Blackstone Valley & South County

MA-146 Blackstone Valley / I-90 Mass Pike / I-395 / MA-122

The Blackstone River Valley is the historic birthplace of the American Industrial Revolution — Samuel Slater's 1793 mill in Pawtucket RI (just over the state line) was the first successful water-powered cotton spinning mill in America, and the Blackstone corridor rapidly became a dense string of textile mill villages. The region is now the **Blackstone River Valley National Historical Park**. In Worcester County, the Blackstone corridor includes Uxbridge, Northbridge (Whitinsville), Douglas, Sutton, Millbury, Grafton (southern portion), Blackstone, Millville, Upton, Mendon, Hopedale, Hopkinton (actually Middlesex edge), Milford MA (one of the largest southern Worcester Co towns), Webster (Lake Chaubunagungamaug — the lake with the longest official name in America), Dudley, and Oxford.