From about 1812 to 1830, Ashfield was a center of the peppermint industry and by 1825 several hundred acres of peppermint were under cultivation, yielding up to forty pounds of oil per acre at a value of nearly $8 per pound. Other small industries during the 19th century included pottery making (an exhibit of which is at the Smithsonian Institute), production of wooden medical splints, a creamery and several sawmills, gristmills, woodworking mills, tanneries and maple sugaring. Of these, only maple sugaring continued to flourish and Ashfield has become well known for its maple products.

For decades, Ashfield was a quiet farming community with dozens of dairy and apple farms dotting the hillsides and lowlands. In the past 40 years, however, several farms have disappeared and the open fields and pastures have returned to wooded areas. It is only in the last 20 years that more people have been moving to Ashfield than leaving it.

Ashfield is located in Western Massachusetts, bordered by Goshen and Cumington on the south and southwest, Plainfield on the west, Hawley on the northwest, Buckland on the north, and Conway on the east. Ashfield is 20 miles southwest of Greenfield, 21 miles north of Northampton, 109 miles west of Boston.

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