Greenwood Nursing and Rehabilitation Center

Wakefield

 

Greenwood Nursing and Rehab is proud to call Wakefield, Massachusetts home. Wakefield is a scenic town 10 miles north of Boston and conveniently located at the intersection of two major highways (I-93 and I-95/128). The town is easily accessible by commuter rail (MBTA) from Boston. Wakefield has preserved much of its historic New England appearance and is recognized for its strong community involvement, quality school system, thriving businesses, public library, and for beautiful Lake Quannapowitt, which plays host to countless outdoor festivals and benefit activities each year. Walkers and joggers circle Lake Quannapowitt's shores year round, and in the warmer months, boaters set sail from the nation's oldest inland yacht club. There is always plenty of activity in Wakefield, and we are proud to call it home.

 

The land we now know as Wakefield was first settled in 1638 by a small band of settlers from Lynn. The following year, they successfully petitioned the legislature for "an inland plantation," named Linn Village. In 1644, when seven families had settled and seven houses had been built, the Court ordered that the town might be incorporated. At that time, the village, located near the shores of the "Great Pond" (Lake Quannapowitt) took the name of Redding.

 

Redding was still a rural, isolated hamlet until the Boston and Maine Railroad came to town in 1845. The change it caused was dramatic, doubling the population from 1,600 to 3,200 in 15 years.

 

In 1851, Cyrus Wakefield came to town, establishing two new industries: the Boston and Maine Foundry Company and the phenomenally successful Wakefield rattan company, which popularized the use of wicker in the United States. The success of these ventures changed the character of South Reading to a manufacturing center within a comfortable commuting distance of Boston. In 1868, after Cyrus Wakefield offered to build the town a new Town Hall, the town of South Reading voted to change its name to Wakefield, Massachusetts.

 

The northeastern part of Wakefield was home to an amusement park, Pleasure Island, billed as "The Disneyland of the Northeast," but the park closed in 1969 after only ten years of operation due to unseasonably cold weather that brought diminishing returns among tourists. In April 1971, a fire burned down much of the amusement park. The area now consists of several office buildings and is called "Edgewater Park"