ABOUT
Grafton is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. The population, indicated by the 2014 town records is 14, 268, in nearly 5,700 households.
History
Bands of the Nipmuc tribe were the indigenous inhabitants, and maintain a state-recognized reservation known as Hassanamessit, or Hassanamisco, which was formerly a Praying Indian village from 1647 when the Reverend John Elliot came and converted the Hassanamiscos to Christianity . Grafton was first settled byEuropeans in 1724 and was officially incorporated in 1735.The town is named for Charles FitzRoy, 2nd Duke of Grafton, a title created for the illegitimate son of KingCharles II of England. Ethan Allen ran a gun factory in Grafton in the early 19th century. In the 1930s, a movie,Ah, Wilderness!, was filmed in the town. The moviemakers built a bandstand on the town common, which still stands there today. Grafton Common has many historic homes, churches and buildings and is considered the most quintessential common in the Blackstone Valley. The town is part of the Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor, the oldest industrialized region in the U.S.