Alford a.k.a. Alford Valley is one of the unique rural areas of Berkshire County, Massachusetts which ajoins the regional center of South Berkshire, Great Barrington, but is relatively isolated and decidely rural in nature. It was founded from the Shawanon Purchase of 1756. Joseph Quiniquant and Shauanum Stockbridge Indians conveyed the land to Timothy Woodbridge and others. A second purchase called the Green Land Grant added 15,000 acres the same year. The Alford Brook was known to the Stockbridge Indians as Seekonk (Wild Goose). Great Barrington annexed an area west of Long Pond in 1778.

The chief occupation of the early settlers was agriculture; yet Alford had two sawmills, two grist mills, a forge with trip hammer, a furnace for casting hollow ware, and a tannery. Marble became its major export in the early 19th century. Quarries were run by Sanford and Frederick Fitch, James Cook, and lastly, by the Alford Marble Works until 1872.