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