Early Settlements
Dodgetown, even though it ceased to exist after the early 1800’s, has a sense of mystique around it. Named after one of its first settlers, Asahel Dodge, its location is still explored by seekers of remnants of its past – cellar holes, hearthstones, fieldstone chimneys. When it was deemed a meetinghouse slated to be built in Dodgetown should be erected in the center of Lee instead, residents eventually left the mountains and the little settlement to the bears and bobcats.Hoplands and Glassworks are two of the original five Grants that made up the area we now know as Lee. In 1777, an Act of Incorporation merged these into the Town of Lee. The name of Hoplands was derived from the vast number of hops that grew alongside the river. The Glassworks Grant was sandwiched between the other four and made up what is now the center of Lee. It got its name when workers from a Boston-based glass manufacturing company’s workers were encouraged by the colony of Massachusetts Bay to relocate to the area. This encouragement was in the form of a large tract of land.There’s much more to learn about the history of Lee’s early settlement by clicking the “More” button.
