Southwick, MA

Situated about 12 miles southwest of Springfield and about 22 miles northwest of Hartford, Connecticut, Southwick is a beautiful, wooded community directly south of Westfield and Westfield State University. Parks in Southwick include Granville Gorge and Whalley Park. Six Flags New England is directly east of Southwick, and several golf and country clubs are located in or near Southwick.

Settlers moved to the Southwick area around 1690. Originally a village in the southern part of Westfield, Southwick broke free of the town and incorporated in 1770. They did so because church attendance was required in colonial times, and the church in Westfield was too far of a walk, especially in winter, and they wanted to build their own. Southwick is the southernmost community in Massachusetts. There’s a small area that dips below the otherwise straight border with Connecticut known as the jog. The jog occurred after a land dispute shortly before the American Revolution, and the border dip was the solution. This jog into Connecticut territory led to Southwick’s nickname, “Pocket Town.”