People of the Wachusett: Greater New England in History and Memory 16301860
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About this book
Nashaway became Lancaster Wachusett became Princeton and all of Nipmuck County became the county of Worcester. Town by town New England grewWatertown Sudbury Turkey Hills Fitchburg Westminster Walpoleand with each new community the myth of America flourished. In People of the Wachusett the history of the New England town becomes the cultural history of Americas first frontier. Integral to this history are the firsthand narratives of town founders and citizens English French and Native American whose accounts of trading and warring relocating and putting down roots proved essential to the building of these communities. Town plans local records broadside ballads vernacular house forms and furniture festivalsall come into play in this innovative book giving a rich picture of early Americans creating towns and crafting historical memory. Beginning with the Wachusett in northern Worcester County Massachusetts David Jaffee traces the founding of towns through inland New England and Nova Scotia from the mid-seventeenth century through the Revolutionary Era. His history of New Englands settlement is one in which the replication of towns across the landscape is inextricable from the creation of a regional and national culture with stories about colonization giving shape and meaning to New England life.
