Massachusetts's 1st congressional district

Western Massachusetts, known colloquially as "western Mass," is a region in Massachusetts, one of the six U.S. states that make up the New England region of the United States. Western Massachusetts has diverse topography; 22 colleges and universities including UMass in Amherst, MA, with approximately 100,000 students; and such institutions as Tanglewood, the Springfield Armory, and Jacob's Pillow. The western part of western Massachusetts includes the Berkshire Mountains, where there are several vacation resorts. The eastern part of the region includes the Connecticut River Valley, which has a number of university towns, the major city Springfield, and numerous agricultural hamlets. In the eastern part of the area, the Quabbin region is a place of outdoor recreation.

The South Worthington Historic District is a historic district encompassing the formerly industrial, but now rural, village of South Worthington, Massachusetts. The village is centered on the junction of Huntington Road (Massachusetts Route 112), Ireland Street, and Thrasher Hill Road. The district extends along Ireland Road as far as Conwell Road, and one contributing element, the dam which impounds Little Galilee Pond, extends into neighboring Chesterfield. The area had a number of small mills along the banks of the Little River, a tributary of the Westfield River, but only one complex, the Theron Higgins Mill on South Worthington Road, has survived from the 19th century. Most of the buildings in the district are residences dating to the 19th century; also included are three churches, including the particularly elegant Greek Revival South Worthington Methodist Church (1848). The district was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2005.The South Worthington area first developed as a modest agricultural area in the 1760s. A falls in the Little River proved a good location for a sawmill, which was standing by 1794, and followed by a grist mill in 1812. The village flourished as a service center for the local farmers, and additional mills survived for a time in the 19th century, one of which was used to manufacture window blinds. The first church was built in 1828; the building, which still stands, was later used as a general store and as a school, after the present Greek Revival church was built. The village also achieved some notice as the birthplace and summer home of Russell Conwell (1843-1925), a famous Baptist minister and writer who founded Temple University. Conwell's summer stays in the house of his youth brought visitors to the community. Conwell's association with the village is commemorated by boulder with a plaque mounted on it near that house, 42 Conwell Road.

The Ireland Street Cemetery is a historic cemetery on Ireland Street in West Chesterfield, Massachusetts. The cemetery contains 185 stones, dating from 1772 to 1996, most of which date to the 18th and 19th centuries. It is one of the town's oldest cemeteries, and contains the work of three significant funerary carvers of the late 18th and 19th centuries. The cemetery was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2009.

Chesterfield Gorge is a nature reserve located in Chesterfield, Massachusetts, United States. The property is owned by The Trustees of Reservations, who have administered the property since 1929. Chesterfield Gorge was initially carved from the metamorphic bedrock by torrents of glacial meltwater. Today, the gorge continues to be shaped by the East Branch of the Westfield River. The walls of the gorge are quite steep, more than 30 feet (9.1 m) in some places. During periods of low water, it is possible to get down to the floor of the gorge, but it is not recommended, and no trails exist from the cliff edge to the bottom. Rock climbing is prohibited. The surrounding forest features oak, pine, and hemlock, and is home to bears, bobcats, and turkeys, among many others. A half-mile trail along the cliff top offers views of the gorge, the river, and the forest. A railing runs along the length of the cliff for safety. Along the cliff ledge are fields of boulders, some of which are quite massive. Stone abutments of a bridge that once spanned the river are all that remain of the old post road between Boston, Massachusetts and Albany, New York. A toll gate was established at its eastern end, but no trace of it exists today. During the American Revolution, British redcoats marched over this bridge to Boston following General Burgoyne's defeat at Saratoga, New York. In 1835, floodwaters swept away the bridge along with some nearby grist and sawmills. A short trail leads along the river upstream from the gorge to the remains of the old bridge. A more extensive trail network extends southward down the river, through the Hiram H. Fox Wildlife Management Area and towards Knightville Dam. Chesterfield Gorge is the entrance to an extensive natural area along the Westfield River, and is designated a National Wild and Scenic River. Fly fishing for trout is a popular pastime. Atlantic salmon are stocked here, and must not be confused with the local trout, as it is illegal to keep them if caught. There is, coincidentally, a similar natural area named Chesterfield Gorge located in Chesterfield, New Hampshire.

The Bisbee Mill is a historic gristmill at 66 East Street in Chesterfield, Massachusetts. Located on the Dead Branch of the Westfield River, the mill complex includes a wood frame mill building, along with its former mill pond, impounded by a dam across the river, and a canal that brought river water to the mill for power. Also included on the property is the site of the Damon sawmill, which was established in 1761, and the Pierce cornmill, which occupied a site north of the Bisbee mill building in 1823. The Pierce mill was moved to the site, from an earlier one that may also be on the grounds of the Bisbee mill complex.The Bisbee mill complex has an evolutionary history that begins with the establishment of the mill pond in 1823 by Elisha Bisbee. Neither the dam he built, nor an 1859 dam built to form a second mill pond, have survived. Bisbee also dug a canal to bring water to his new mill building; other canals would also have been dug for the other two mills, but traces of them have not yet been found, and their exact route is not known. The mill building on the site was used, modified, and added onto, by five generations of Bisbees, until it closed its doors in the 1960s. The property was acquired by the Chesterfield Historical Society, which has operated it since 1997 as the Bisbee Mill Museum.The main mill building started in 1823 as a single 2+1⁄2-story gable-ended wood frame block measuring 30 feet (9.1 m) by 24 feet (7.3 m). This was extended eastward in the 1850s with the addition of a second block, 20 feet (6.1 m) by 24 feet (7.3 m). The two sections were joined by their end gables, although at slightly different elevations. Both sections were originally on fieldstone foundations; these have been replaced in part with modern concrete, and in part strengthened by the addition of concrete. A third section was added to the building between 1888 and 1829. Measuring 12 feet (3.7 m) by 58 feet (18 m), this section had a shed roof, and was added to the south side of the main blocks. A fourth major addition was made in 1954, when another large section was added to the north side of the building.Inside the building are the working portions of the mill. The water power it provided was delivered to the three levels of the mill by shafts, gears, and belts, and operated a number of different types of machinery. The major operations were as a gristmill, a woodworking mill, and a smithy. On the bottom level, the wheel pit, located in the original 1823 part of the building, houses a turbine wheel that dates to 1919. All levels of the mill have been adapted to showcase equipment that was used in the mill during its more than 100 year active lifetime.The mill was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2005.

Gate Cemetery is a historic cemetery on Ireland Street in West Chesterfield, Massachusetts. It is located just under one mile (1.6 km) south of the center of West Chesterfield, the junction of Main Road and Ireland Street. The 1/3 acre cemetery is on a plateau of land on the east side of Ireland Street, flanked to the east by the Westfield River and to the west by a steep hillside. It takes its name from a toll gate that was erected nearby when the area was settled in the late 18th century.The date of the cemetery's establishment is uncertain, but may be related to a deed transfer of land in the area to the town in 1794. The oldest grave marker, that of Joseph Gere, dates to 1808, while the latest (one of only three dated after 1959) is dated 1997. There are 121 full markers and 26 fragments, and there may be unmarked gravesites. The markers are laid out in 13 rows in the roughly rectangular plot. Most of the markers are marble, although there are number that are granite or slate. Five of the markers are obelisks; none of them exhibit any particular artistic sophistication. The plot is demarcated by fieldstone walls about four feet high; the entrance is marked by two granite posts, into which pockets are carved that hold wooden rails that must be removed to gain access to the grounds. None of the gravesites is fenced off, and there are no circulating paths or roadways on the grounds.The cemetery, along with the nearby Ireland Street Cemetery, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2009.

Ringville Cemetery is a historic cemetery on Witt Hill Road in the hamlet of Ringville, part of Worthington, Massachusetts. The roughly 3-acre (1.2 ha) cemetery was established in 1866, when the town purchased 0.75 acres (0.30 ha) from Ethan Ring. The cemetery was quickly expanded over the next twenty years, reaching a size of 2 acres (0.81 ha). In the 1970s the town purchased an additional acre, giving the cemetery its present size. Ringville, the village in which it lies, was in the 19th century the industrial heart of Worthington, supporting a number of mills.The cemetery lies on a rise above and south of Witt Hill Road, about 0.25 miles (0.40 km) from Massachusetts Route 112. A stone retaining wall lines the front of the cemetery. It is topped by large quarried granite stones, with two vehicular entrances, and two locations where steps are formed in the wall to provide access to the cemetery grounds. The main stair, in the center of the wall, was given a decorative iron gate c. 1900.Despite the 1866 establishment of the cemetery, its earliest grave markers have dates from the 1810s. These graves were supposedly moved here from the Ireland Street Cemetery in neighboring Chesterfield; there is evidence of family connections between the two areas. Its most prominent marker is the Blair Vault, located in the northwestern corner, near the front wall. This brick and granite structure bears the inscription "Presented by Clara D. Blair in memory of her husband David Blair." The cemetery is in active use by the town. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2004.

The Chesterfield Center Historic District is a historic district that encompasses the traditional village center of the town of Chesterfield, Massachusetts. The village is reflective of the town's 18th and 19th-century development as an agrarian hill community, with architectural styles before about 1850 predominating. The district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2000.

Chesterfield is a rural hill town in Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States, 26 miles (42 km) east of Pittsfield and 90 miles (140 km) west of Boston. The population was 1,186 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area.

The North Chester Historic District is a historic district encompassing the rural village center of North Chester in the town of Chester, Massachusetts. One of the rural community's early settlement nodes, it thrived into the early 19th century around a stagecoach tavern, a few small mills, and farming, and retains buildings and archaeological remains representative of this history. The district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1998.

The Chester Center Historic District is a historic district encompassing the historic center of Chester, Massachusetts. The area was first laid out by Chester's first settlers in 1763. It remained the center of commerce and civic life in the rural agricultural community until railroads were built in other areas of the town in the 1840s. The village center declined in importance as economic activity moved to areas more readily accessible to the railroad, and the town hall was eventually moved to Chester Factories. The district includes properties on Skyline Trail near the intersection of Bromley and Lyman Roads, and features Greek Revival, colonial, and Federal architecture. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988.

The West Chesterfield Historic District is a historic district that encompasses the 19th century industrial and residential heritage of the village of West Chesterfield in the town of Chesterfield, Massachusetts. Centered at the junction of Main Road and Ireland Street, it was one of the town's main industrial sites for many years. The district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2008.