a 1,235-pound block of cheese that was made to honor Thomas Jefferson when he was elected," said John Tremblay. He's the president of the Cheshire Community Association, and is involved in organizing the yearlong celebration of the town’s anniversary.
“Cheshire was the only community in Berkshire County that overwhelmingly voted for Thomas Jefferson. So when he was in office, we wanted to honor him, and being a dairy community, the farmers got together and all contributed a gallon of milk and created this huge block of cheese,” Tremblay said.
The town took a significant blow in 2017 when, in a familiar story in Berkshire County, the Adams-Cheshire School District voted to close the small Cheshire Elementary School.
“The decision was made against the general consensus of the town of Cheshire, but we were in a situation where we could not change what had happened and we’re trying our best to — I wouldn’t live with the situation, adjust to the situation, and continue to work for the good of the children of our community,” said Francesconi.
Despite that loss, the town enters this new phase of its history with a well-defined attitude, according to Tremblay.
“Well, it would be two words, one phrase — and if you look at the website for the 225th anniversary — it’s Cheshire Proud dot com. And that’s really the theme of our town, it’s Chesire Pride. And that’s what we’re going to use going forward to build the vision and the future for our community,” Tremblay said.
