ABOUT

West Groton is a town in northwestern Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 10,873 at the 2012 town census.

History
The area surrounding modern day Groton has, for thousands of years, been the territory of various cultures ofindigenous peoples. They settled along the rivers for fishing and transportation. Historic tribes wereAlgonquian-speaking Nipmuc and Nashaway Indians.The Anglo-American Groton started with the trading post of John Tinker, who conducted business there with the Nashaway at the confluence of Nod Brook and the Nashua River. The Nashaway called the area Petapawag, meaning "swampy land." Other pioneers followed the Algonquian trails from Massachusetts Bay, as Tinker had. They found the region productive for fishing and farming.The town was officially settled and incorporated in 1655, named for Groton in Suffolk, England. Called The Plantation of Groton, it included all of present-day Groton and Ayer, almost all of Pepperell and Shirley, large parts of Dunstable, Littleton, and Tyngsborough plus smaller parts of Harvard and Westford, as well as Nashua,New Hampshire and Hollis, New Hampshire.