Chester, MA

Chester is a Hampden County town on the eastern edge of the Berkshires, and its history is spread across several old centers. The area was sold as Plantation No. 9 in 1762, incorporated as Murrayfield in 1765, and took the name Chester in 1783. Chester Factory Village grew around waterpower, grist and saw mills, and the Chester Glass Factory, while the Route 20 turnpike and the railroad shifted traffic into the valley in the early 1800s. That is why Chester has more than one historic center rather than a single square.

The Chester Factory Village Historic District keeps that industrial and rail story visible, and the Chester Railway Station and Western Railroad arch bridges give the old route a physical presence. Chester Theatre Company, founded in 1990, brings a professional summer season into the town's cultural calendar. The annual Chester on Track festival in May leans into the railroad past, with the station, bridges, shops, and village streets all part of the day. Chester is a mountain town where old mills, old rails, and a working theater share the same narrow valley.