Norton Landscaping Company

History

Winnecunnet Lake was an ancient fishing, camping, hunting and planting site used by Pokanoket and Massachusett families for generations. Rivers running through the town provided routes south to the Taunton River, and north to Lake Massapoag and the upland forests of present-day Foxboro and Sharon. Where two of Norton’s main rivers converged—above Wading and Rumford Rivers—a thick cedar swamp once stood and served as a refuge. Later, during King Philip’s War, “a group of twenty Taunton men, fearing attack… followed the Three Mile River to its confluence… the Coweset (Wading) and Rumford Rivers and the thick swamp between them,” attacking the women and children who were sheltering there during wartime, murdering Weetamoo, the saunkskwa of Pocasset.

Norton remained unsettled by English colonists for many years after their arrival. But by the late 1640s, the townships of Rehoboth and Taunton were looking to expand their bounds to the north, south, and west. The settlement of Rehoboth bought the lands north of it—what would become Attleboro—from Wamsutta in the 1666 North Purchase. Taunton, too, was looking to acquire more land for raising meadows and pastureland, and having access to timber for construction and fuel. The forests and swampland of Norton were first legally settled by European colonists after the Taunton North Purchase in 1668. This deed of purchase from Metacomet entitled the men of Taunton to the lands above their current settlement—in the upland forests, cedar swamps, rivers, meadows, and lakes that would become established as Norton, Mansfield, and Easton. In 1686, more payments to access rights for the North Purchase lands were made by Taunton men to Josias, a descendent of Chickatabut.

Norton was first settled in 1669 and was called North Taunton for its location on the northern border of Taunton, Massachusetts. The town was renamed “Norton”—after Norton, Oxfordshire, England, where many early settlers had originated—when the town was officially established on March 17, 1710. Parts of Norton were set out as Easton on December 21, 1725, and as Mansfield on April 26, 1770.

Metacomet, the Wampanoag Indian sachem also known as “King Phillip”, is said to have camped at a cave here near the end of King Philip’s War. According to one source, “Every Norton school child has been entertained with the legend of King Phillip’s Cave.”

The bandstand within the town center was originally erected using donated funds during the first Gulf War, in honor of the veterans who served from Norton.

Norton is a small but growing town. In elementary school, students were told the story of the “Devil’s Foot Print”, where Major George Leonard sold his soul to the devil. The devil’s foot print can be seen at Norton’s Joseph C. Solmonese Elementary School, on land which was once Leonard’s farmland. Every 26 years, the school unburies a time capsule, the last of which was buried in 1999. The time capsule will be opened next in 2026. The Sun Chronicle describes:

Norton is also a location in the claimed paranormal Bridgewater Triangle.

Transportation

The town is bisected southeast to northwest by Interstate 495, as well as Massachusetts Route 140 from north to south and Massachusetts Route 123 from southwest to northeast. Exit 10 off of I-495 links the highway with Route 123. Exit 9 (Bay Street, Taunton) and Exit 11 (Route 140, Mansfield) are just over the town lines. Route 140 and Route 123 intersect at the center of town, by the town green. Although it is not officially signed as such, many fans attending concerts and events at the Xfinity Center (formerly the Tweeter Center, and originally the Great Woods Center for the Performing Arts) reach the venue by driving along Route 123 to Route 140. The town is also a part of the Greater Attleboro Taunton Regional Transit Authority (or GATRA) bus line. The nearest MBTA station is in Mansfield.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Norton, Massachusetts.

• Town of Norton official website
• Norton Community Television
• Norton Public Schools
• Norton Public Library
• Norton Youth Football