Town Of Alford

The town of Alford is one of the unique rural areas of Berkshire County, but is relatively isolated and decidedly rural in nature. It’s located in southwestern Massachusetts, bordered by West Stockbridge on the north; Great Barrington on the east; Egremont on the south; and Hillsdale and Austerlitz, New York, on the west. Alford is 24 miles south of Pittsfield and 140 miles west of Boston.  It has no stores, no motels or hotels, and not a single gas station, but it has a very rich history.

In “The Berkshire Hills”, by Federal Writers’ Project, © 1939, the Berkshire Hills Conference, Inc., described the town of Alford. “Old-fashioned, easygoing Alford is not so far off the main traveled routes through Berkshire that it is a backwoods village, nor so close to have taken on the frills of a summer resort. The scattered houses, white church, and little school are built on a narrow shelf of land extending a quarter of a mile along the eastern side of the platter-shaped valley. To the south is Mt. Everett, one of the highest mountains in Berkshire, 2,624 feet above sea level. The western slopes of the valley are checkered with meadow and woodlots, mounting toward an unbroken line of trees against the sky.”

The town was named after Col. John Alford of Charlestown. He was a member of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company in 1714. He married Margaret Savage, they had no children. Col. Alford was a benefactor and founder of the Alford Prof. of Nat. Theology at Harvard University, and served on Harvard’s Board of Overseers in 1730 and 1732-1733. He had given a large sum of money to the Society for Propagating the Gospel among the Indians in North America, and he died in Charleston in September 1761 at the age of 76.

Alma Husted Milligan, who was born in 1791 and died a month before her 109th birthday. She was held in such high esteem that, in her last years, schoolchildren got a vacation on her birthday.
 
William Cullen Bryant (1794-1878), the Berkshire’s most famous poet, loved the woodlands and streams of Alford. He courted his wife, Frances, while on jaunts into the Alford woods.

 

Alford resident, Susan Smith Andersen, was born in 1900. She was schooled in Alford, a graduate of the former Searles High School in Great Barrington, and became the University of Massachusetts at Amherst’s first woman graduate in 1920. She majored in chemistry and bacteriology. Susan was active in area civic affairs, including the Alford Library, the Alford Council of Aging, and the Alford Garden Club. Her husband, Charles H. Andersen, died in 1964. Susan passed on at 101 years of age in 2001.
 
Amanda Cross, (pseud. of Carolyn Gold Heilbrun, born in 1926), was a bestselling mystery writer who once resided in Alford. She died in October 2003 at the age of 77.

The town of Alford was settled in 1750 and was home to the Shaunanum Stockbridge Indians. It was then sold to a group of farmers, as the Shawanon Purchase of 1756. Joseph Quiniquant and Shauanum Stockbridge Indians conveyed the land to Timothy Woodbridge and others. A second purchase called the Green Land Grant added 15,000 acres the same year. The first gristmill was erected in Alford in 1763, and there were 379 residents that year. Originally part of the town of Great Barrington, settlers successfully petitioned for separation in 1769, and Alford was then incorporated in 1773. The Alford Brook was known to the Stockbridge Indians as Seekonk (Wild Goose). Great Barrington annexed more land to Alford, west of Long Pond, in 1778.

The Alford Village Church was built in 1817. In 1819, another section of land was annexed from Great Barrington and added to Alford. In the early 19th century, Alford had two sawmills, two grist mills, a forge with trip hammer, a furnace for casting hollow ware, a tannery, and a school house. At that time, marble became its major export. Quarries were run by Sanford and Frederick Fitch, and James Cook. Marble from Alford was used in the construction of the old City Hall in New York City. The last section of land that was added to Alford was annexed from West Stockbridge in 1847.

 

The Alford Town Hall was built in 1855. The Town Hall had a fire, and a good part of the town’s written history was lost, including cemetery and vital records. The Town Hall has since been refurbished and restored, but it is primarily used for voting and town meetings, and the Susan Smith Andersen Children’s Library resides in its second story.

During the first half of the 19th century, there were a dozen marble quarries in Alford, but when the railroads were laid elsewhere, they became unprofitable. The last marble quarry was the Alford Marble Works, which ceased operation in 1872. The Alford Brook Club was founded in 1925, it overlooks the Alford Brook at the north end of town. Until 1938, Alford even had its own baseball team.

In the later 20th century, the town garage housed the Alford Fire Department, then it became the Highway Department, and additions were added later. The Transfer Station was also set up behind the Town Hall. The highway department plows and maintains the town’s 18 miles roads, they provide us with the best snow removal and storm damage cleanup services in southwestern Massachusetts.

 

Town residents built a Fire Department building for their volunteer firefighters in 1978.  Today, many local and area residents volunteer their time and efforts to keep our town protected from disasters.

 

The Alford School House ceased operation in the 1980’s, where I had attended kindergarten, and the town became a part of the Southern Berkshire Regional School District. Today, most of the town’s management and day-to-day operations are handled by the Town Offices in the Alford School House.

At the time of the 2000 census, Alford’s population was 399, and the per capita income in Alford was $40,412, compared with $21,587 nationally. 78% of Alford residents age 25 and older had college degrees. 12% of Alford residents reported German ancestry, and 18% reported Irish. Median rent in Alford, at the time of the 2000 Census, was $763. Monthly homeowner costs, for people with mortgages, were $1,406. The average commute time for Alford workers is 22 minutes, compared with 26 minutes nationwide. Alford’s land size is 11.57 square miles, and in 2000 there were 34.49 people per square mile, 326th in Massachusetts. Alford shares zip codes with West Stockbridge 01266, and Great Barrington 01230, since it does not have a post office.

In 2007, the town counted 479 residents. The town has succeeded in controlling development with zoning bylaws (two-acre minimum, 250 feet of required frontage). It also adopted the Scenic Mountain Act and increased its open space protected under Agricultural Preservation Restrictions. Alford had Berkshire County’s highest average single-family home value, at $526,386 in 2008 according to the state Department of Revenue, but a low tax rate keeps the average property-tax bill at a surprisingly low rate. There is a small town-government staff. The crime rate is low to none, state police from the Lee barracks are responsible for public safety. Civic participation is high, there were 356 registered voters out of the town’s 479 residents in 2007. The town’s three cemeteries are near-capacity, and the Selectmen hope for a land donation for additional cemetery space.

Today, Alford’s historic village is one of the best preserved in the county. The church, the town hall, and the school house are maintained, and the roadsides and cemeteries are handled with care and pride by the Alford Highway Department. Alford Brook, which feeds into the Green River, is considered one of the best fishing streams in the Berkshires. Alford residents enjoy the landscape of beautiful trees, brooks, and mountains.

Compiled By:
Webmaster
Arthur Dellea