The Origin of Settlement Patterns in Rural New England

Bibliographic Data

ID4486462
AuthorsEdna Scofield (corresponding author)
Year1938
Volume28
Issue4
Pages652
Publication date1938-10-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueGeographical Review (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0016-7428 • E-ISSN: 1931-0846
PublisherJSTOR (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.2307/210308
OpenAlexW2324061392
LanguageEN
Citations received11

T HE character of the rural landscape in New England is largely determined by the areal relationship of villages and isolated farmsteads. Although at least one village is generally to be found in every rural township, the character of the villages and their relationship to the surrounding isolated farms differ considerably. In some regions the villages were originally compact agricultural communities and still retain relict features of the colonial period, such as the village green, dispersed lots, or common fields. Villages of this type represent as a rule the first settlements to be established in the townships where they are found; and the isolated farms in the outlying parts of such townships are later features and are still subsidiary to the villages, which dominate the landscape and give it a definitely Old World flavor. In other regions isolated farms predominate; and any villages found there are generally later in origin and grew up more or less haphazardly at crossroads, railway stations, etc. Villages of this type do not have the compactness of the older, originally agricultural villages. This study is the outgrowth of a desire to determine how the two different types of rural landscape developed, and it deals primarily with the following questions: What were the forces that led to the use of compact villages in the occupation of the land in some parts of New England during the colonial period and of isolated farmsteads in others? And what are the essential characteristics of the rural landscapes that have developed as the result of the use of these two different methods of colonization? Most of the examples given here have been chosen from Massachusetts, since that state contains regions that are representative of areas settled during all the various periods of expansion of the colonial period. However, the types of rural landscape and the manner in which they developed are essentially the same throughout most of New England. As this paper is based on an enormous quantity of source material, complete documentation would be out of all proportion to its length; sources are given only for direct quotations. Every positive statement, however, is based on information obtained from hundreds of town records and annals, and care has been taken that no statements should be made that cannot be fully documented

Archaeology · Business · Economic geography · Genealogy · Geography · Settlement (finance · American Environmental and Regional History · History

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