Editing New Ashford, Massachusetts (section)

== History ==
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 to the United States Constitution|Nineteenth Amendment]] the New Ashford [[Voting|poll]] was where Ms. Phoebe Jordan became the first woman to vote in a [[1920 United States presidential election|national election]] on November 2, 1920.<ref>{{cite news|last=Obremski|first=Bonnie|title=Voting right:86 years ago, a New Ashford woman made history|url=http://www.susanbanthonybirthplace.com/MediaBO081506.html|access-date=March 3, 2014|newspaper=North Adams Transcript|date=August 15, 2006|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://archive.today/20140304013752/http://www.susanbanthonybirthplace.com/MediaBO081506.html|archive-date=March 4, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Bass|first=Ruth|title=New Ashford once counted first in U.S.|url=http://www.berkshireeagle.com/columnists/ci_21978787/ruth-bass-new-ashford-once-counted-first-u|access-date=March 3, 2014|newspaper=Berkshire Eagle|date=November 12, 2012}}</ref> The old wooden ballot box used on this historic occasion still sits in town hall, and is still in use today.

The town is home to the former [[Brodie (ski area)|Brodie Mountain ski area]], a once popular ski resort, begun in 1939 on the Gregory Marakoff (Makaroff) farm.<ref>{{cite news|title=Berkshire Ski Development on Major Scale Takes Breather, Watching Weather|newspaper=The Berkshire Eagle|date=November 29, 1939}}</ref>