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
Open House 2022
Holiday Open House 2022 – Grout-Heard House Decorations and Treats. About 12 to 15 members of the Wayland Garden Club provided the lovely arrangements, organized and led by Patrice Barton and Susan Coppock. And once again the Girl Scout Tree was a hit with many Girl...
Veterans Day Observance
Wayland’s Public Ceremonies Committee holds a Veterans Day Observance at the Town Building annually. Wayland’s history of residents responding to the call to serve goes back centuries. This year’s ceremony recognized 2021 Wayland High School graduate, Jason Haims, who...
King Philips War
The Public History of King Philips War The October program, “Public History of King Philip’s War: A Panel Discussion” was offered jointly by the Wayland Free Public Library, the First Parish in Wayland and the Historical Society. If you missed this fascinating...
So Much To Learn In a Cemetery
Recap of September Program -- So Much To Learn In a Cemetery The September program, “Afternoon Picnic in North Cemetery”, drew a large crowd from Wayland and surrounding communities. The weather was perfect—warm and sunny—and our speaker Susan Tyler, a former Sherborn...
Dog Licenses
DOG LICENSES Jacob Signorovitch For at least two hundred years, dog licensing has been used as a way to keep track of the dogs of New England. It is hard to date when the first dog licenses were issued, but they have appeared in the Wayland town records since the...
Memorial Day 2021
Memorial Day Address at Lakeview Cemetery On Monday May 31, 2021 residents of Wayland gathered at Lakeview Cemetery to commemorate Memorial Day in a ceremony planned by Wayland’s Public Ceremonies Committee (PCC). The Ceremony, witnessed by hundreds of Wayland’s...
Kevin Delaney
WAYLAND HIGH SCHOOL HISTORY TEACHER KEVIN DELANEY TO RETIRE By Kate Jenney Kevin Delaney, history teacher extraordinaire, will be retiring this June after teaching in Wayland for 29 years. I came to know Kevin as liaison for the Wayland Historical Society and the high...
Wayland Celebrates: 100 Years of Women’s Suffrage
August 26, 2020 Celebration At 9:30 AM at North Cemetery, a group gathered at the gravestone of Lydia Maria Child (1802-1880) to honor her advocacy for gender and racial equality, note newly registered Wayland women voters of the era, and to enjoy a display about...
Song of Wayland
Chris is one of three brothers who lived on Draper Road along with their cousins David and Steve Rowan Chris, Lorin and Peter all live in Marin County and Sonoma county north of San Francisco. Chris writes that “growing up in Wayland was so special! With our Rowan...
Child – Jacobs
Original Post Wicked Local This article was written in honor of Race Amity Day, which is held annually in Massachusetts on the second Sunday in June, this year on Sunday, June 14. Lydia Maria Child (1802-1880) was a noted 19th century author and social reformer who...