Place Names

Below are some of the place names you may encounter during your witch-hunt research. Listed alphabetically under the old name (in bold), with the current name and sometimes notes about its formation. If you have any additions or corrections, please let me know.

Massachusetts

Agawam: Ipswich

Agawam Plantation: original name of Springfield

Almsbury: Amesbury

Amesbury Second Parish or West Parish: 1876 town of Merrimac

Bass River: Beverly

Beverly Farms: Beverly

Billirikey: Billerica

Blue Hill Lands: Braintree

Boggestow: Sherborn

Bradford: annexed to Haverhill 1897

Brooksby: Peabody

Byfield: village in Newbury

Cambridge Farms: Lexington

Cambridge South Parish: Brighton

Cape Ann: former name of Gloucester; modern definition of Cape Ann includes Gloucester, Essex, Manchester-by-the-Sea, and Rockport

Charlestown Village: Woburn

Charlton: Charlestown

Chebacco: second parish of Ipswich; 1819 incorporated as town of Essex

Cochichawick: Andover

Cochituit: Andover

Colechester or Colchester: Salisbury

Concord Village: Acton

Danforth’s Farms: Framingham

Danvers: Salem Village and Salem Middle Precinct (1752); South Danvers split off (1855), which was renamed Peabody in 1868

Danvers-port: section of Danvers at head of Porter’s River

East Precinct of Bradford: 1850 incorporated as Groveland

East Sudbury: Wayland

Emesbury: Amesbury

Enon: Wenham

Farms, the: Lexington

Five Pound Island: Gloucester

Gloscester: Gloucester

Grundleborough: North Andover

Hamlet: Hamilton

Hammersmith: Saugus; set off from Lynn; 1815 incorporated

Hawthorn: Danvers; Hathorne Hill, granted in 1637 to Major William Hathorne (1606-1681), was the site of the Danvers State Hospital built in 1874

Ipswich Eighth Parish: Essex

Ipswich Hamlet: 1792 town of Hamilton

Iron Work Farm: Acton

Jeffrey’s Creek: Manchester

Litchfield: Dunstable

Little Cambridge: Brighton

Little Salisbury: Amesbury

Lynn Second Parish: Lynnfield; 1782 set off from Lynn

Lynn Village: Wakefield; original name of Reading; 1812 incorporated as South Reading; 1868 name changed to Wakefield

Lyttleton: Littleton

Magnolia: Gloucester

Marble Harbor plantation: Marblehead

Marmaracia: meaning Marble Harbor, now Marblehead

Marvell Head: Marblehead

Massebequash: Marblehead

Mattapan: Dorchester; 1869 annexed to Boston; named after Dorchester, Dorset, England

Mennems Moone: Dorchester

Menotomy: original name of Arlington; 1807 incorporated as town of West Cambridge; 1867 name change

Merrimack Lands: Bradford; originally part of Rowley; incorporated 1675; annexed to Haverhill 1897

Merrymount or Merry Mount: Quincy; founded 1624 as an independent plantation

Middleton: 1728 new town set off from Andover

Mishawum: Charlestown

Mistick Side of Charlestown: Malden; incorporated 1649; part became Melrose in 1850; part became Everett in 1870

Monatiquot: Braintree

Mount Dagan: Braintree

Mount Wollaston: Quincy; founded 1624 as an independent plantation; destroyed 1629

Muddy River: Brookline

Musketequid: Concord

Nahanteau: Nahant; set off from Lynn, 1853 incorporated

Nashaway: Groton and Lancaster

Nashoba: Littleton

Naumkeag: Salem

Nemasket: Middleborough

New Grant: Acton

New Meadows: Topsfield

New Rowley: Georgetown; incorporated 1838

New Salem: settled by families from Middleborough and Danvers; 1753 incorporated

Newburyport: part of Newbury until 1764

New-Town, Newtowne: 1638 renamed Cambridge

Noddle’s Island: Boston

Nonantum: Newton; set off from Cambridge; 1691 incorporated

Nonotuck: original name of Northampton

North Andover: North Parish of Andover until 1855

Northfields: Peabody

Noticock: Dunstable

Nottingham: Dunstable

Number Thirteen: Chelsea

Parsons: earlier name of West Newbury

Pawtucket: Chelmsford

Pawtucket: Dracut; 1710 incorporated

Pentucket: Haverhill

Plum Island: Newburyport

Pompositicut: Stow

Prides Crossing: Beverly

Pullen Poynte or Pullin Point: Chelsea

Quichickichick: Andover

Rowlbury: Byfield, created from Rowley and Newbury

Rowley Village: Boxford

Rowley Village by Merrimack: Bradford; annexed to Haverhill 1897

Rumney Marsh: Chelsea

Ryall Side of Salem (Rial): now part of Danvers and Beverly

Salem End: Framingham; neighborhood in Framingham settled after 1692 by witchcraft victims and their families

Salem Farms: parish of Salem Village (1671); Peabody

Salem Middle Precinct: part of Danvers (1752); South Danvers (1855); renamed Peabody (1868)

Salem Village: parish set off in 1671 from Salem; named Danvers (1752)

Salisbury New Town: Amesbury

Saugus: Lynn; incorporated as Saugus in 1631; name changed to Lynn in 1637

Shawmut: Boston

Shawshin: Billerica

Shawshinnock: Billerica

Shenewemedy: Topsfield

South Malden: Everett

South Reading: Wakefield

South Redding: Wakefield

Sudbury: Wayland

Tapleyville: Danvers; Holten Street area

Trabagazanda: Gloucester

Tremont: Boston

Trimountaine: Boston

Vinson’s Cove: Gloucester

Wamesit: Tewksbury; set off from Billerica; 1734 incorporated

Waterside: separated from Newbury and incorporated in 1764 as Newburyport

Wessacucon plantation: Newbury

Wessagusset: Weymouth

West Cambridge: Arlington

West Newbury: part of Newbury until 1820

Willard’s Farm: Acton

Will’s Hill: Middleton; 1728 incorporated from parts of Andover, Boxford, Topsfield, and Salem; Bray Wilkins was the “patriarch of Will’s Hill”

Winnissimet: Chelsea

Wood End: Reading

Wyngaersheek: Gloucester

Find more Archaic Community, District, Neighborhood Section and Village, Names in Massachusetts

Maine

Agamenticus: York, Maine

Black Point: Scarborough, Maine

Cape Porpus: Arundel and Kennebunkport, Maine

Casco: Portland, Maine; settled as Casco in 1632; 1658 name changed to Falmouth; 1786 the Falmouth Neck section renamed Portland

Eastward: Maine; originally part of Massachusetts Bay Colony, as in east of the Piscataqua; 1820 seceded from Massachusetts

Falmouth: Portland, Maine; settled 1632; 1658 name changed to Falmouth; 1786 the Falmouth Neck section renamed Portland

Owascoag: Scarborough, Maine

Pigwacket: Fryeburg, Maine

Piscataqua: area including Kittery and Berwick, Maine

New Hampshire

Cochecho Plantation (also Cocheco): Dover, NH

Great Island: New Castle, NH

Oyster River: Durham, NH

Pannaway Plantation: Rye, NH

Piscataqua: area including Dover, Portsmouth, and Hampton. This area was sometimes under New Hampshire jurisdiction, and sometimes under Massachusetts Bay.

Sandy Beach: Rye, NH

Strawbery Banke: Portsmouth, NH

Winnacunnet Plantation: Hampton, NH

Rhode Island

Aquidneck Island: Colony of Rhode Island, including settlements of Newport and Portsmouth

Providence Plantations: mainland of Rhode Island; settled by Rev. Roger Williams of Salem