History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts - citizen hylbom blog

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" Together we have gathered now
Upon the fair lake-side, —
Old men and gray, with wrinkled brow,
And youthful forms of pride, —
We've come with pleasing thoughts, though grave,
This spot to consecrate, —
To bid the flowers their perfumes wave
Above death's iron gate
" And here we '11 build for those we love
A tomb beneath the trees;
That nature's song may swell above
In sweetest melodies ; —
For friends aud for ourselves a tomb.
When we are earth's no more.
When arc exchanged its joys aud gloom
For brighter, fadeless shore.
" And here, as oft in coming years
Our children's children tread,
Glad thoughts will rise to quell their fears.
Among the silent dead.
O hallowed spot I A cherished grave
Beneath the flowery sod !
1\\cform shall rest by sparkling wave,
Tlie spirit with its God !
The cemetery has since been greatly enlarged and
beautified, and is mournfully attractive by the
quiet loveliness of its natural scenery, by its mar-
ble shrines and graceful memorials.
The Jewish Cemetery, a smaller enclosure, also
on the margin of the beautiful lake, and very near
Lakeside Cemetery, is numerously occupied w-ith
graves and sepulchres, and is in general use by the
Israelites of Boston.
Wakefield is signally rich in traces of the
aborigines of America. They evidently found
their favorite camping-grounds in this pleasant
region, and large and valuable collections have
been made of arrow-heads, lance-heads, pestles,
knives, hatchets, bone implements, remnants of
pottery, etc., the reward of patient and careful
search on this prehistoric ground.
The public buildings of Wakefield are deserving
of notice. The town-hall is an elegant and imposing
structure of brick, and Wakefield's Block
and Beal's Block, in near proximity , are metro-
politan in size and style and finish. The Baptist
Church and high-school building are elegant and
graceful specimens of exterior architecture.
There are many private residences in the town
worthy of special mention, but the costly and
elegant mansion-house on the westerly side of
Main Street, erected by the late Mr. Wakefield,
stands pre-eminent. This beautiful homestead is
now owned and occupied, in fitting sequence, by
Cyrus Wakefield, Esq., a nephew of the late pro-
WAKEFIELD. 405
prietor, and a gentleman of higii character and
liberal instincts.
The location of AVakefield is of exceptional
beauty. From her hills scenery of rare loveliness
delights the artistic eye. This spacious Common,
with its stately waving elms, and the recent addition
of the new Park sweeping gracefully down
to the soutliern shores of Lake Quannapowitt, are
attractive features in a pleasing landscape. Lake
Quannapowitt, with an area of two hundred and
sixty-four acres, just north of the central village,
and Crystal Lake, with a surface of forty-eight
acres on the south, add much to the charms of
nature's face, and furnish the convenient means
of an ample and healthful supply of pure water for
domestic and other purposes. The water of Crys-
tal LaTce is of unusual purity, as shown by recent
analysis, which indicates only five ])arts of organic
and inorganic residue in one hundred thousand parts
of the water, and showing a superiority in quality
over nearly every other utilized source of watersupply
for cities and towns in the country. The
Quannapowitt Water Company has been incor-
porated in order to secure to the inhabitants of the
town the priceless boon of a pure and abundant
water-supply.
Saugus River has its source in Lake Quannapowitt,
and, forming the boundary between Wake-
field and Lynnfield, pursues its serpentine course
to the sea.
Wakefield has railway facilities afforded by three
railroads passing through its centre, — the Boston
and ILaine, the South Reading Branch, and the
Danvers Railroad, providing direct and frequent
communication with Boston, Salem, Ne\vburyj)ort,
Lowell, Lawrence, Haverhill, Portland, Me., Jlan-
chester and Concord, N. H. There are six pas-
senger depots in the town. Li 1848 the whole
number of passengers during the year, for all
points, was 45,574, or an average of 146 daily
passengers. In 1873 the number of Boston pas-
sengers alone was 320,172, or an average of 1,025
daily passengers. In 1848 the whole amount of
passenger and freight receipts at South Read-
ing was $12,532. In 1873 the Boston passen-
gers to and from Wakefield furnished the sum of
§53,186.
Wakefield is mainly a manufacturing town. First
among her industries should be named the rattanworks
of the Wakefield Rattan Company. This
business originated in small beginnings by the
late Cyrus Wakefield in 1856 ; under the influence