The winter in New Ashford

New Ashford is a town in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It is part of the Pittsfield, MassachusettsMetropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 228 at the 2010 census. New Ashford was first settled in 1762 and was officially incorporated on November 4, 1835. It was named for Ashford, Connecticut, where the founding citizens came from. The town has mostly been a rural farming community, with few mills ever set up in the town. Beginning in 1916, and for a few years after that, New Ashford had the distinction of casting the first vote in United States Presidential Elections, (as Dixville Notch, New Hampshire does today). Following the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment the New Ashford poll was where Ms. Phoebe Jordan became the first woman to vote in a national election on November 2, 1920.^[2][3] The old wooden ballot box used on this historic occasion still sits in town hall, and is still in use today.