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Massachusetts Counties
 Click Image to Enlarge Massachusetts CountiesMassachusetts 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. |
Norfolk County, MassachusettsNorfolk County History, Geography, Demographics, Cities and Towns, and Education
Etymology - Origin of County NameFor the English county of Norfolk Demographics:County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts County HistoryNorfolk County consists of twenty-eight eastern Massachusetts communities, mostly located to the South and West of Boston. The County was incorporated as a regional governmental entity in 1793, and has its county seat at the town of Dedham. The county is not fully contiguous; the towns of Brookline and Cohasset are each part of Norfolk County but are
separated from the majority of Norfolk County (and each other) by either water or other counties. At the county's
formation, Hingham and Hull were to be part of it, but joined Plymouth County instead, leaving Cohasset as an enclave of
Norfolk County. Brookline became an exclave of Norfolk County in 1873 when the neighboring town of West Roxbury was
annexed by Boston (thus leaving Norfolk County to join Suffolk County) and Brookline refused to be annexed by Boston
after the Brookline-Boston annexation debate of 1873. GeographyAccording to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 444 square miles (1,150 kmē), of which, 400
square miles (1,035 kmē) of it is land and 44 square miles (115 kmē) of it (10%) is water. Neighboring Counties:
Cities and Towns:
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." |
