Grafton Common Historic District - Grafton, MA - U.S. National Register of Historic Places on Waymarking.com

in 1728, the original 40 proprietors of Grafton set aside 4 acres in the center of town as common land. In 1730 Grafton’s first meetinghouse was built here. Over the next century, a large town center grew up around the common, and in 1845 a small portion of the original common was fenced in and planted with trees. Today the common is still a site for recreation and relaxation. The town Common is a site so quintessentially small town New England that it attracted Hollywood’s attention.The bandstand at the center of the common was built in 1935 by MGM who came to Grafton to film parts of Eugene O’Neill’s Ah Wilderness. They left it behind for the people of the town to continue to use. The bandstand is built on the site of
Grafton’s first meetinghouse. An earlier bandstand was also located here.

There is an excellent write up on Grafton and Grafton Center at the NPS site. (visit link) is the URL , then select Walking Tour Brochures,then Grafton.

County / Borough / Parish: Worcester Year listed: 1988 Historic (Areas of) Significance: Event, Architecture/Engineering Periods of significance: 1700-1749, 1900-1924, 1925-1949 Historic function: Commerce/Trade, Domestic, Religion Current function: Commerce/Trade, Domestic, Religion Season start / Season finish: From: 01/01/2008 To: 12/31/2008 Hours of operation: From: 9:00 AM To: 5:00 PM Primary Web Site: [Web Link] Street address: Not listed Privately owned?: Not Listed Secondary Website 1: Not listed Secondary Website 2: Not listed National Historic Landmark Link: Not listed

Visit Instructions:
Please give the date and brief account of your visit. Include any additional observations or information that you may have, particularly about the current condition of the site. Additional photos are highly encouraged, but not mandatory.

Recent Visits/Logs:

Date Logged Log User Rating   11/23/2008 nomadwillie visited it

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