The Town of Becket is an upland town that was established in 1765, having
begun as Plantation Number 4. The town was originally laid out in 1735
along with three other towns along the wilderness trail that connected the
lower Housatonic Valley with the Connecticut Valley and Boston. The
intention was to develop the wilderness that bordered the trail and
therefore to make the trail safer to travel. Sixty-three home lots were
laid out in the first settlement effort, “in a compact and defensible form”
as the documents of the time said. Population growth, though slow, has
been steady in the rural community. In 1776, there were 414 residents; in
1900 there were 994 residents; the modern town boasts about 1700 residents.
In 1798, Becket tried a noble experiment, which foreshadowed the future in
America and which was unique among the frontier towns of the 18th century.
The people of Becket could see the problems they and their neighboring
communities were having supporting a church and minister using mandated tax
monies. There were splits in the congregations, secessions of church
members, and interminable battles and quarrels as a religiously diverse
population opposed being forced to pay for the support of a minister with
whose doctrines they disagreed. In response to this problem the
Congregational residents of Becket formed a Congregational Church Society
which relied solely on the voluntary contributions of its members to
support its church, a church funding structure which is now in use
everywhere in the United States.
In more modern times, Becket has been beloved by fishermen and was known in
the 1940′s for having one of the five best trout streams in the Berkshires.
The West Branch of the Westfield River, which forms part of the northern
boundary of Becket, was known for the brooks, browns and rainbow trout
stocked there.
begun as Plantation Number 4. The town was originally laid out in 1735
along with three other towns along the wilderness trail that connected the
lower Housatonic Valley with the Connecticut Valley and Boston. The
intention was to develop the wilderness that bordered the trail and
therefore to make the trail safer to travel. Sixty-three home lots were
laid out in the first settlement effort, “in a compact and defensible form”
as the documents of the time said. Population growth, though slow, has
been steady in the rural community. In 1776, there were 414 residents; in
1900 there were 994 residents; the modern town boasts about 1700 residents.
In 1798, Becket tried a noble experiment, which foreshadowed the future in
America and which was unique among the frontier towns of the 18th century.
The people of Becket could see the problems they and their neighboring
communities were having supporting a church and minister using mandated tax
monies. There were splits in the congregations, secessions of church
members, and interminable battles and quarrels as a religiously diverse
population opposed being forced to pay for the support of a minister with
whose doctrines they disagreed. In response to this problem the
Congregational residents of Becket formed a Congregational Church Society
which relied solely on the voluntary contributions of its members to
support its church, a church funding structure which is now in use
everywhere in the United States.
In more modern times, Becket has been beloved by fishermen and was known in
the 1940′s for having one of the five best trout streams in the Berkshires.
The West Branch of the Westfield River, which forms part of the northern
boundary of Becket, was known for the brooks, browns and rainbow trout
stocked there.
