Northamptom is a sleepy borough in southwestern Massachusetts approximately an hour from Hartford, Connecticut to the south. Boston is another two hours towards the Atlantic coast.

It is a veritable haven for artists, writers, merchants, farmers, scholars, and professionals in what began as a cooperative Puritan settlement pruchased from Nonotuck Indians in 1654. For a long time, it was a strict New England town in the grips of witch hysteria. The infamous minister, Jonathan Edwards, preached fire and brimstone from his pulpit in Northampton for some 23 years.

After the Revolutionary War, Western Massachusetts was hit hard by land-based taxes designed to alleviate war debt. Farmers and merchants struggled against confiscation by the government to recover money. In protest, Daniel Shays led 500 men to the Hampshire Coutny Courthouse to prevent the Court from convening to seize property. This was a pivotal event in the writing of the new Constitution.

For a while, there was no way to get across the river to neighboring Connecticut. After 1808, a series of infrastructure improvements brought prosperity to the city. Bridges and railroads helped put Northampton on the map as an interchange between Boston and New York.