One popular rural area within Essex County is the beautiful natural town of Andover, Massachusetts. The colonist’s settled in this area in the year 1642 and then incorporated it as a town very soon after in the year 1646. Andover has a population that is close to the average for its town size within the Massachusetts region at a population of 36,569 individuals. Andover is located north of Boston by 20 miles and is a little closer at around 17 miles from Sound and Visions Media.
Before the area of Andover was colonized by the Europeans, it was inhabited and controlled by Native Americans. This was the case for thousands of years before. The region was controlled by three different tribes split by the Merrimack River. This includes the Penacook’s north of the Merrimack River and Massachusetts and Numkena shared the region south of the Merrimack River. Until the region was colonized by the Europeans, it was not known as Andover. Before it was known as Cochichawick, named by the Massachusetts tribe.
In addition, Andover had many portions of its region that would now make up North Andover and South Lawrence. The Massachusetts General Court created these regions in 1643. The state encouraged settlers into this region as the early settlers were offered many benefits. These benefits included immunity from levies, taxes, and services apart from those of the military. John Woodbridge would be the first of the settlers in this region as he and his group migrated from the great local areas of Newbury and Ipswich in 1642.
