The Wayside

The Wayside dates to the closing years of the 17th Century (1600). A colonial farmhouse at the start of the American Revolution in 1775, and home to Samuel Whitney, Muster Master of the Concord Minute Men as well as at least two enslaved Africans. The Alcott family home from 1845 to 1848; it sheltered at least one freedom seeker that can be documented. Mrs. Alcott’s family included Judge Samuel Sewall, who wrote an early anti-slavery tract, “The Selling of Joseph” in 1700, and her brother, Samuel J. May, was a founder of The American Anti-Slavery Society and a conductor on the Underground Railroad in Syracuse, New York. Later, The Wayside was the only home Nathaniel Hawthorne and his family ever owned and was home to publisher Daniel Lothrop and his wife, Harriet M. Lothrop, better known as Margaret Sidney, who wrote The Five Little Peppers and How They Grew.

Legend. A long-standing local legend holds that The Wayside is haunted. The Haunted Guide carries it as local legend, not as record.

Sources: Wikidata Q3523325, Wikipedia: The Wayside, NRHP #80000356, National Register of Historic Places (NPS).

The Haunted Guide is not responsible for outdated information. Hours, prices, access and events change; confirm with the venue before you travel. Reported hauntings are folklore and visitor accounts, not established fact.