Wayland Town Crier 9/18/11: ‘Wayland A-Z’: ‘Z’ is for ‘Zea mays (Indian corn)’. Indian corn has been grown in Wayland since Cakebread opened his mill…

Wayland Town Crier 8/28/11: 'Wayland A-Z': 'Y' is for 'yucca filamentosa'. There is no proof that this remarkable plant had made its way north before Native Americans came to fish and hunt in the Sudbury River Valley, but it may have. Yucca filamentosa is native to southeastern regions of North America – and there are more than 40 other Yucca species throughout the U.S. and Mexico – but it became well established in the north a very long time ago.

Wayland Town Crier 8/15/11: Wayland A-Z: X is for Xanthium strumarium. Probably everyone has arrived home from a hike at one time or another with prickly little fruits clinging to a piece of clothing, or has a dog or cat that arrived home with burs tangled in its fur. It could be cockleburs or burdock. Both plants have burs that hitchhike on clothing. The field by the parking lot at Lower Snake Brook off French Road in Cochituate is filled with burdock in fall and several fields at Greenways have plants. Cockleburs (or xanthium strumarium), native to North America, came to the Sudbury River Valley long before the Indians. The sandy well-drained soils of the region are very much to their liking. After setting deep roots, the light green to straw-colored stems grow 2 feet high and bear large heart-shaped leaves and tiny football-shaped hairy burs.

Wayland Town Crier 7/31/11: 'Wayland A-Z': 'W' is for 'Witchcraft'. Although witchcraft was never practiced in our town, one family connected with it in Salem Village came to reside here at the end of the 17th century. Samuel Parris was the minister of Salem Village, now Danvers, where, in his household and parish, the Salem Witchcraft episode began. Later, in 1716, he became one of Sudbury’s (Wayland) schoolmasters. Classes were held from December to March in his home, the Noyes-Parris house, the town’s oldest remaining dwelling.

Wayland Town Crier 1/10/11: 'Wayland A to Z': 'W' is for 'Wayland'!. In 1835, the town of East Sudbury voted to adopt the name "Wayland." Alfred S. Hudson drew from town records of that year some of the other names suggested – Clarence, Penrose, Fayette, Waybridge, Wadsworth, Elba, Waterville, Auburn, Keene and Lagrange. In her book "The Puritan Village Evolves," Helen Emery states, "Suffice it to say that no extant town record explains or even gives a clue to the reasons for the choice of the name. When in 1957 this writer undertook extensive research into the adoption of the name Wayland, no contemporary (1835) comment or explanation could be found." However, Judge Edward Mellen was a friend of the Rev. Francis Wayland, president of Brown University. It is suspected that in 1835, when East Sudbury proposed changing its name, Judge Mellen, who had long admired his friend, may have proposed the name "Wayland." Twelve years later, Dr. Wayland donated $500 to help establish a public library in town, perhaps because he had been previously honored.

Wayland Town Crier 12/28/10: ‘Wayland A to Z’: Second part of ‘Water Works’.

Wayland Town Crier 12/24/10: ‘Wayland A to Z’: ‘W’ is for ‘Water Works’. Thirty years before Wayland had a public water supply, Bostonians were drinking…