Its town common was laid out in 1733, along with a series of house lots extending to the north and south, along what is now Main Street (Massachusetts Route 32).

Two late additions to the district were designed by architect Edmund Wilson of Stone, Carpenter & Willson: the stone Petersham Memorial Library was built in 1889-91 as a memorial to the town's Civil War soldiers, and the Shingle style Hotel Nichewaug was built in 1899 as accommodations for summer visitors.

Cellist Helen Isabel Moorhouse wrote letters to her lover Alice E. Brown during her stay at the inn in the summer of 1915 and they are now part of the University of Michigan collection.

[3] In 1952 it was purchased by the Sisters of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin who expanded it and used it as a parochial high school for two decades, Maria Assumpta Academy.

[6] No buyers were found; as a result, voters at the Petersham town meeting in June 2022 elected to demolish the structure, which commenced in August 2022.