INDIANAPOLIS – The National Police Association announced Monday it has awarded the Ashfield, MA Police Department a $1000.00 grant. The grant will assist the department in supporting events conducted by the Community Outreach program. The Community Outreach program conducts activities that include home visits to the elderly and homebound population.
Ashfield rests in the foothills of the eastern Berkshires and you reach this hill town by a winding road that spirals ever upward. Downtown proper spreads out with broad fields at its back. Fields and pastures embrace the village, and all kinds of interesting stuff is tucked into the farm-rich hills.
Ashfield was first settled in 1743 and was officially incorporated in 1765. The first permanent settlement was in 1745, by Richard Ellis, an Irish immigrant from the town of Easton. The town was renamed upon reincorporation, although there is debate over its namesake; it is either for the ash trees in the area, or because Governor Bernard had friends in Ashfield, England. The town had a small peppermint industry in the nineteenth century, but for the most part the town has had a mostly agrarian economy, with tourism around Ashfield Lake.
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This article originally appeared at the National Police Association.
