About this column:
Columnist Nancy Bertrand, president of the Wakefield Historical Commission and Wakefield Historical Soceity looks at all the historically significant places, people and objects in Wakefield.Back in the seventeenth century, when the town was young and inhabitants few, many of the most important town offices had names that we are familiar with today. From the earliest days of the town, in fact, we have had Selectmen, Representatives to the General Court in Boston, the Town Treasurer and the Town Clerk. Some positions that were highly sought in years gone by have, alas, gone by the wayside. No longer can one run for the office of “Hog Officer” (one who inspects and corrals pigs); the “Fence Viewer” (one who inspects the size and sturdiness of fences); or “Sealer of Leather” (one …
The Independence Day festivities and the fireworks over Lake Quannapowitt called to mind the memory of an early manufacturer of fireworks for the town’s Independence Day celebrations. Joshua Whittemore, born in Boston in 1814, was a member of a family that had achieved some prominence as manufacturers of shoe polish and shoe machinery. His parents had been married in a ceremony performed by the Unitarian minister Reverend William Emerson, whose son Ralph Waldo Emerson would achieve some fame of his own. Joshua was an enterprising young man and started his career by serving as a sailor on …
Where in Wakefield was this scene? The first reader who can a) correctly identify the building or b) give the address of where it is now will win an awesome Patch water bottle or tote bag! (Your choice). Leave your guess in the comments section! First correct answer wins the Patch prize.
Two hundred years ago, the town now known as Wakefield officially split off from the rest of the town of Reading (then incorporating both Reading and North Reading.) What is now Wakefield had been the First Parish, or the oldest part of the original old town of Redding, with settlement as early as 1639. Over time, divisions between the ‘parishes’ had grown, exacerbated by politics – our town, being largely Republican, favored the war with Great Britain; the remainder of the town of Redding, being largely Federalist in feeling, opposed a military solution. This was the final straw, and the …
Where in Wakefield was this scene? The first reader who can a) correctly identify the building or b) give the address of where it is now will win an awesome Patch water bottle or tote bag! (Your choice). Leave your guess in the comments section! First correct answer wins the Patch prize.
In the year 1800, a 19-year old itinerate tin peddler from Meriden, Connecticut passed through the old town of South Reading. Burrage Yale, the energetic and ambitious young salesman, must have taken a liking to the town. Within two years, he returned to make the town his home, and established a tin manufacturing business that made his fortune. It would become the town’s most important single business for several decades. His first small tin shop stood on the corner of Main and Lafayette Streets. As the business prospered, he purchased a large old home on Main Street at about the present…
Where in Wakefield was this building? The first reader who can a) correctly identify the building or b) give the address of where it is now will win an awesome Patch water bottle or tote bag! (Your choice). Leave your guess in the comments section! First correct answer wins the Patch prize..
Solon Osmond Richardson was the son of a doctor and planned to follow in his father’s footsteps. But his father, Dr. Nathan Richardson, also had a sideline. In 1808, he had begun to manufacture a remarkably effective medicine – an elixir whose effects were almost miraculously efficacious. It was so popular with his patients that he began selling it in convenient quart bottles. He called it Dr. Richardson’s Bitters. Dr. Solon O. Richardson joined in his father’s practice and also in the manufacture of the product. After his father’s death in 1837, S. O. Richardson carried on both family …
Where in Wakefield did this scene exist? Any reader who can a) correctly identify what this building was or b) where it existed will win an awesome Patch prize. Leave your guess in the comments section! First correct answer wins the Patch prize. Got no idea? Clues will be posted throughout the day. Check back throughout the day for a little help!
The Town of Wakefield, originally the oldest part of the seventeenth century town of “Redding,” was initially centered around the Great Pond, now known as Lake Quannapowitt, with some outlying farms. As the town grew, farmlands were staked out over fields and early paths developed into roads. One of the most ancient of the paths was the one that stretched from the west side of the Lake toward the rocky hill primarily owned by the Cowdrey family, and was early known as the ‘Road to ‘Oburn.’ The Cowdreys were descended from first settler William Cowdrey, the first Town Clerk and influential …
Where in Wakefield did this scene exist? Any reader who can a) correctly identify what this building was or b) where it existed will win an awesome Patch prize. Leave your guess in the comments section! First correct answer wins the Patch prize. Got no idea? Clues will be posted throughout the day. Check back throughout the day for a little help!
Born in 1752 in Ipswich, Massachusetts, John Hart was the son of John Hart, a lawyer and renowned musician. Dr. John Hart’s mother, Mary Knowlton, was the daughter of Captain Abraham Knowlton, an Ipswich “joiner” or cabinetmaker of great skill. Through her mother, Mary Knowlton was a direct descendant of one of our town’s first settlers Francis Smith. John Hart studied medicine in Ipswich and in 1771 moved to what is now Bath, Maine to begin his own practice. When the Revolutionary War broke out, Dr. Hart took the colonial side and joined the Revolutionary Army under the charge of Colonel …
Where in Wakefield was this scene? The first reader who can a) correctly identify the building or b) give the address of where it is now will win an awesome Patch water bottle or tote bag! (Your choice). Leave your guess in the comments section! First correct answer wins the Patch prize.
The idea for harvesting ice as a commercial product is credited to Frederick Tudor, a Bostonian, whose first large scale sale of harvested ice was made in 1805 when he shipped 130 tons of ice to Martinique. In 1817, Tudor’s first commercial icehouse was established in 1817 on Fresh Pond in Cambridge. The industry was initially hampered by the difficulty of hauling tons of ice by ox carts, but with the coming of railroads, these difficulties were eased. Suddenly, many of the lakes on the east side of Massachusetts became opportunities for savvy investors; their ice was recognized as a …
Where in Wakefield was this building? The first reader who can a) correctly identify the building or b) give its approximate location will win an awesome Patch water bottle or tote bag! (Your choice). Leave your guess in the comments section! First correct answer wins the Patch prize.
The custom of Christmas trees originated in Germany and was popularly introduced in England after Queen Victoria’s marriage to the German Prince Albert. In 1848, the British public was presented with an image of the Royal Family with their Christmas tree. In 1850, a copy of the image was published in America in Godey’s Lady’s Book, the leading lifestyles and fashions magazine available at the time. The image would be reproduced in 1860 and in the 1870s. The Christmas tree custom caught on slowly in America, not becoming truly fashionable until the 1870s. Here in our small town of South …
Where in Wakefield was this building? The first reader who can identify the building and/or its location will win an awesome Patch water bottle or tote bag! (Your choice). Leave your guess in the comments section! First correct answer wins the Patch prize.
In the ancient town of Redding (which actually was begun in what is now known as Wakefield), most of the oldest dwellings were centrally located in proximity to the two ponds that had drawn the inhabitants to their shores. There were seven houses by 1644 when the town was officially incorporated. In 1647 there were twenty-nine land grants given, most of them associated with homesteads. One of these belonged to William Hooper who almost certainly lived at or near the current location of the ‘Hartshorne House.’ Hooper was one of the earliest residents of the town, and had come from England in …
Where in Wakefield was this building? The first reader who can a) correctly identify the building or b) give the address of where it is now will win an awesome Patch water bottle or tote bag! (Your choice). Leave your guess in the comments section! First correct answer wins the Patch prize.
Where in Wakefield was this scene? The first reader who can correctly identify the location of the vantage point will win an awesome Patch water bottle or tote bag! (Your choice). Leave your guess in the comments section! First correct answer wins the Patch prize.
