Book Description

Wayland is a classic New England village, complete with white steepled churches and picket fences. Located in central Middlesex County, it is a mirror of New England regional history: the town's first road, church, and farmhouse were all built in the mid-1600s; monuments stand to honor heroes from King Philip's War to Vietnam; and the town was home to famous writers and ministers, including the authors of "Over the River and Through the Woods" and "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear." Wayland boasts a bell cast by Paul Revere, the state's first public library, and over sixty barns remaining from its agricultural past. Situated in the broad valley of the Sudbury River, with views across the river meadows to Nobscot Mountain, the town has experienced the ebb and flow of New England's prosperity and economic hardship. Wayland tells this story with over 200 striking photographic images, many never before published, selected primarily from the extensive collection of the Wayland Historical Society. Pictures of farmers, factory workers, trolleys, and schools help to tell the unique and fascinating history of the town. Wayland has two separate neighborhoods, Wayland Center and Cochituate Village, each with its own distinctive landscape, which are now merging with the rapid suburban growth of Greater Boston.