The Town of Bolton is a residential and agricultural community on the uplands east of the Nashua River Valley on an historic east-west corridor. Its geography greatly shaped its history. Bolton has gently sloping hills but no major streams, so the earliest sources of power for manufacturing were not present and the town from its earliest years was primarily an agricultural community with only a small percentage of industry. But Bolton had rich forests and geological deposits of lime which combined to supplement the farming economy.

The town had lime kilns and limestone quarries, and produced potash, lime and bricks. The town was settled early by Europeans, in 1675. It consisted then of prosperous dispersed farms and its population increased very slowly after King Philip's wars. Agricultural uses grew to include orchards and dairy farming by the 19th century. Much of this rural landscape is still intact in a town that is now primarily a residential suburb for surrounding industrial communities and an exurb for the greater l-495 corridor.