Outdoor Lighting in Sterling Worcester County and MA

Sterling was first settled by Europeans in 1720 and was officially incorporated in 1781.

Previous to its incorporation, it was “the Second Parish of Lancaster.” It was commonly called by a portion of its Indian name, Chocksett. The Nipmuc minister, Peter Jethro, worked in the area in the 1670s. The original Indian name of the area was Woonsechocksett. The land encompassing the Chocksett region was not originally included in the first land sold by the great Indian Chief Sholan to the settlers of the Lancaster grant. However, Sholan’s nephew Tahanto would eventually sell the Chocksett land to the inhabitants of Lancaster in 1713.

The first white settlers arrived in Chocksett seven years later, in 1720, formerly inhabitants of Lancaster proper. Among these first settlers were families such as Beman, Sawyer, Houghton, and Osgood – names reflected to this day in the names of Sterling’s oldest roads.