Town of Sudbury

The town was incorporated in 1639. At that time, the boundaries of Sudbury included (by 1653) all what is now of Wayland (which split off in 1780), and parts of Framingham, Marlborough, Stow and Maynard (the latter town having split off 1871). Nipmuc Indians lived in what is now Sudbury, including Tantamous, a medicine man, and his son Peter Jethro, who deeded a large parcel of land to Sudbury for settlement in 1684.

The original town center and meetinghouse were located near the Sudbury River at what is now known as Wayland’s North Cemetery. For the residents on the west side of the river, it was a treacherous passage in the winter and attendance at both worship services and Town Meetings was compulsory. In 1723 when the West Parish meetinghouse, served as a place for both worship and Town Meetings, was built in the current Town Center. After the split with Wayland, the new location grew to have houses, a school, and in 1846, a new Town House. Since then, the Sudbury Center Historic District has changed little.

Sudbury also contributed the most militia during King Philip’s War and was the site of the well-known attack on Sudbury. Ephraim Curtis was a successful leader of the militia of West Sudbury and would lend his name to the town’s junior high school. Sudbury militia participated in the Battle of Lexington and Concord, in 1775, where Sudbury members sniped on British Red Coats returning to Boston.

Courtesy of Wikipedia