Many of the places we have covered in our Places to Travel for Watches series have been based in Europe. While Europe has a whole host of incredible places to experience watches and beautiful travel, there are other places in the world where one can experience incredible horology. Many of our readers and viewers are based in USA, and so why not cover a place deeply routed in American horology.

Grafton, Massachusetts is located in the northeastern part of the United States. Grafton is located in Worcester County in Massachusetts, near the center of the state. The town is a small, rural town that is part of the colonisation of the country. It was settled in 1718 and was host to the Nipmuc tribe who were the indigenous inhabitants before the colonies were settled. The town has a fairly small population, under 20,000. Because it was one of the first towns settled, it has some very historic buildings that can be traced back to the beginning of USA. One of those buildings is where one can go and experience an early part of the American clockmaking industry - The Willard House and Clock Museum.

The Willard House was one of the first buildings in North Grafton. It was built in 1718, same same year the area was settled, and was the residence of the Willard family who farmed the land. Four brothers - Benjamin, Simon, Ephraim and Aaron all worked the land here during the peak seasons for farmer. Obviously it gets quite cold here so in the offseason, the brothers began to make clocks. Their workshop opened in 1766 and they were able to create clocks for over three-generations. Over 80 Willard clocks were produced and are on display around the US. They also created some extremely unique parts of clockmaking. For example, Simon Willard invented the banjo clock - a clock that was patented by the brothers in 1802. It was heavily used by other clockmakers other than the Willards, but is a significant part of the clockmakers history.

Many of their clocks are now in display at various museums. But, one is able to go and visit the Willard House and Clock Museum and see the history of the house from the perspective of the beginning of the US, but also see some of the clocks and tools used by the brothers who a firmly part of the history of American horology.

Enjoy!