Books, maps, and DVDs we recommend
The Puritan Village Evolves: A History of Wayland Massachusetts First Edition
by Helen F. Emery (1981)
A chronological history of the town from 1638 to 1980, written by a local historian and scholar.
$ 20.00
Available: Wayland Historical Society, Wayland Depot
Wayland Historical Tours (1976); revised 2013
Edited by Barbara Robinson (Paperback)
The story of Wayland’s first three centuries told through three historical tours.
$ 10.00
Available: Wayland Historical Society, Wayland Depot
Click here for a free PDF version.
Wayland A to Z (2004)
by Evelyn Wolfson, Dick Hoyt (Paperback)
THE book to own if you can have only one Wayland history – full of meticulously researched stories and details about the town of Wayland, MA
$ 10.00
Available: Wayland Historical Society, Wayland Depot
Legendary Locals of Wayland (2015)
by Evelyn Wolfson (Paperback)
A multitude of photos accompanies visionaries who have influenced both Wayland and the country, along with current town folks who continue in their footsteps.
$18.67
Available: Amazon, Arcadia Publishing, Wayland Depot.
Growing up in Wayland: Life in a Massachusetts town during the Depression (1997)
by George K Lewis (Paperback)
Beautifully written memoir of a very active and observant boy who grew up to be a professor of geography at Boston University and local historian.
$ 10.00
Available: Wayland Historical Society, Wayland Depot
Wayland’s 375 Cookbook (2014)
This is Wayland 375th anniversary year’s celebratory recipe book, written for town residents (including those from centuries past). Linking the 17th to 21st centuries with popular foods, drinks, and “this and that” (i.e. boiled hot soap or teething cookies), this book contains more than 250 recipes.
$ 15.00
Available: Wayland Historical Society, Wayland Depot
Map: 1881 Copy of James Sumner Draper’s 1776 Map of Wayland
Unframed 18 x 24” copy of map made by James Sumner Draper (1811-1896) of what he thought Wayland was like in 1775/6. The original is owned by the Wayland Historical Society. There was no Boston Post Road, (Route 20), west of the First Parish Church in Wayland Center, nor did Commonwealth Avenue, (Route 30), go west of the School Street intersection in Cochituate.
$ 10.00
Available: Wayland Historical Society, Wayland Depot
FIVE MILES ASTRIDE THE RIVER (2014)
DVD: by Zander Cowen and Jacob Sussman
Our most ambitious work, Five Miles Astride the River is a 20-minute film exploring the development of our hometown, Wayland, Massachusetts. Showcasing the village’s evolution over 375 years of history, the film explores three distinct eras of American life and illustrates how the town’s past has shaped its present.
$15.00
Available: Pelham Island Pictures, Wayland Depot
Wayland: Images of America (2002) 
by George Lewis (Paperback)
More than 200 photographs, selected primarily from the extensive collection of the Wayland Historical Society, of farmers, factory workers, trolleys, and schools help to tell the unique and fascinating history of Wayland’s two separate neighborhoods, Wayland Center and Cochituate Village.
$21.89
Available: Amazon, Arcadia Publishing, Wayland Depot
P
uritan Village: The Formation of a New England Town (1963)
by Sumner Chilton Powell
A detailed account of the early government and social organization of the town of Sudbury, Massachusetts, present- day Wayland.
$ 20.84
Available: Amazon.com
Lydia Maria Child: The Quest for Racial Justice (Oxford Portraits) (2002)
by Lori Kenschaft (Hardcover)
This dynamic nineteenth-century writer who, through her pen and at great personal cost to her literary career, spoke out for those silenced in society — slaves, Native Americans, women, and the poor—lived in Wayland for much of her life.
$32.95
Available: Amazon.com
Girl Scouts
Girl Scouts 4th grade Wayland Girl Scouts, “Played the Past” at the Wayland Museum and Historical Society’s Grout Heard House November 17 where they learned about two 19th century Wayland women -- Jerusha Grout Heard and Lydia Maria Child. After being taught some...
Lydia Maria Child
Lydia Maria Child Wayland’s own Lydia Maria Child wrote the most famous poem in America about Thanksgiving- “Over the River and Through the Wood’ (originally titled “The New-England Boy’s Song About Thanksgiving Day”). Mrs. Child was a prominent 19th century author,...
New Board Members
Welcome to New Board Members Beth Butler and Jack Russell from Molly Faulkner Jack Russell, of Russell’s Garden Center, is the son of Sam and Polly Russell and nephew of Lew and Charlotte Russell. Jack was the farm manager and a docent for the...
What do Ceramics Tell us About Wayland
What do Ceramics Tell us About Wayland’s Ancient Inhabitants? The lecture entitled, “What do Ceramics Tell us About Wayland’s Ancient Inhabitants?” was presented by John Pretola, on October 21, during Massachusetts Archaeology Month. The program was...
Cochituate 1887
Cochituate and North Natick 1887 Click on image for a closer view From the Boston Public Library, Norman B. Leventhal Map Center Collection
Talking Trash!
TALKING TRASH! GETTING RID OF WAYLAND’S REFUSE A History of Burning, Burying, Recycling, Pig Farms, Composting, Single Stream Recycling, 1-800-JUNK – Molly Faulkner, president of the Wayland Historical Society and early member of Wayland Public Schools...
The Sudbury River Flows Slow
Professor Robert Thorson, author of “The Boatman”, entertained and educated a full house at the Grout Heard House Museum. Dams, lawyers, farmers, saw mills, Thoreau, and the civil war all share the stage in the drama of the meandering Sudbury River and its...
Ceramics
WHAT DO CERAMICS TELL US ABOUT WAYLAND’S ANCIENT INHABITANTS? Saturday, October 21 ~ 2:00 – 4:00 PM Wayland Town Building Large Hearing Room Massachusetts Archaeology Month Event, co-sponsored with the Wayland Historical Commission and presented by Dr. John Pretola....
The Boatman
WAYLAND’S EMBATTLED MEADOWLAND FARMERS: THOREAU AND THE "FLOWAGE CONTROVERSY" (1858-1862) Thursday, September 14 ~ 7:00 PM Grout Heard House Museum University of Connecticut Professor Robert Thorson details a fascinating chapter in Wayland history – the “flowage...
Draper Room
Draper Room Part of the original 1740s house. May have been original kitchen; became dining room or second parlor when Silas Grout enlarged the house in the late 18th century. Now furnished in 19th century decor with many items from the Draper family....