Lancaster, the oldest town in Worcester County, was settled by European colonists in 1643 as Nashaway (named after the local Nashaway tribe). It was incorporated in 1653 and renamed “Lancaster on the Nashua,” after Lancaster, England, the town from which its founder, John Prescott, emigrated.

The towns of Harvard, Stow, Bolton, Hudson, Marlborough, Leominster, Clinton, Berlin, Sterling, and Boylston were all originally part of Lancaster, which is considered the “mother town” of central Massachusetts.

Lancaster boasted the largest white oak tree in the state, called the Beaman Oak, until it was cut down in 1989 due to safety concerns. Lancaster’s fifth meetinghouse, designed by Charles Bulfinch, is a National Historic Landmark.