Name/Title
1868 Grout-Heard House Photo by J.W. BlackEntry/Object ID
ph-83-37Description
The Grout-Heard House
Built around 1740, the Grout-Heard House is one of Wayland's oldest surviving residences. In April 1775, Minutemen heading to Concord Bridge passed this spot and the house is here to share the breadth of Wayland stories. Over the decades, the house expanded under different owners (millers, blacksmiths, shopkeepers) each leaving their mark on the structure.
This 1868 photograph shows the house as Sarah Heard would have known it. After her husband John Augustus Heard, a daguerreotype photographer, died in 1878, she negotiated to have the house moved to Old Sudbury Road to make way for a new town hall. Sarah stayed on, serving as Wayland's librarian from 1885 to 1901. In 1962, after the town hall was razed, the house was moved back to its original site, where it now serves as the Wayland Museum & Historical Society's museum and research center.
What does a house that witnessed a revolution mean in 2026? What architectural details, landscapes, and people stand out in the image? Who was welcomed inside in the past, and in the present? What does it mean to preserve a structure, and whose story does preservation serve? What can a snapshot of a home tell us?