Discover 11 hidden attractions, cool sights, and unusual things to do in Bedford (United States). Don't miss out on these must-see attractions: Job Lane House, Bacon-Gleason-Blodgett Homestead, and The First Parish in Bedford. Also, be sure to include Shawsheen Cemetery in your itinerary.
Below, you can find the list of the most amazing places you should visit in Bedford (Massachusetts).
Table of Contents
Job Lane House
Museum. The Job Lane House is a historic house at 295 North Road in Bedford, Massachusetts. It is a 2+1⁄2-story wood-frame structure, with a side-gable roof, clapboard siding, and a stone foundation. A leanto section to the rear gives the house a saltbox profile. The house was built c. 1713 by Job Lane, one of Bedford's earliest settlers, on land acquired by his grandfather in 1664 from Governor John Winthrop.
The house was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973. It is owned by the Town of Bedford and operated as an 18th-century historic house museum.
There are a number of planned activities that take place on the site each summer. Information on these, and other possible uses of the property, as well as considerable interesting historical and genealogical facts about the builder and subsequent owners, can be found on the site's web page: https:joblanefarmmuseum.org.[1]
Address: 295 North Rd, 01730-1015 Bedford (Bedford)
Bacon-Gleason-Blodgett Homestead
The Bacon-Gleason-Blodgett Homestead is a historic house at 118 Wilson Road in Bedford, Massachusetts. Built about 1740, it is the town's only surviving example of a brick-end colonial-period house, with long association to a nearby gristmill. The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on April 14, 1977, and included in the Wilson Mill-Old Burlington Road District on August 18, 2003.[2]
Address: 118 Wilson Road, Bedford (Bedford)
The First Parish in Bedford
Church
Address: 75 Great Rd, 01730-2704 Bedford (Bedford)
Shawsheen Cemetery
Cemetery in Bedford, Massachusetts. Shawsheen Cemetery is a historic cemetery on Great Road and Shawsheen Road in Bedford, Massachusetts. The cemetery is Bedford's second, opened in 1849 as its Old Burying Ground was filling up. The original ten acres, and a number of smaller additions between 1894 and 1959, were laid out in the rural cemetery style made fashionable in the 19th century. The total size of the cemetery is 44 acres, but not all of this has been developed.
The older sections of the cemetery were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2007.[3]
Farley-Hutchinson-Kimball House
Building in Bedford. The Farley-Hutchinson-Kimball House is a historic house and barn at 461A and 463 North Road in Bedford, Massachusetts. The property consists of a house whose oldest portions date to c. 1732, and an attached barn from the late 19th century that has been converted to residential use. The buildings were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2012.
The main block of the house, a 2+1⁄2-story five-bay timber-frame structure, was probably built c. 1732 by Christopher Page, for his daughter Joanna and son-in-law Benjamin Farley. It was on property Page subdivided to make the gift and probably already had a house on it. The newer building is surmised to have been built between 1728 and 1732. The Farleys did not stay long in the house, moving to Dunstable, Massachusetts (a part that is now Hollis, New Hampshire) in 1733, selling their farmstead to Benjamin Hutchinson. In the 19th century it passed through several hands, until it was purchased in 1911 by Charles and Edith Kimball, who established a poultry farm on the premises. In 1913 the Kimballs embarked on a major renovation and expansion project, giving the house its Colonial Revival character.
From about 1920 into the 1930s the Kimballs also made and sold candy on the premises, adapting the 19th century barn for those purposes. In 1946 the Kimballs converted to barn to two residential apartments. The only major later addition to the property was a c. 1979 kitchen addition to the house, which was executed in a historically sensitive way.[4]
Address: 463 North Road, Bedford (Bedford)
Christopher Page House
Historical place in Bedford, Massachusetts. The Christopher Page House is a historic First Period house in Bedford, Massachusetts. The 2+1⁄2 story timber-frame house was built c. 1730, exhibiting construction techniques that are transitional between First Period and Georgian practice. The main block is five bays wide with a large central chimney, and an added leanto section. A leanto dormer was added in the late 19th century, as was the Colonial Revival front porch. The interior and exterior both received stylistic treatment during the Federal period.
The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1990.[5]
David Lane House
The David Lane House is a historic house at 137 North Road in Bedford, Massachusetts. The main block of this 1+1⁄2 story wood frame Cape style house was built in the 1780s by David Lane, who was a fifer in the Bedford minute company at the Battles of Lexington and Concord in 1775. There is architectural evidence suggesting that part of the house was built by his grandfather, Job Lane, about 1720. The house has high-quality interior woodwork dating to the time of the house's construction.
The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.[6]
Bedford Depot
Historical landmark in Bedford, Massachusetts. Bedford Depot is a historic railroad depot in Bedford, Massachusetts, United States. Bedford was the junction of the Reformatory Branch and the Lexington Branch of the Boston and Maine Railroad; it saw passenger service until 1977 as the stub of the Lexington Branch. The original 1874 depot and 1877 freight house are listed on the National Register of Historic Places; along with a restored Budd Rail Diesel Car, they form the centerpieces of the Bedford Depot Park.[7]
Nathaniel Page House
The Nathaniel Page House is a historic colonial First Period house in Bedford, Massachusetts. It was originally thought to date from 1687, but an investigation conducted by the "This Old House" television program placed the actual date of construction at about 1720. The house is a 2+1⁄2-story wood-frame structure, five bays wide, with a side-gable roof, clapboard siding, and a central chimney. A single-story ell extends to the left side of the main block.
The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.[8]
Bedford Center Historic District
The Bedford Center Historic District encompasses the historic heart of the town of Bedford, Massachusetts. It extends along Great Road between Bacon and Concord Roads, and includes primarily residential areas on adjacent side streets. The area includes the town's main civic buildings, its first cemetery, and a diverse array of residential architecture spanning more than two centuries. The district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1977; its boundaries were adjusted in 2014 and its period of significance extended.[9]
Wilson Mill-Old Burlington Road District
The Wilson Mill—Old Burlington Road District encompasses a historic mill site and several adjacent historic houses in Bedford, Massachusetts. It is located southwest of the junction of Massachusetts Route 62 and United States Route 3, and includes a mill pond and dam, a stone-lined stream channel, foundations of a 17th-century gristmill, two bridges, and three houses. The mill site is located just off Old Burlington Road, west of its crossing of Vine Brook. Just south of Old Burlington Road lies the mill pond and dam. The oldest of the three houses in the district is the Bacon-Gleason-Blodgett Homestead, built c. 1740 and home to several of the mill's owners. The other two houses, at 130 and 138 Old Burlington Road, were built around the turn of the 20th century, and are associated with the Hunt family, longtime landowners in the area.
The district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2003.[10]