BERLIN TOWN OVERVIEW
The Town of Berlin lies in a low range of hills between the Nashua and the
Assabet River Valleys. Incorporated in 1812, the town is a residential and
agricultural community, growing mixed hay grains and raising cattle. For a
period after the Civil War, Berlin was home to a large shoe factory, and
shoe manufacturing and lumbering provided non-agrarian jobs. The town soon
moved into specialty market gardening, sending 41,000 bunches of asparagus
to market in 1885, growing hops and raising chickens. By 1940, 83,600
dozen eggs were produced annually by the poultry farmers of Berlin.
Berlin continues to be a small, stable town, with a handsome Victorian town
hall, the walls of which incorporate the pictures of Berlin residents who
went to fight in the Civil War. One of the local attractions at the turn
of the century, "Balance Rock", remains untouched by change.
