USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Wayland > Old-time Wayland > Part 1
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org.
Old-time Wayland
DESK REFERENCE
Local History Collection
Reference 974.44 Cut
AYLAND
COCHITUATE PUBLIC LIB RÝ
WAYLAND PUBLIC LIBRARY
TAYLAN,
3 4869 00201 0666
COCHITUATE
BLIC LIBR ARY
Reference
-
1
Old-time
Wayland
11 By ALFRED WAYLAND CUTTING
-
PRIVATELY PRINTED I 9 26
Tecat 7.83
COCH R. +4 977%
Thomas Todd Company PRINTERS Boston
GIFT- 1951 Reference
1
HE old-time beauty of Wayland Centre, as it is remembered by the older citizens of the town, is pleas- antly recalled by a water color sketch painted by Miss L. Anna Dudley about 1850, and recently presented by her to the Wayland Public Library. We recall the quiet, grass-bordered street, heavily shaded by arching elms, where little traffic disturbed its serenity ; the old Town Hall standing back from the road, surrounded by soft green grass, with its Doric columns seen through the hanging branches of the great elms; the two modest grocery stores ; its sedate residences; the old tavern by the brook, behind its ancient elm, with its swinging sign bearing the date 1771; the town pump and watering trough beneath; its barn and the great "drive," a long building standing parallel with the road, open at each end, for the shelter of passing vehicles. At the end of the village street
3
4
OLD-TIME WAYLAND
100
the beautiful old church closed the vista, then as now.
No railroad then disturbed the quiet. The only regular communication with the outside world was the old dusty yellow stage, with its four horses and creaking "throughbraces," which made its daily leisurely progress through the shaded streets, bringing the mail and the one excitement of the day. As it came into town, the rotund, white-bearded old driver would whip the horses into a gallop up the slight rise to the red brick floored porch of the Tavern, where the great folded steps of the stage would be dropped with a clang, and those adventurers, who had braved the unknown experiences which lay beyond Morse's Hill, would alight, while the hostlers, headed by cross-eyed "Buster Allen," would water the horses with the buckets which had been filled at the pump under the great elm.
While the horses were being watered, the mail bag, that impressive evidence of Government and Power, would be taken from its place under the driver's seat and carried across to the Store, where Mr. Seaward and his daughters would pick out from it the letters for Wayland, returning to it
5
OLD WAYLAND CENTRE
the ones to go on to Sudbury; in the presence of the assembled village.
Here might have been seen the venerable Pastor Emeritus, Parson Wight, of the First Parish, with his long white beard, high stock, wide-brimmed silk hat, and loosely rolled um- brella, courteously acknowledging, almost with a curtsey, the respectful salutations of his townsmen. Perhaps Judge Mellen may have been a passen- ger, returning to his home under the great elms of the main street from a session of court. He might walk along the path with Miss Louisa Parmenter, the student of German literature, re- turning from her school in Waltham; and maybe her old friend, Lydia Maria Child, would be there, with her quaint bonnet and dress, her bright, happy presence shedding joy and strength and courage everywhere. Or we might have seen the quiet, dreamy face of Edmund Hamilton Sears, whose serenity no cares or troubles of this world could ruffle or perplex. Mr. Draper, the historian and antiquarian of the town, would cer- tainly have been there for his mail, while Abel Gleason, sitting in his old-fashioned chaise behind his fine horse, would have a word for every one-
6
OLD-TIME WAYLAND
the respected friend of all, and, as a Selectman of the town, the just and stern upholder of law and order. Talking with him would certainly have been his lifelong crony, Uncle Horace Heard, with high black stock and tall silk hat, his satur- nine face and iron jaw, his deep-set eyes and heavy black eyebrows, which made his resemblance to Daniel Webster so striking, and which gave him the ideal appearance of a Sheriff of Middlesex County. Perhaps kindly old Uncle Abel Heard would have come over from "The Farm" in his open wagon, with the buffalo skin over the seat, and he would doubtless be talking with Uncle George Gleason, while Sylvester Reeves and his dog would be upon the piazza of the store with the latest news of everybody.
AYLAND CENTRE does not date back to the earliest years of the town. Originally a part of Sud- bury, the first settlement was at the north graveyard on Old Sudbury Road. For fifty years after this settlement, Way- land Centre was a swampy forest with a brook
7
OLD WAYLAND CENTRE
flowing through it. In 1725 occurred the divi- sion of the church into two precincts, comprising practically the territories of the present Way- land and Sudbury, and divided by the river. At this division the original settlement at the graveyard was abandoned as a political centre, the west side precinct erecting a church at the present Sudbury Centre, while on the east side, the old church built in the graveyard in 1686, the third in succession there, was taken down and re- built on the Common, in Wayland Centre. This Common extended from the present Lovell house to the brook, on the southerly side of the main street. State Road West did not exist until 1815, when it was known as the "Bridle Point" road. The Island Road was a private lane across the meadows to the Heard farms, and ended at a barway at the present E. H. Sears house. On the Common stood the old meeting-house, about where the Post Office is now. This was a plain, weather- stained building, with neither tower nor chimney, standing behind a large sycamore tree with a "mounting stone" under it. Behind the church was an enormous boulder, a relic of the Ice Age. Beyond, on the Common, where the law office was
8
OLD-TIME WAYLAND
afterwards built, was situated the town "Pound," an enclosure for stray animals. This Common was the usual "Training-Field" for the town militia company, and we are told of the annual "Cornwallis" held there. On this Common, on the morning of April 19, 1775, was drawn up the lines of the East Side Company, awaiting the order to march to Concord, while its officers held last consultations with town officials in the church. On the back part of the Common was built the little red brick schoolhouse, now the residence of Mr. Bigwood, then the sole building in that neighborhood.
In old times, the brook crossing between the tavern and the present church was only half bridged over, the remaining half being open water with a "drive" through it. These brook drives were always utilized on the highways in the old teaming days, as useful in swelling wheels, cooling and softening horses' feet, and watering animals. Formerly, before the road had been raised, in the annual spring floods the water would sometimes "set back" up the brook, cover- ing the road. It is related that in the past at such times, people coming in boats from the Island to church could land almost at the church steps.
9
OLD WAYLAND CENTRE
On the building of the present church in 1814-15, the old abandoned meeting-house on the Common was sold to Jonathan Heard and Luther Glezen, who demolished it, and out of its tim- bers built the "Old Green Store," as it was for many years called, next to the new church, now the Loring residence. As the old church was removed from the north graveyard, built in 1686, there may be timbers now in this house two hun- dred and forty years old. One of the conditions of the sale of the old church, possibly the only condition, was that Heard and Glezen should build, and maintain in the new structure for a term of thirty years, a hall for the public use of the town. This was Wayland's first town hall, all town meetings hitherto having been held in the meeting-houses. This hall exists today un- changed. It includes most of the second story of the Loring house, has a separate outside door and staircase, and contains two fireplaces, a notable concession to luxury, there being in the old church, and indeed in the new one, no provision for heating of any kind. A beautiful coved ceil- ing is a feature of this hall. For years it was a favorite place for dances, and was said to have a "spring floor," very advantageous for this.
IO
OLD-TIME WAYLAND
The beauty of old Wayland Centre is largely due to Deacon James Draper, born in 1787; died, 1870. No historical review of Wayland is com- plete without a recognition of the public services rendered the town by him, which service was nobly continued by his son and his grandsons. His public work remains about us to this day, in tree-shaded roads, widened streets, and rebuilt houses. Before his day, Wayland Street was a narrow, treeless road, passing through the village from the present railroad crossing to the brook. When the old Common was sold by the town in 1835, it was purchased by Deacon Draper and cut up into house lots. He widened the road to its present width, giving the land for this pur- pose, planning a wide planting of grass on the southerly side, on which he set out a row of elms, the remaining ones of which still give to the town a suggestion of former beauty. To protect this planting, rows of granite posts stood before the trees. Deacon Draper, at this time, suggested the building of a Town Hall on this spot and gave the land to the town for the pur- pose. The town hall was built, and is still stand- ing, used as Collins' market. To him is also due
II
OLD WAYLAND CENTRE
the planting of the elms around the Unitarian Church. These trees he obtained from the woods behind the present house of Mr. Edmund H. Sears, and are doubtless seedlings of the old giant still standing before his house, one of the notable elms of the state.
A description of Wayland Centre about 1850 by Miss Dudley is of great interest and historical value. Viewed from the present forking of the Old Sudbury and Concord Roads, she first de- scribes the "Old Red Store," which stood on the right, about where the present railroad station is now, but close to the road. She says: "Half of the little red store was built for a schoolhouse in Colonial days. Eighty-nine years ago the writer of this article attended school there. In the rear of the schoolroom was a narrow, dark room, dimly lighted by a small, high window. In this room was kept the wood which furnished the fire for the school, and it was also used for disobedient pupils, placed there to meditate on their sins. The desks in the schoolroom were profusely ornamented by the incipient artists of the school, with intaglio work with their jack- knives, the high desk of the master only escap-
12
OLD-TIME WAYLAND
ing this work, by the fear of the rod. From this building the school was removed to the house now occupied by Mr. Bigwood.
"After the removal of the school from the red house, an addition was built by Mr. Nathaniel Reeves and used as a grocery store. At his death the business was transferred to Charles and Newell Heard. Early in the nineteenth century Charles left Newell as sole occupant. The store was the resort of the neighboring politicians to consult on matters concerning nation, state, and town.
"In the 1830's the only communication Way- land had with Boston was by a stagecoach which left Worcester for Boston one day and returned the next. Mr. Heard had become postmaster and received the newspapers weekly for distribution. After the building of the Fitchburg Railroad, the Worcester line was discontinued and a stage route established to run from Sudbury to Weston, making daily trips. Now newspapers came, and the daily discussion of political news took place in this store. Mr. Heard being considered a wise leader, discussions were held around the little stove occupying the middle of the store, the funnel reaching the roof.
13
OLD WAYLAND CENTRE
..
"When the daily papers were established, the expense was too much for single families, and three people-Reverend Mr. Wight, Mr. Grout, and Mr. Dudley-shared this paper, Mr. Grout taking the paper from the mail, arriving late in the afternoon, passing it in the evening to Mr. Dudley, who sent it to Mr. Wight in the morn- ing. Mr. Heard, who had long before been ap- pointed postmaster, kept the mail in a small case in one corner of the store. Mail left over on Saturday night he took to his house, where people from a distance could call for their mail on Sun- day, after attending church."
Next to the Red Store stood, as now, the present Lovell house. This was occupied for some years by Mr. Leonard Wood, whose famous grandson and namesake, after a life of notable service to the nation, which has made him already a prominent figure in American history, is the present Governor-General of the Philippine Islands.
Next beyond Mr. Wood's house was Way- land's first distinctly municipal building, the old Town Hall. This was built on severely classical lines, and its white pediment and heavy fluted
14
OLD-TIME WAYLAND
columns, in their quiet green setting of grass and foliage, formed a dignified exemplar of govern- mental propriety. The village school occupied for a time the rear of the first floor. In the 1840's the upper floor was used by Mr. Leonard Frost as the schoolroom of the "Wayland Acad- emy," a notable institution in its day. By him was established here, among his pupils and others, a "Lyceum," where interesting matters were dis- cussed as in a modern "forum." But perhaps this old building's highest claim to honor consists in its being the birthplace of the Wayland Public Library, the first institution of this kind in Mas- sachusetts. Starting in a small committee room, it eventually occupied the entire lower floor of the building, where Mr. James Sumner Draper, the historian, surveyor, Town Clerk, author, and benefactor of the town in many ways, was its first librarian. This (to him) congenial and loved position he held for over twenty years, giving to the library an impetus it has never lost.
Next to the town hall was the village "General Store," kept by Mr. Seaward, in the building now standing at the corner of the Island Road.
15
OLD WAYLAND CENTRE
This included the Post Office, after Mr. Newell Heard's postmastership of thirty-eight years had ended. Here might have been bought groceries, boots and shoes, meal and grain, dress goods, farm tools, eyeglasses, paint and oil, medicine, perfumery, and plows! The last building toward the brook was Judge Mellen's law office, still standing, but at that time alone. The Judge's dignified residence stood back from the road, be- hind its great white-posted fence, opposite the town hall, now used as the Teachers' Lodge. Next this, to the north, on the site of the present Town Hall, was the Grout homestead, a square, white house, surrounded by slender poplars, with its well before it, under an apple tree; all sur- rounded by a white picket fence, with a little winding path through the grassy rise to its gate.
Some of these old features seem very fair to those of us who remember them. The strain and stress of modern life leaves little time for the loving care of our homes and towns which char- acterized the past. About many untidy, uncared- for houses we see traces of terraces, stone steps, and planted grounds, where a few straggling syringa, lilac, snowball, and rose bushes still
16
OLD-TIME WAYLAND
linger, attesting to the former love and pride. And these were not in the grounds of mansions. They were the universal features of cottages and humble homes. No small house would be with- out its picket fence, gate, and garden. Perhaps these people had no wider interests than this; but certainly in the present there seems to be no time for such minute, loving attention to the little things which made life and its surroundings so fair and lovely in the past.
HERE is one episode in the history of Wayland, and one of the most momentous and important in its his- tory, which has been passed over by its historians with slight attention. This was the theological split of 1828, when the Trinitarian wing seceded from the old mother church. The records of the First Parish contain no reference to the event, and the records of the Trinitarian society are very perfunctory and un- enlightening. We must look to other sources for our information.
17
DIVISION OF THE CHURCH
On the estate lately owned by Mr. Edwin Farnham Greene is an ancient house on the meadow's edge, at the foot of a lane leading off the Cochituate Road, near the Five Paths. This old house was the home of Deacon William Johnson, and is of interest to us in our present research, for it is the birthplace of the present Evangelical Trinitarian Church in Wayland. In its parlor, on April 5, 1828, this church was born.
The period of William Johnson's office as deacon of the East Sudbury church was a time of theological tempest and storm. The church had been in a turmoil for years. Theological differences led to social dissensions and party spirit ran high, dividing friends and families. The building of the new First Parish Church, in 1814, after a seven years' quarrel as to where it should stand, in a measure and for a time quieted this. The novelty of the possession of so beauti- ful a building, the enthusiasm attendant upon its construction, and pride in it, for a time quieted dissension. This truce, however, was only tem- porary. The great theological question was still unsettled and was never settled. It is continued
18
OLD-TIME WAYLAND
today by the two rival churches in Wayland, into which in 1828 the old First Parish was finally divided.
Regarding the beginnings of Unitarianism in Wayland, Mr. Draper, our "well-spring" of his- torical information, states that its growth was not sudden, and places its first appearance away back in the ministry of the illustrious Josiah Bridge, whose pastorate covered the forty years from 1761 to 1801. Mr. Bridge, says Mr. Draper, ques- tioned the doctrine of the Trinity, preferring to base his definition of God on the clear and ex- plicit quotation of Jesus, that "The Lord our God is one Lord." He had, however, consciously, no Unitarian tendencies. His successor, the Rev. Joel Foster, we may infer, had a twelve years' pastorate not lacking in incident. It was not somnolent. The church was a boiling cauldron of dissension. The question of the new church site was alternated with theological disputes, and demands to dismiss the minister. Mr. Foster appears to have been a man who took life not too seriously-fond of a practical joke-and if his parishioners quarreled, played his violin. He was well aware that some of his congregation had
19
DIVISION OF THE CHURCH
sworn never to go to church when he preached. He, therefore, of a Sunday morning, would saddle his horse and pass conspicuously out of town as if on an exchange with a neighboring minister, leave his horse on the outskirts, slip back through the fields, and appear in the pulpit, ready to send hot shot in on his baffled enemies.
For several years after the settlement of Rev. John B. Wight and the occupancy of the new church, as I have stated, the life of the town ran on more smoothly, but not for long. The Uni- tarian question was the paramount issue of the time. Mr. Wight, settled as an Orthodox Trini- tarian, as a young man, soon became imbued with the growing liberalism, and in the eyes of the conservative, to fall from grace. My great- grandmother, Mrs. William Roby, coming out of the church one Sunday with Miss Sophia Cutting, my great-aunt, said to her, "If that is the kind of doctrine we have got to listen to, it is high time we had a church where the Chris- tian religion is preached!" That she was a woman to be reckoned with can be seen from the fact that, left a widow at thirty-five with seven children, she ran her farm herself successfully,
20
OLD-TIME WAYLAND
brought up her seven children in the fear and admonition of the Lord, and lived a useful and respected life of ninety-six years.
In combating the new religious ideas, she was upheld and encouraged by our old friend, Deacon William Johnson, Edward Rice, after- ward Deacon of the new church, and Ira Draper, the only Draper who seceded from the old church, and fourteen other women.
The outcome was inevitable. Mr. Wight would not recant, and had a large majority on his side, so the irreconcilable minority could do nothing but consider the formation of a new church. In doing this, they forfeited participa- tion in the town ministerial fund and other church emoluments; but even this they surrendered to their sense of right and conscience. On the after- noon of April 5, 1828, the die was cast. Esther Johnson, the deacon's wife, put all her chairs into the parlor of her house, in preparation for a meeting, and there gathered the upholders of the old theology. The women were the leading spirits in this. Among them were Aunt Susan Grout, my great-grandmother, the beautiful Eunice Rut- ter, Betsy Allen, Mrs. Samuel Russell, Martha
2I
DIVISION OF THE CHURCH
Carter, and my dainty little great-aunt, Miss So- phia Cutting, from the great house on the hill- fifteen women in all, and the three men. They doubtless opened their deliberations with prayer for guidance and wisdom, and then and there formed themselves into a new church, where "the pure milk of the Word, drawn from the breasts of both Testaments" (to quote the old Primer) should be available for spiritual nourishment for all time. The new church they called, that there might be no misunderstanding as to their reli- gious status, "The Evangelical Trinitarian Society of East Sudbury," and the impetus given this church by these determined women on that day is not yet spent. They next proceeded to the build- ing of a chapel, which was dedicated May 21, following the meeting of April 5. This chapel was used for some years as a private school dur- ing the week. The installation of a minister, the Rev. Levi Smith, took place in the following June. This quick action indicates that there was ability and energy behind it. Seven years had to pass before the building of a church could be thought of, but on July 22, 1835, the new church was dedicated.
22
OLD-TIME WAYLAND
As a child, I went to this church with my parents, for the influence of my iron-willed great- grandmother was felt through three succeeding generations. I have no recollections of "doc- trinal" sermons; indeed, bleating lambs and coo- ing doves would be fierce beside Mr. Bullard and Mr. Merrill, the ministers of my day. To a round-eyed child sitting in the family pew, how- ever, the unaccountable sermons would be the least part of the play, and never regarded.
The Congregational Church and vestry were destroyed by fire on the night of September 2, 1922, and a familiar landmark removed. The church was a nearly square structure, with a two- pitched roof, standing end to the street, with two entrances. It had a short square tower at this end, and three large Gothic windows on either side of the building. The vestry stood, con- nected with the church, at the rear, slightly to the west. The usual horse-sheds surrounded one side and the rear of the lot, and, as was in- evitable in old Wayland, all were smothered under the protecting arms of great elms.
23
THE OLD GRAVEYARD
HE ancient graveyard on Old Sud- bury Road is a hallowed spot to us whose bones are made of Wayland and whose ancestors for six and U seven generations lie there. The old graveyard, the English "God's Acre," originally surrounding the little square, thatched church of 1642, where, following their forefathers' custom, the dead were laid, is close to the road, and con- sists of a few acres of gently rising hillside, fac- ing the south, and surrounded by a double row
of pines. By a happy provision, the modern cemetery is an extension of this to the rear, and is thus protected by the old, time-honored ground, now unused and undisturbed, where, on the gray headstones standing in the rough grass, are re- corded dates covering two hundred and fifty years of Wayland's past.
The oldest gravestones are very rude and primitive. They are laid flat on the ground, and are made of roughly shaped slabs of native stone, such as may today be seen on Nobscot and Good- man's Hill, and doubtless were obtained there. The earliest bear no inscriptions. Two of these
24
OLD-TIME WAYLAND
are not in the territory of the ancient graveyard, but lie in the woods at the rear of the modern cemetery, which tradition has always designated as the "Old Indian Burying-Ground." These are probably the oldest graves, antedating the Eng- lish graveyard; of settlers who died between the earliest date of the settlement in 1638, and the building of the church in 1642. They are of priceless historic value. The earliest date borne by the prostrate stones in the old yard is 1676. Here in this little democracy of graves, all lying facing the sunrise, the rough slabs and head- stones, with their rudely cut inscriptions, remain unchanged, to tell us their story of the simplicity of life, privations, and smallness of resources of the beginnings of civilization here.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.