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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.

Suffolk County, Massachusetts

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

County Seat: Boston
Year Organized: 1643
Square Miles: 58

Court House:

24 New Chardon
County Courthouse
Boston, MA 02201-1001

Etymology - Origin of County Name

For the English county of Suffolk

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

County History

The county was created by the Massachusetts General Court on May 10, 1643, when it was ordered "that the whole plantation within this jurisdiction be divided into four shires". Suffolk initially contained Boston, Roxbury, Dorchester, Dedham, Braintree, Weymouth, Hingham, and Hull. The county was named after Suffolk, England, and means "southern folk."

In 1793 most of the original Suffolk County except for Boston and Chelsea (which remained in Suffolk) and Hingham and Hull (which joined Plymouth County) split off and became Norfolk County.

Like an increasing number of Massachusetts counties, Suffolk County exists today only as a historical geographic region, and has no county government. All former county functions were assumed by state agencies in 1999

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 120 square miles (311 km²), of which, 59 square miles (152 km²) of it is land and 62 square miles (160 km²) of it (51.32%) is water.

Neighboring Counties:

Northeast: Essex County
East: North Atlantic Ocean
Southwest: Norfolk County
Northwest: Middlesex County

Cities and Towns:

- Boston (County Seat)	city	Incorporated Area
- Cambridge	city	Incorporated Area
- Chelsea	city	Incorporated Area
- Revere	city	Incorporated Area
- Winthrop	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."