AMHERST

town (township), Hampshire county, west-central Massachusetts, U.S. It lies in the Connecticut River valley just northeast of Northampton. It includes the communities of North Amherst, Amherst, and South Amherst. The town of Hadley adjoins it on the west. Settled as part of Hadley in the 1730s, Amherst was recognized in 1759 as a separate district and named for Jeffrey (later Baron) Amherst, British commander in North America in the French and Indian War. It was incorporated as a town in 1775 and has developed principally as an educational centre. Noah Webster lived in the town (181222) while working on his dictionary and was one of the founders of Amherst College, which was established in 1821. The University of Massachusetts was founded at Amherst in 1863 as an agricultural land-grant college; its central campus covers 1,400 acres (567 hectares) and contains more than 160 buildings. Hampshire College, which lies south of the town, opened in 1970. The county's academic community also includes the prominent women's institutions of Smith College (1875) and Mount Holyoke College (1837), both within 10 miles (16 km) of Amherst. A number of homes of literary interest are in the town, including those of the poet Emily Dickinson, the poet-novelist Helen Hunt Jackson, and the poet Robert Frost. Area 28 square miles (73 square km). Pop. (1990) 35,228; (1996 est.) 35,468. town, seat of Cumberland county, northern Nova Scotia, Canada. It is situated near the Cumberland Basin, an arm of Chignecto Bay, and lies just south of the New Brunswick border and Fort Beausjour National Historic Park, 38 miles (61 km) southeast of Moncton, N.B. Standing on rising ground above the Tantramar Marshes, it was once a village site for Micmac Indians. The town was called La Planche by 17th-century Acadian settlers, but after its repopulation by New England colonists it was renamed (1759) to honour Jeffrey (later Baron) Amherst, who captured Louisbourg on Cape Breton Island from the French in 1758. Historic structures include the ruined Fort Lawrence, built by the British in 1750, and the town's first Presbyterian church (1788). The Cumberland County Museum is housed in Grove Cottage (1831). Near the town are the Amherst Point Migratory Bird Sanctuary and an experimental farm of the Canadian government. Amherst is a service centre for the surrounding timber, farming, and coal-mining region. Inc. 1889. Pop. (1971) 9,966; (1991) 9,742.