Winding along Mass. Route 143 going west from Worthington, you eventually come to the sign at the the town line with the following text on the east side:
"Entering
Inc. 1771
Peru"
Peru is a tiny town in the state of Massachusetts. Wikipedia has several facts about Peru.
- It has a population of 847 (2010 U.S. Census)
- [It] ranks 331st out of the 351 cities and towns in Massachusetts by population.
- It has an area of 26.0 square miles.
- "Peru has the highest mean altitude in Massachusetts and, along with neighboring Windsor, is one of only two municipalities with a mean elevation above 2,000 feet.[2] It lies on high ground in the Berkshire Hills, with three main peaks in the town. Much of Peru is forested, with a large portion of the northern third of town covered by a wildlife management area, and much of the southern third covered by the Peru and Middlefield State Forests."
From an article on the Berkshire Eagle:
"In 1806, the community was renamed Peru because townsfolk thought Partridgefield was too long. The new name was suggested by the Rev. John Leland, pastor of the First Congregational Church, who said: "It is like the Peru of South America, a mountain town, and though there is no gold and silver under the rocks, our town favors hard money and begins with a P.'"
Speaking of Peru, the country, it is a country in South America. Some stats, also from Wikipedia:
- Population: 31,151,643 (2015 est).
- Area: 496,225 sq mi
"The name of the country may be derived from Birú, the name of a local ruler who lived near the Bay of San Miguel, Panama, in the early 16th century. When his possessions were visited by Spanish explorers in 1522, they were the southernmost part of the New World yet known to Europeans.[10] Thus, when Francisco Pizarro explored the regions farther south, they came to be designated Birú or Perú.
An alternative history is provided by the contemporary writer Inca Garcilasco de la Vega, son of an Inca princess and a conquistador. He said the name Birú was that of a common Indian happened upon by the crew of a ship on an exploratory mission for governor Pedro Arias de Ávila, and went on to relate more instances of misunderstandings due to the lack of a common language.
The Spanish Crown gave the name legal status with the 1529 Capitulación de Toledo, which designated the newly encountered Inca Empire as the province of Peru. Under Spanish rule, the country adopted the denomination Viceroyalty of Peru, which became Republic of Peru after independence." (Wikipedia)
Coincidentally, at the bottom of the sign the following was stuck on:
"I'd turn back
if I were you."
Sources:
Wikipedia:
(Peru, Massachusetts):
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visit link)
(Peru)
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visit link)
Berkshire Eagle (Peru):
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visit link)