the power of the Sudbury River falls. For some 200 years the area was
known as Stone's End as that family came to dominate this part of town.In 1822 the Stone family's interest in the falls were bought out by a group that formed the Saxon Factory Company, intending to make wool products from the Saxon breed of sheep. By 1827 town meeting was referring to the area as "the Saxon Factory Village" and before long this became shortened to just Saxonville.
In later years the Saxonville Mills, operated under Michael H. Simpson,
enjoyed growth and success. The whole area built up around the mills
with housing and shops for mill workers. The original mill buildings were
mostly wiped out in a fire in November 1883, the only exception being
Building 7--one of the few brick structures. It still stands near the
Athenaeum and next to the mill buildings that were quickly constructed to
replace the originals.
If you'd like to learn more about Saxonville and Framingham history, get yourself a copy of "Framingham An American Town", written by town historian Stephen W. Herring and available at the Framingham Historical Society.
To solve the Historic Saxonville Cache and be able to declare "I Discovered Saxonville" you will have to explore some Saxonville history yourself. The listed cache coordinates are only a convenient parking lot, not the cache itself. To find the cache you will have to construct the coordinates by finding numbers on some of the buildings and sites on the Saxonville Historic Walking Tour that was created by the Friends Of Saxonville.
Print out the worksheet below, find the numbers, fill in the coordinates and then you are on your way to the cache. Good luck and have fun exploring Saxonville!
Starting coordinates (parking lot):
71° 23.963W
Exploring Saxonville
A number of different ways of exploring Saxonville are provided. The first is the historical walk provided by the Friends of Saxonville. Using this you can easily find all the buildings on the worksheet. The brochure provided includes interesting historical details on each location on the tour.
For some alternate methods of finding your way around, an 1889 atlas map and an 1882 3D aerial view are provided. Also provided is a detailed map of the Saxonville nature trail.
Historic Saxonville Cache Page At Geocaching.com
Resources
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Friends of Saxonville A group dedicated to educating the public about the special identity of Saxonville and preserving its history. |
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Framingham Historical Society An organization that collects, preserves and exhibits objects related to the history of Framingham. |
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Cochituate Rail Trail A trail under development that follows the route of the Saxonville branch railroad. |
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Geocaching.com |