DIVISIONS OF THE TOWNSHIP.

35

Third.-All the land on the east side of the river, east of the home lots, and equalizing lands, extending easterly to the east line of the township, (now the Monterey and Tyringhamtown lines) and northerly to the south line of Stockbridge, and the Hoplands, -now Lee,-was to be divided into forty lots, to be numbered, and drawn for by each proprietary right. These lots, known as the "East tier of long lots," were surveyed by Samuel Messenger, and were drawn by the proprietors, April 2, 1754; these lots were of unequal lengths and widths, and were said to contain 2014 acres each. The survey of the east tier of lots is not recorded on the book of records.

Fourth.-The Hoplands, the tract lying east of Stockbridge and north of the east tier of lots, -now included in the town of Lee-were to be equally divided to each proprietary right. The divisions of this tract, five in number, were made in 1752, 1753, 1771 and 1793. By these provisions all the lands in the township were divided, with the exception of " a certain gore of land lying between the Stockbridge line and lot No. 40," of the east tier of lots, which was sold by a committee appointed for that purpose in 1794; and also excepting a small piece of land on the top of Monument Mountain, which was considered valueless, and has never been sold or laid out.

Aside from the votes respecting the divisions of land, the records of the propriety contained but few items of interest. At the first meeting of the proprietors,-1743- a committee was appointed to lay out highways in the township, but of their action, (if any was had)-no record exists. In the laying out of the west tier of long lots, highways were provided for, running north and south, near each end, as well as through the middle of the lots, and three other roads, running east and west, and intersecting the north and south roads, were also provided for.

In 1743, some persons had trespassed upon, and laid claim to lands, which had been laid out to the ministry right, and John Williams was chosen agent "to sue off and eject" them. The proprietors were mindful of the value of the streams and water privileges, and with the intent that these should be held for the benefit of the township, on the 5th of September, 1749, voted: "That all the streams of water belonging to the propriety of Upper Housatonnock, and within said township, proper and convenient for erecting mills, with a suitable quantity of land adjoining to said streams, be sequestered to the use and benefit of the propriety." In the following month of December-the

propriety granted to John Williams the privilege on the Williams River, at Van Deusenville, for the purpose of erecting a saw-mill and grist-mill-provided the mills should be erected within one year.

So late as January 1773, the proprietors, eighteen in number, petitioned the General Court, stating that the township was granted, and a committee appointed for laying it out, in 1722; that, though diligent search had been made, no returns of the committee to the General Court had been found; that the first meeting of the proprietors had been convened by the virtue of a warrant issued by a Justice of the Peace, according to the law; that the warrant was not recorded, and the original could not be found; that the petitioners had ever since held meetings, made partition of lands, and transacted other business; that these defects had been but recently discovered; that the petitioners were apprehensive that difficulties-to their prejudice-might hereafter arise, in consequence of these defects, and praying the court to take the matter into consideration, and provide a remedy.

The history of the Lower Township belongs to the annals of Sheffield, with the exception of the fourth and fifth divisions, which were included in the North Parish, and became a part of Great Barrington. The settlers and early inhabitants of these divisions, with those of the Upper Township, will be hereafter noticed in connection with the history of Great Barrington.

CHAPTER V.

GEOGRAPHICAL AND TOPOGRAPHICAL.

Its

The town of Great Barrington as originally incorporated, in 1761, comprehended the whole of the Upper Township,-excepting that part which had been set off in the formation of the Indian Town,—and so much of the Lower Township,-or the old town of Sheffield as lies between the present north line of Sheffield and a line drawn nearly east and west, crossing the Housatonic river at the Great Bridge. area has since been materially diminished by the elimination of its boundary lines in the formation of the towns of Alford and Lee. From 1743 to 1761 this territory had a corporate existence as the North Parish of Sheffield, sometimes called Upper Sheffield, and during that period was included in and formed a part of the town of Sheffield. The adjoining towns on the north, are Alford, West Stockbridge, Stockbridge and Lee, on the east, Tyringham, Monterey and New Marlboro, on the south New Marlboro, Sheffield and Egremont, on the west Egremont and Alford. The extreme western limits of the town approach within about three miles of the neighboring state of New York, and the north line of Connecticut is distant not more than eight miles from the southern boundary of the town.

In its outline the town is of irregular form, though its average length and breadth are nearly the same,a little less than seven miles. The whole area of the town, as near as the roughness of its boundary lines and the inaccuracies of their recorded surveys permit of computation, is 28,621 acres, or a little less than 45 square miles. In 1778 a considerable tract of land was taken from the north-westerly part of Great Barrington and included in Alford. This section was 652 rods in length,-north and south-with a width of 210 rods at its northern and 266 rods at its southern end; again in 1819, another piece, south of and adjoining to the above described tract, was separated from this town

and annexed to Alford, making with the first piece, a strip of 712 rods in length, and 296 rods in width at its southern end. In the north-eastern section, that part of the Upper Township known as the Hoplands, was taken from this town and included in the town of Lee at the time of its incorporation, October 21st, 1777. By the setting off to Alford, Great Barrington lost 1075 acres of its territory, which was still further reduced about 4700 acres by the annexation of the Hoplands to Lee. By these changes the whole reduction of area since the incorporation of the town has been nearly 5800 acres. In January, 1761, a small tract, including the dwelling and part of the lands of Garret Burghardt, was, on his own petition, set off from Egremont and attached to Sheffield, and on the incorporation of Great Barrington, a few months later, fell within the limits of this town. This change causes the jog or irregularity in the west line of the town near the late residence of Jacob Burghardt, deceased. On the south, the divisional line between this town and Sheffield, which is now commonly surveyed and considered a straight line, was formerly the north line of the Indian Reservation, and in the Legislative act of the 13th of January, 1742, investing the-afterwards-North Parish of Sheffield, with parish privileges, is thus described: "Beginning at the most north-westerly corner of the Indian Land, in the west line of the town of Sheffield, running easterly on said Indian Land till it comes to a beech tree marked, near the mouth of Green river, then turning something northerly, and leaving to Sheffield a small piece of meadow, or intervale of said Indian Land till it comes to range the line and beech tree on the easterly side of said meadow, or intervale, and then to continue said line till it intersects the east line of Sheffield Propriety." By this line as described,-which afterwards became the south line of Great Barrington,—the "clear meadow," reserved by the Indians, was left to the town of Sheffield, but in later years the crook in this line has been disregarded, and, without any known Legislative enactment, by common consent of both towns, this line has been perambulated, surveyed and recorded as a

straight line, thus leaving the clear meadow within the limits of Great Barrington.

The mountains of Western Massachusetts form an interesting and attractive feature in the landscape, and Berkshire is emphatically the mountain district of the state. Great Barrington, though less mountainous than many of the towns of the county, has a very uneven surface, and is beautifully diversified with moun ́tain, hill, valley and plain. In the north-easterly section of the town, the Beartown mountain extends south-easterly from Stockbridge and Lee into Monterey, cutting off from the main body of the town the school district of Beartown, and rendering it inaccessible by public highways except through the adjoining towns of Stockbridge and Lee, or Monterey. To the westward of the Beartown mountain, and directly at its base, lies the locality known as Muddy Brook, a secluded farming district,-extending from the top of Three Mile Hill northerly to the Stockbridge line,through which flows the stream called Muddy Brook. (1) This stream unites with the Housatonic river in Stockbridge, and is there called Konkapot Brook, in memory of Capt. Konkapot, who resided upon its border. To the westward of the central part of Muddy Brook Valley the Monument Mountain rises reaching northerly into Stockbridge and spreading westerly with its spurs and offshoots to the Housatonic River which washes its western base at the village of Housatonic, in the extreme northerly part of the town; from its southern base a long range of hills extends southerly along the western border of the Muddy Brook Valley to Three Mile Hill (2) and there unites with the Warner Mountain, (3) a spur of the East Mountain.

Immediately east of the village, the East Mountain, or, as it is sometimes called, the Great Mountain, rises to an elevation of several hundred feet, having its

(1) Muddy Brook,-so called in Proprietors Records, 1743. (2) Three Mile Hill,-called by that name in the records of the settling committee previous to 1740, probably from the fact that its top is about three miles from the Great Bridge.

(3) Warner Mountain derives its name from Consider Warner, who long ago cleared land and dwelt upon it.