Place:Lanesborough, Berkshire, Massachusetts, United States

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NameLanesborough
Alt namesNew Framingham Plantationsource: name prior to 1765
Lanesborosource: USGS, GNIS Digital Gazetteer (1994) GNIS25000254
TypeTown
Coordinates42.517°N 73.217°W
Located inBerkshire, Massachusetts, United States     (1765 - )
Contained Places
Cemetery
Talcott Cemetery

Lanesborough, formerly known as New Framingham plantation, was founded in 1765. It had no parent town.

The records from 1700-1842 were destroyed in a fire. Some of the records from St. Luke's Church exist.

Contents

Modern Lanesborough

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

Lanesborough is a town in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It is part of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 3,038 at the 2020 census.

History

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

One of the first Berkshire communities to be settled, Lanesborough was originally known as "New Framingham", carved from part of Northern Berkshire Township #6. Lanesborough was first settled in 1753 and was officially incorporated on January 21, 1765. It was renamed Lanesborough, for the Countess of Lanesborough, a friend of Governor Francis Bernard, who incorporated the town. The town grew with small industry in the early 19th century, most of which settled along Town Brook. Berkshire Pleasure Park was a major attraction at the turn of the 20th century. It was one of the trolley parks along what is now Route 8 on the eastern side of town.

Today the town includes many small businesses, but has little industry of its own. More people from Lanesborough are employed in nearby communities or at the nearby Berkshire Mall.

The town's most famous resident was Josh Billings, born Henry Wheeler Shaw. He was a popular humorist in the nineteenth century, rivaling Mark Twain for popularity at the time. Historic sites include the Old Stone School, an unusual stone one-room schoolhouse, built in 1832 from funds donated by Ephraim Bradley and which operated as a school until 1950. The building is currently used as a photography gallery and guesthouse.

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This page uses content from the English Wikipedia. The original content was at Lanesborough, Massachusetts. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with WeRelate, the content of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

Resources

source: Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names
source: Family History Library Catalog