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Wakefield is a town in Carroll County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 5,201 at the 2020 census.[2]
The town includes the villages of Wakefield Corner (the original town center), East Wakefield, North Wakefield, Sanbornville, Union, Woodman and Province Lake. Wakefield Corner, popular with tourists, is a picturesque hilltop village of antique buildings. The state of Maine is on the eastern border of Wakefield.
Five named villages are within the town limits: Sanbornville, Wakefield village proper ("Wakefield Corner"), East Wakefield, North Wakefield and Union. Sanbornville, the primary settlement in the town, lies at the west end of Lovell Lake, next to the lake's outlet. The village is at the intersection of New Hampshire Routes 109 and 153. Route 16 bypasses the village to the west. Wakefield village occupies a hill just north of Sanbornville on Route 153. The village of Union occupies the southernmost corner of the town, at the intersection of Route 153 and Route 16 (at the northern end of the Spaulding Turnpike). East Wakefield is on Route 153, containing the land east of Pine River Pond and north to the Effingham town line. North Wakefield lies along Route 16 on the west side of Pine River Pond near the town line with Ossipee.
Adjacent municipalities
Effingham (north)
Parsonsfield, Maine (northeast)
Newfield, Maine (east)
Acton, Maine (east)
Milton (south)
Middleton (southwest)
Brookfield (west)
Wolfeboro (northwest)
Ossipee (northwest)
History
Initially a native settlement, Wakefield was attacked by John Lovewell during Father Rale's War ((1722–1725) (also known as Dummer’s War, Lovewell's War, Greylock's War, the Three Years War, the Wabanaki-New England War, or the Fourth Anglo-Abenaki War[3])
Settled later by colonists from Dover and Somersworth, the town was granted in 1749 by John Mason. It was called "East Town" before being incorporated as Wakefield in 1774 by Governor John Wentworth. Wakefield, in Yorkshire, England, is near Wentworth Castle, the home of the Wentworth ancestors.
The New Hampshire town developed as an important sledge and stage stop between the seacoast and the White Mountains. The Wakefield Inn, built in 1804 beside the principal trade route through Wakefield Corner, remains operating today.
Although the soil was considered "stubborn", farmers made it productive. Lumber became a chief product, and by 1859 there were five sawmills, five gristmills, and ten shingle, clapboard and planing mills. Shoemaking was another local industry.[3] When the Portsmouth, Great Falls and Conway Railroad arrived in 1871,[4] the center of Wakefield shifted from Wakefield Corner to Sanbornville, which today remains the retail district of town.[5]
Notable people
- Melissa Fifield (born 1992), racing driver
- Joshua G. Hall (1828–1898), US congressman
- Joseph Kenney (born 1960), member of the Executive Council of New Hampshire
- Harry Libbey (1843–1913), US congressman
- Freddy Meyer (born 1981), defenseman for four NHL teams
- William Nathaniel Rogers (1892–1945), US congressman
- George A. Wentworth (1835–1906), teacher and author of textbooks