Two Sudburys’ Tour

A Day to Remember
Uncertain weather and a scary bus mishap made for a rocky start to an ultimately successful tour about the origins of present day Sudbury and Wayland.

We gathered at the Sudbury Town Hall, then boarded a bus (and some cars followed the bus) to the Haynes Garrison House site. It was here that the bus tried to move off to the side of the road, became stuck in the mud, and starting tipping dangerously to one side. Those on the bus were helped off via the rear exit. The tour continued — both Gretchen Schuler and Tom Sciacca gave brief talks on the Haynes Garrison House site and the Indian attacks during the King Philip’s War. Everyone was shuttled back to the Sudbury Town Hall by car — where we boarded another bus. Next stop was the Old Town Bridge where Tom Sciacca spoke about the river’s importance to early settlers and Native Americans. We drove on to the North Cemetery where Jane Sciacca spoke of Sudbury’s first settlement to, our first joint town center and monument to the first meetinghouse. As the bus traveled down Bow Road and Plain Road, Molly Faulkner pointed out significant places along the way. She also spoke of the first miller in town and the foods relied upon by the earliest settlers. At Wayland Town Center everyone stepped off the bus and Jane Sciacca spoke of the sites of the fourth and fifth (present) meeting houses—the new center of what would become East Sudbury in 1780 and Wayland in 1835.. We returned to the bus and traveled back to Sudbury Center driving by the home of abolitionist Lydia Maria Child. Once in Sudbury Center, Hal and Betsey Cutler and Stewart Hoover led the tour of the Revolutionary War Cemetery and the Loring Parsonage.  Sudbury Historical Society provided refreshments after the tour.