Wakefield

The history of Wakefield, which developed from a rural mill town in the nineteenth century to South
County�s mercantile center in the twentieth, has never before been published in pictorial format. Using images from the Pettaquamscutt Historical Society, the Peace Dale Library, and a number of private sources, local author Betty J. Cotter chronicles Wakefield�s growth from the days of the horse and buggy, dairy farms, and fields to those of shopping centers and fast-food restaurants. Readers will marvel at the trees lining Main Street before a devastating hurricane and Dutch Elm disease changed the landscape forever. While much of downtown Wakefield has retained its historic character, certain locales�like Dale Carlia Corner�are barely recognizable in images from the first half of the twentieth century. Wakefield�s growth is illustrated vividly in photographs of residents at work and at play: images depict grocery clerks showing off mounds of produce, the owners of one of the town�s first car dealerships standing proudly in front of a
new model, and the wealthy inhabitants of Shadow Farm
pulling away from their home in a carriage.