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Barnstable, Bristol, Dukes, Nantucket, Norfolk, Plymouth, Suffolk, Berkshire, Essex, Franklin, Hampden, Hampshire, Middlesex, Worcester

Massachusetts Counties

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Massachusetts Counties

Massachusetts consists of the 14 counties. Massachusetts has abolished seven of its fourteen county governments, leaving five Counties with county-level local government (Barnstable, Bristol, Dukes, Norfolk, Plymouth) and two, Nantucket County and Suffolk County, with combined county/city government.

Berkshire County, Massachusetts

Berkshire County History, Geography, Demographics, Cities and Towns, and Education

County Seat: Pittsfield
Year Organized: 1760
Square Miles: 931

Court House:

76 East Street
Pittsfield, MA 01201-5304

Etymology - Origin of County Name

For the English county of Berkshire

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

County History

Berkshire County was formed in 1761 out of Hampshire County. County seat: Pittsfield. (Originally of the Massachusetts Bay Colony which was organized into counties in 1643.) Berkshire County is the western most county in Massachusetts. It extends from north to south across the western portion of Massachusetts, with the state of New York to its west, the state of Vermont to the north, and the state of Connecticut to the south.

Of the 14 Massachusetts counties, Berkshire County is one of seven that exists today only as a historical geographic region, and has no county government. All former county functions were assumed by state agencies in 2000.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 946 square miles (2,451 km²), of which, 931 square miles (2,412 km²) of it is land and 15 square miles (39 km²) of it (1.58%) is water.

Neighboring Counties:

North: Bennington County, Vt.
Northeast: Franklin County
East: Hampshire County
Southeast: Hampden County
South: Litchfield County, Conn.
Southwest: Dutchess County, N.Y.; Columbia County, N.Y.
Northwest: Rensselaer County, N.Y.

Cities and Towns:

- Adams	town
- Alford	town
- Becket	town
- Charlemont	town
- Cheshire	town
- Clarksburg	town
- Dalton	town
- Egremont	town
- Florida	town
- Great Barrington	town
- Hancock	town
- Hinsdale	town
- Lanesborough	town
- Lee	town
- Lenox	town
- Monterey	town
- Mount Washington	town
- New Ashford	town
- New Marlborough	town
- North Adams	city	Incorporated Area
- Otis	town
- Peru	town
- Pittsfield (County Seat)	city	Incorporated Area
- Richmond	town
- Sandisfield	town
- Savoy	town
- Sheffield	town
- Stockbridge	town
- Tyringham	town
- Washington	town
- West Stockbridge	town
- Williamstown	town
- Windsor	town

County Resources:

Enter County Resources and Information Here

County Resources

The history of our nation was a prolonged struggle to define the relative roles and powers of our governments: federal, state, and local. And the names given the counties, our most locally based jurisdictions, reflects the "characteristic features of this country!"

But age, size and colorful names of our counties isn't the only reason to explore counties' role in American history, or the history of county government itself. In fact, the story of county government reflects the larger meanings of American history.

Today's counties are the most flexible, locally responsive and creative governments in the US. They are the most diverse, varying in size, population, geography, and governmental structure. In their politics and policies, they express a 1990's political slogan "Think globally, act locally."