“Women in Wakefield” Revolutionary War edition! As we enter the 250th anniversary of the Revolutionary War, it seems fitting to dedicate one of our Women’s History Month tributes to the town’s women during that period. The war actually lasted for seven long years, from Concord and Lexington past the battle of Yorktown, but the early…
by Nancy Bertrand Not all of our ”Women in Wakefield” profiles end happily. Unfortunately, at least one of them ended very sadly indeed. This is the story of Lydia Dustin. Lydia and her husband Josiah were among the first settlers here in the then brand-new town then named Reading. (But of course, the majority of those first settlements…
Settled in 1639, established as the town of Redding in 1644, re-established as the new town of South Reading in 1812, the town changed its name in 1868. All anniversaries, but which is most significant?
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.
Wakefield Historical Society 