Lancaster, Worcester County, Massachusetts
Lancaster is the oldest town in Worcester County. It was first settled as "Nashaway" (after the local Nashaway Indian tribe) in 1643, and officially incorporated and renamed "Lancaster on the Nashua" in 1653. Lancaster boasts being the official "mother town" to all of central Massachusetts. Towns such as Harvard, Stow, Bolton, Hudson, Marlborough, Leominster, Clinton, Berlin and Boylston were all once considered part of Lancaster. Lancaster is bordered by Lunenburg and Shirley to the north, Harvard to the northeast, Bolton to the southeast, Clinton to the south, Sterling to the southwest, and Leominster to the northwest. Although in Worcester County since 2 April 1731, Lancaster was before that in Hampshire County when it was created on 7 May 1662, and possibly in the Old Norfolk County, originally, at its creation on 10 May 1643.