Boston to NY Line

Wayland, 15.8 m. (pop.3346, sett. 1638), was named for Francis Wayland, clergyman and president of Brown University (1827-55). He was instrumental in establishing here in 1848 a Free Library claimed by a boulder on the Green to be the first free library in Massachusetts. Shoemaking and the harvesting of meadow grass were once important in the town, today market gardening is the chief occupation.

The Unitarian Church, completed in 1815, derives its design from the work of Sir Christopher Wren. It is well proportioned and has a charming bell tower with a Paul Revere bell.

(L, wayland Unitarian Church.)

Right from Wayland on the Old Sudbury Rd. at 1.1 m. is the home of Lydia Child, a charming house of old clapboards painted black, with two brick inside chimneys... Lydia Child, author and abolitionist, gave up her work as editor of the Juvenile Miscellany, the first American periodical for children, to follow William Lloyd Garrison in his anti-slavery crusade.

At 18.6 m. is the junction with Concord Rd.

At 0.4 m. is the Israel Brown House, built in 1725... this house served as a station on the Underground railroad for slaves escaping to Canada. Brown used a stake wagon with a false bottom to carry the refugees to the next station at Lancaster; though suspected and often stopped he was never apprehended.

At 0.5 m. on Concord Rd. is a junction with a short private road; right on this road is the Wadsworth Monument, a granite shaft erected in 1852. When Marlborough was fired by Indians in March 1676, Lt. Curtis of Sudbury led a party in a surprise night attack. The leader of the Indians, Metus, was killed... later, Capt. Wadsworth arrived to assist and marched to Sudbury and was ambushed near the base of Green Hill. After fighting his way to the top, he maintained a stout defense, but toward evening King Phillip routed the Colonials by setting fire to the woods. In the ensuing battle only 14 Englishmen escaped. Capt. Wadsworth and 28 of his men were killed, and they are buried beneath this monument.