Place Names
Massachusetts
Agawam: Ipswich
Agawam Plantation: original name of Springfield
Almsbury: Amesbury
Amesbury Second Parish or West Parish: 1876 town of Merrimac
Bass River: Beverly
Beverly Farms: Beverly
Billirikey: Billerica
Blue Hill Lands: Braintree
Boggestow: Sherborn
Bradford: annexed to Haverhill 1897
Brooksby: Peabody
Byfield: village in Newbury
Cambridge Farms: Lexington
Cambridge South Parish: Brighton
Cape Ann: former name of Gloucester; modern definition of Cape Ann includes Gloucester, Essex, Manchester-by-the-Sea, and Rockport
Charlestown Village: Woburn
Charlton: Charlestown
Chebacco: second parish of Ipswich; 1819 incorporated as town of Essex
Cochichawick: Andover
Cochituit: Andover
Colechester or Colchester: Salisbury
Concord Village: Acton
Danforth’s Farms: Framingham
Danvers: Salem Village and Salem Middle Precinct (1752); South Danvers split off (1855), which was renamed Peabody in 1868
Danvers-port: section of Danvers at head of Porter’s River
East Precinct of Bradford: 1850 incorporated as Groveland
East Sudbury: Wayland
Emesbury: Amesbury
Enon: Wenham
Farms, the: Lexington
Five Pound Island: Gloucester
Gloscester: Gloucester
Grundleborough: North Andover
Hamlet: Hamilton
Hammersmith: Saugus; set off from Lynn; 1815 incorporated
Hawthorn: Danvers; Hathorne Hill, granted in 1637 to Major William Hathorne (1606-1681), was the site of the Danvers State Hospital built in 1874
Ipswich Eighth Parish: Essex
Ipswich Hamlet: 1792 town of Hamilton
Iron Work Farm: Acton
Jeffrey’s Creek: Manchester
Litchfield: Dunstable
Little Cambridge: Brighton
Little Salisbury: Amesbury
Lynn Second Parish: Lynnfield; 1782 set off from Lynn
Lynn Village: Wakefield; original name of Reading; 1812 incorporated as South Reading; 1868 name changed to Wakefield
Lyttleton: Littleton
Magnolia: Gloucester
Marble Harbor plantation: Marblehead
Marmaracia: meaning Marble Harbor, now Marblehead
Marvell Head: Marblehead
Massebequash: Marblehead
Mattapan: Dorchester; 1869 annexed to Boston; named after Dorchester, Dorset, England
Mennems Moone: Dorchester
Menotomy: original name of Arlington; 1807 incorporated as town of West Cambridge; 1867 name change
Merrimack Lands: Bradford; originally part of Rowley; incorporated 1675; annexed to Haverhill 1897
Merrymount or Merry Mount: Quincy; founded 1624 as an independent plantation
Middleton: 1728 new town set off from Andover
Mishawum: Charlestown
Mistick Side of Charlestown: Malden; incorporated 1649; part became Melrose in 1850; part became Everett in 1870
Monatiquot: Braintree
Mount Dagan: Braintree
Mount Wollaston: Quincy; founded 1624 as an independent plantation; destroyed 1629
Muddy River: Brookline
Musketequid: Concord
Nahanteau: Nahant; set off from Lynn, 1853 incorporated
Nashaway: Groton and Lancaster
Nashoba: Littleton
Naumkeag: Salem
Nemasket: Middleborough
New Grant: Acton
New Meadows: Topsfield
New Rowley: Georgetown; incorporated 1838
New Salem: settled by families from Middleborough and Danvers; 1753 incorporated
Newburyport: part of Newbury until 1764
New-Town, Newtowne: 1638 renamed Cambridge
Noddle’s Island: Boston
Nonantum: Newton; set off from Cambridge; 1691 incorporated
Nonotuck: original name of Northampton
North Andover: North Parish of Andover until 1855
Northfields: Peabody
Noticock: Dunstable
Nottingham: Dunstable
Number Thirteen: Chelsea
Parsons: earlier name of West Newbury
Pawtucket: Chelmsford
Pawtucket: Dracut; 1710 incorporated
Pentucket: Haverhill
Plum Island: Newburyport
Pompositicut: Stow
Prides Crossing: Beverly
Pullen Poynte or Pullin Point: Chelsea
Quichickichick: Andover
Rowlbury: Byfield, created from Rowley and Newbury
Rowley Village: Boxford
Rowley Village by Merrimack: Bradford; annexed to Haverhill 1897
Rumney Marsh: Chelsea
Ryall Side of Salem (Rial): now part of Danvers and Beverly
Salem End: Framingham; neighborhood in Framingham settled after 1692 by witchcraft victims and their families
Salem Farms: parish of Salem Village (1671); Peabody
Salem Middle Precinct: part of Danvers (1752); South Danvers (1855); renamed Peabody (1868)
Salem Village: parish set off in 1671 from Salem; named Danvers (1752)
Salisbury New Town: Amesbury
Saugus: Lynn; incorporated as Saugus in 1631; name changed to Lynn in 1637
Shawmut: Boston
Shawshin: Billerica
Shawshinnock: Billerica
Shenewemedy: Topsfield
South Malden: Everett
South Reading: Wakefield
South Redding: Wakefield
Sudbury: Wayland
Tapleyville: Danvers; Holten Street area
Trabagazanda: Gloucester
Tremont: Boston
Trimountaine: Boston
Vinson’s Cove: Gloucester
Wamesit: Tewksbury; set off from Billerica; 1734 incorporated
Waterside: separated from Newbury and incorporated in 1764 as Newburyport
Wessacucon plantation: Newbury
Wessagusset: Weymouth
West Cambridge: Arlington
West Newbury: part of Newbury until 1820
Willard’s Farm: Acton
Will’s Hill: Middleton; 1728 incorporated from parts of Andover, Boxford, Topsfield, and Salem; Bray Wilkins was the “patriarch of Will’s Hill”
Winnissimet: Chelsea
Wood End: Reading
Wyngaersheek: Gloucester
Find more Archaic Community, District, Neighborhood Section and Village, Names in Massachusetts
Maine
Agamenticus: York, Maine
Black Point: Scarborough, Maine
Cape Porpus: Arundel and Kennebunkport, Maine
Casco: Portland, Maine; settled as Casco in 1632; 1658 name changed to Falmouth; 1786 the Falmouth Neck section renamed Portland
Eastward: Maine; originally part of Massachusetts Bay Colony, as in east of the Piscataqua; 1820 seceded from Massachusetts
Falmouth: Portland, Maine; settled 1632; 1658 name changed to Falmouth; 1786 the Falmouth Neck section renamed Portland
Owascoag: Scarborough, Maine
Pigwacket: Fryeburg, Maine
Piscataqua: area including Kittery and Berwick, Maine
New Hampshire
Cochecho Plantation (also Cocheco): Dover, NH
Great Island: New Castle, NH
Oyster River: Durham, NH
Pannaway Plantation: Rye, NH
Piscataqua: area including Dover, Portsmouth, and Hampton. This area was sometimes under New Hampshire jurisdiction, and sometimes under Massachusetts Bay.
Sandy Beach: Rye, NH
Strawbery Banke: Portsmouth, NH
Winnacunnet Plantation: Hampton, NH
Rhode Island
Aquidneck Island: Colony of Rhode Island, including settlements of Newport and Portsmouth
Providence Plantations: mainland of Rhode Island; settled by Rev. Roger Williams of Salem