The land on which the school sat is, as of 2016, being redeveloped for mixed uses including residential, commercial and recreational.

This includes the 385-acre (156 ha) Lampson Brook Farm, used for community and sustainable agriculture, outdoor recreation, and wildlife preservation.

The area encompassing the Town is part of a crossroads of Native trails in the Connecticut River Valley of Western Massachusetts that indigenous people traveled including the Nipmuc and Norwottuck, or Nonotuck and Nolwotogg, among others.

[3] Artifacts found in the early 20th century just south of Dwight, near Lake Metacomet, suggest, "evidence of Native American occupations in Belchertown" that began some 7,000 years ago.

[5] Some of these lands were granted to Jonathan Belcher, the future Royal Governor of Massachusetts.

The Belchertown State School for mentally disabled residents was located in the town for over 70 years, from 1922 until its closing in 1994 amid revelations of poor conditions and inhumane treatment of its residents.

The University of Massachusetts in neighboring Amherst employs more Belchertown residents than any other enterprise or institution.

It is bordered by Pelham to the north, New Salem to the northeast, Ware to the east, Palmer to the southeast, Ludlow to the southwest, and Granby and Amherst to the west.

Of all households 20.3% were made up of individuals, and 7.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.

A committee to divide the Town into school districts met in 1773, but that didn't occur until after the American Revolution.

A committee report, dated 1767, recommended three schoolhouses for the Town including, "...one [schoolhouse] to be sat on the plain at the top of pine hill this side of Hannum's..." In 1784, the Town divided itself up into seven districts.."[20] In the 19th century, Belchertown had 18 schools.