[3] General Heath had been the commanding officer and friend of Col. Hugh Maxwell, a local citizen who suggested the town be named in his honor.

[4] In 1784 Maxwell, who was severely wounded at the Battle of Bunker Hill by a bullet through his shoulder, was chosen to represent Heath at the General Court in Boston and obtain a division of the town from Charlemont.

[6] Their son was the Congregational minister, lawyer, social reformer, editor and fervent abolitionist Rev.

Leavitt soon gave up law for the ministry, training at Yale Theological Seminary and settling in Stratford, Connecticut, before decamping for New York City and a career that included the editorship of The Emancipator.

[7]) Members of the Leavitt family of Heath and Charlemont provided stops on the Underground Railroad, and in some cases sheltered slaves like Basil Dorsey who were fleeing the South.

One of its more distinctive industries was a straw hat business, where palm fronds were imported from the Carolinas to be woven by women and children during their free time.

Heath is bordered by Whitingham and Halifax, Vermont, to the north, Colrain to the east, Charlemont to the south and southwest, and Rowe to the west.

Heath is located in the northeastern portion of the Berkshires, with the highest point being Burnt Hill to the southeast.

Heath is fed by the West Branch of the North River, which originates near the state line and heads south-eastward towards Colrain.

The nearest national air service can be reached at Albany International Airport in New York.

[citation needed] Heath employs the open town meeting form of government, and is led by a board of selectmen and an administrative assistant.

[22] The town is patrolled by the Second (Shelburne Falls) Station of Troop "B" of the Massachusetts State Police.