Wakefield Park

Discover the history of ‘Wakefield Park,’ one of the earliest upscale real estate developments (called a ‘garden suburb’) in the Boston area.

Winter in South Reading, 1858-1859

by Nancy Bertrand A 19th Century Journal describes what may have been the town’s first Christmas tree. 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, an image of the Royal Family with their Christmas Tree was presented to…

The West Ward Schoolhouse

The history of Wakefield’s beloved “Little Red Schoolhouse, which has housed generations of Wakefield’s young. One of the oldest two-room schoolhouses in Massachusetts.

History of the Hartshorne House

***NEW: See the Hartshorne House video! The History of the Hartshorne House by Nancy Bertrand (excerpted from Wakefield: 350 Years by the Lake, copyright Wakefield 350, 1994) In the earliest days of the settlement of the town of…

History of Wakefield’s Old Burying Ground

The truest testaments to the first European settlers in this area are the fascinating carved slate stones that offer a hint of their joys as well as their sorrows, their lives, as well as their deaths. Some of the best examples in the nation of Puritan gravestone art can be found here.