Grafton, Massachusetts

The Grafton Inn is a historic inn at 25 Grafton Common in Grafton, Massachusetts. The three-story wood-and-brick building was built in 1805 by Samuel Wood, with a design influenced by the work of Charles Bulfinch. The building was significantly enlarged c. 1865–75, doubling its size and adding the Italianate front porch. It is a wood-frame structure, with brick ends, a hip roof, and cupola-like belvedere.The inn was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980, and was included in the Grafton Common Historic District in 1988. It is still in operation as a restaurant, bar, and seven-room inn.

The Grafton Common Historic District encompasses the historic village center of Grafton, Massachusetts. The center consists of a number of buildings arrayed around a roughly oval common, which were mostly built in the middle of the 19th century. Later development was significantly reduced because the area was bypassed by the railroads. The common was laid out in 1728, when the area was first settled by colonists, and is enclosed by an 1845 fence built out of granite posts and wooden rails. Prominent buildings surrounding the common include the 1863 Italianate Unitarian Church, the 1833 Greek Revival Congregational Church, and the 1805 Federal style Grafton Inn.The district was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1988.

Grafton Public Library is located in Grafton, Massachusetts. The building was built in 1927 with money donated by Jerome Wheelock, a local inventor. The 2009 population estimate is over 17,700. GPL belongs to Massachusetts Library System (MLS) and Central/Western Massachusetts Automated Resource Sharing, Inc. (C/W MARS).

The George Clapp House is a historic house at 44 North Street in Grafton, Massachusetts. Built about 1835, it is the town's only significant example of high-style Greek Revival architecture, with temple treatment on both the front and one side. The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on August 21, 1997.

Grafton High School is a high school in Grafton, Massachusetts, United States. The school has an enrollment size of approximately 900 students in grades 9–12. The curriculum offers a wide variety of courses in areas of business and computer science, music, video game design, English, family consumer science, health, physical education, mathematics, science and technology, social studies, special education, visual and performing arts, world languages, community service, school service, and independent studies.

The John H. Chafee Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor is a National Heritage Corridor dedicated to the history of the early American Industrial Revolution, including mill towns stretching across 25 cities and towns (400,000 acres (1,620 km²) in total) near the river's course in Worcester County, Massachusetts, and Providence County, Rhode Island. It makes up a historical area in the Blackstone Valley and is named for the late US Senator from Rhode Island John Chafee. In 2014, the Blackstone River Valley National Historical Park was created out of a smaller portion of the National Heritage Corridor. The two units now exist as cooperative entities. The organization is headquartered at the building in Whitinsville, MA, which is located at 670 Linwood Ave, Whitinsville, MA 01588.

The Quinsigamond River is a river in central Massachusetts. It is a tributary of the Blackstone River and ultimately drains into Narragansett Bay. Although the Quinsigamond has many small tributaries and drains a sizable area, the river proper is only 5.6 miles (9.0 km) long. It flows roughly southwards from its origin at Lake Quinsigamond at Worcester's eastern edge, past North Grafton where Bummet Brook enters, through Lake Ripple northwest of Grafton, and into Fisherville Pond at Fisherville, where it merges into the Blackstone River.

The Fisherville Historic District is a historic district encompassing one of the four 19th century industrial villages of Grafton, Massachusetts. The area's first industrial activity was in 1831–2, when Peter Farnum (who had a mill at Farnumsville) and business partners built a brick mill there. A densely packed residential area grew around the mill complex, which achieved its present configuration c. 1909. The largest period of growth in terms of residential housing was in the last two decades of the 19th century, when a significant number of Italianate and Queen Anne worker houses were built.The district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1996.

Farnumsville Historic District is a historic district encompassing a historic mill village in Grafton, Massachusetts. It is located on the eastern bank of the Blackstone River, extending along Providence and Main Streets, roughly between Cross and Depot Streets, and radiating along those roads and adjacent streets. This area was one of Grafton's 19th century industrial mill villages, which was centered on the Farnum Mill, which first began operating in the second decade of the 19th century. The main mill building that survives dates to 1844, and the housing stock in the village is in a diversity of styles, built roughly between the 1820s and 1920s.The district was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1996.

The Willard House and Clock Museum is a museum located in North Grafton, Massachusetts, United States.

The Ethan Allen House and Gun Shop is an historic property at 37 Waterville Street in Grafton, Massachusetts. The property includes the home and business of armsmaker Ethan Allen. The gun shop was constructed in 1833, while the house was built in 1834–36. Allen, the inventor of the pepper-box revolver, began manufacturing guns in Grafton in 1832; his business was one of the earliest gunmakers in the region and an early part of Grafton's industrial development. Allen's home was a Greek Revival residence, an uncommon style in the area. The property was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1995.Ethan Allen (not to be confused with American Revolutionary War hero Ethan Allen), was a native of Bellingham, Massachusetts who came to Grafton in 1831, where he manufactured cutlery before entering the arms business. The land for the house and shop was acquired in partnership with his father in 1832, and purchased by him outright in 1837. When Allen began making guns, he dammed the brook near the shop site to provide water power to the facility. While working at this shop, Allen produced the first known example of an "underhammer" pistol, and the first self-cocking gun with a barrel that rotates when the trigger is pulled. His shop, in which he worked until moving to Norwich, Connecticut in 1842, is one of the only examples of an early 19th-century gunshop in the state.

Grafton station is an MBTA Commuter Rail station in the North Grafton village of Grafton, Massachusetts, served by the Framingham/Worcester Line. The station is fully accessible, with mini-high platforms serving both of the line's two tracks. A former station at North Grafton was open from the 1800s until 1960. The modern station, located near Tufts University's Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine 1.3 miles (2.1 km) east of the former station, opened in 2000.