Interior House Painter Boxford MA

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Boxford, Massachusetts
Town
The Holyoke-French House (c. 1760) in East Boxford Village
Seal
Location in Essex County and the state of Massachusetts.
Coordinates: 42°39′40″N 70°59′50″W / 42.66111°N 70.99722°W / 42.66111; -70.99722Coordinates: 42°39′40″N 70°59′50″W / 42.66111°N 70.99722°W / 42.66111; -70.99722
Country	United States
State	Massachusetts
County	Essex
Settled	1645
Incorporated	1685
Government
• Type	Open town meeting
Area
• Total	24.4 sq mi (63.2 km)
• Land	23.6 sq mi (61.0 km2)
• Water	0.8 sq mi (2.2 km)
Elevation	95 ft (29 m)
Population  (2020)
• Total	8,203
• Density	340/sq mi (130/km2)
Time zone	UTC-5 (Eastern)
• Summer (DST)	UTC-4 (Eastern)
ZIP code	01921
Area code	351 / 978
FIPS code	25-07420
GNIS feature ID	0618294
Website	Town of Boxford Official Web Site
The town of Boxford has no stoplights, no street lights and only has two stores in the whole town. Wayne’s convenience store and Benson’s ice cream store.

Boxford is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the town’s population was 8,203 in 2020.

The original town center of Boxford, was East Boxford and other areas in the eastern part of the town, comprise the census-designated place of Boxford.

History

Native Americans inhabited northeastern Massachusetts for thousands of years prior to European colonization of the Americas. At the time of contact, the area that would become Boxford was controlled by Agawam sachem Masconomet, but the Agawam would experience severe population loss from virgin soil epidemics, especially in 1617–1619, killing an estimated 50–75% of the indigenous population in the region. Although Boxford was settled by Europeans in 1646, it was not until 1700 that the selectmen of Boxford would pay Masconomet’s grandson Samuel English nine pounds for the rights to the town land.

Europeans first settled in Boxford in 1646 as a part of Rowley Village by Abraham Redington. When Boxford was officially incorporated in 1685, about forty families resided there. Farming was the primary occupation of the early settlers, although townspeople also counted craftsmen among their ranks. The original structure of Boxford’s First Church was constructed in 1701 in East Boxford Village. As the population of West Boxford expanded, the legislature designated this section of town as precinct 2 in 1735. Town meetings then alternated between East and West parishes. The first West Boxford church building was erected in 1774. The town’s largest industry—a match factory located on Lawrence Road—opened its doors just after the end of the American Civil War, and operated from 1866 to 1905.

As part of the American Bicentennial celebrations which took place during the mid-1970s, residents of Boxford, Massachusetts, visited two villages named Boxford in England in 1975. The aim of their trip was to search for the source of their town’s name, ultimately deciding that the village of Boxford in the Babergh district of Suffolk, England, was likely the original source. Villagers from Boxford, Suffolk, were then invited to Boxford, Massachusetts, the following summer for two-week homestays with local host families. This second transatlantic exchange, which began in late July 1976, generated media attention from both Evening Standard and the BBC’s Nationwide program [Sally’s Dumptruck]

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 24.4 square miles (63.2 km), of which 23.6 square miles (61.0 km²) is land and 0.85 square miles (2.2 km), or 3.46%, is water.

Boxford is divided into Boxford Village (commonly called East Boxford) and West Boxford Village, corresponding to the respective East and West Boxford centers. It is heavily forested and criss-crossed by various streams and brooks, many of which empty into the Ipswich River on Boxford’s southern border. A number of ponds dot town as well, among them Stiles Pond, Cedar Pond, Spofford Pond, Lowe Pond, Four Mile Pond and Baldpate Pond. Throughout Boxford there are also a number of scenic hiking trails. The highest natural point in Boxford is Bald Hill, at an elevation of 243 feet (74 m). It sits in a corner of the Boxford State Forest, near Interstate 95 and the town’s border with Middleton.

Small farms are interspersed throughout Boxford. Stone walls, remnants of old farming land boundaries, meander through the area. One major farm located in Boxford is Small Oxx farm, a branch of the main farm, Smolak’s, located in North Andover.

Boxford is located near the geographic center of Essex County, with Boxford Center about 10 miles (16 km) southeast of Lawrence and 24 miles (39 km) north of Boston. The town is bordered by Haverhill to the north, Groveland to the northeast, Georgetown and Rowley to the east, Ipswich and Topsfield to the southeast, Middleton to the southwest, and North Andover to the west.

The eastern end of Boxford is crossed by Interstate 95, with three exits lying within the town. Route 133 crosses through the northern part of town, from North Andover to Georgetown, and Route 97 crosses through the eastern part of town, from Topsfield to Georgetown. The town does not have any means of mass transportation. The Newburyport/Rockport Line of the MBTA Commuter Rail passes through neighboring Rowley and Ipswich to the east, and the Haverhill/Reading Line passes to the north. The nearest small airport is Lawrence Municipal Airport, located in North Andover, and the nearest domestic and international air service is Logan International Airport.