Grafton is a semi-rural town in east central Massachusetts lying southeast of the City of Worcester

I recently had an online conversation with MCHS alumnus Howard Hight, who remembers all kinds of details about Montreal in the 1950s and 1960s, including the Pizza Pan, which used to be near Orange Julep on Decarie Blvd.

Howard, who made a career in publishing, now lives in Grafton, Massachusetts.

I mentioned to him: “I hear Grafton is close to Boston, which I know is a fun place.”

Howard Hight replied:

Grafton is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States.

If Washington can be fairly analogised to Rome, then it is no stretch to compare Boston to Athens.

I came here because of publishing. This is a logical center. There are over 100 universities and colleges within a 100 mile circumference of Boston.

Highest concentration in USA.

Grafton is approx 40 miles west of Boston.

You might like this link…..

History of Grafton

[End of text from Howard Hight]

The link is indeed of interest; among other things, I noted the First Nations references. The opening paragraphs read:

• Grafton is a semi-rural town in east central Massachusetts lying southeast of the City of Worcester. The population according to the federal census in 2010 was 17,765.

• Grafton was originally occupied by a tribe of Nipmuc Indians and was called Hassanamisco (place of small stones). In 1671, an English missionary named John Eliot, who preached in Hassanamisco, established an Indian church and school here where the Bible was studied in the Indian language. The church and school were located near the current common. Today there is an Indian homestead on Brigham Hill.

• In 1724, a group of 39 men and one woman, mainly from Marlborough, Sudbury, Concord, and Stow, presented a petition to the General Court and were granted the right to purchase 7,500 acres of land from Indian owners. The money was to be held in an account under the direction of the General Court for the benefit of the Indians. The Town of Grafton was established in 1735 and named in honor of Charles Fitzroy, Duke of Grafton, and grandson of Charles II.