History. Founded in 1953, the Harwich Historical Society has been operating for over 70 years! The Society’s collection chronicles several hundred years of Harwich History, highlighted by the Cape’s largest cranberry culture exhibit., The Harwich Historic District is a historic district encompassing the historic portions of the Harwich Center village of Harwich, Massachusetts.The village, originally known as Broadbrooks after a prominent local family, was developed beginning in the 18th century, and features a high quality concentration of Greek Revival and Italianate architecture., The Federal Square Historic District is a historic district encompassing a portion of the former Springfield Armory in Springfield, Massachusetts.Located across Federal Street from the main Armory grounds, Federal Square was the site of some of armory's early facilities, including a Continental Army magazine during the American Revolutionary War.It was also the site of a brief clash in Shays , Zalesak’s research on Job Chase, for instance, includes the following: Born in Yarmouth in 1736, he died 19 July 1833 in Harwich, and is buried in the North Harwich Cemetery. During the American Revolution his rank was sergeant in Capt. Thomas Nickerson’s Company on Major Zenas Winslow’s Regiment., History of Harwich & Dovercourt. Harwich is not mentioned in the Domesday Book so at that time if anyone lived there it must have been a very small settlement. (The name Harwich is believed to be derived from the old words here wic, meaning army camp because the Danes camped there in the 9th century). However there is an entry for Dovercourt., The history of the Massachusetts Volunteer Militia can be traced back to the Massachusetts Bay Colony militia, which was organized in 1636. Local town militia were later formed and organized under laws mandated by the General Court of Massachusetts. Since the first muster, the Massachusetts Volunteer Militia have participated in a number of major military conflicts, beginning with the French .