Medford Historical Society Papers, Volume 18.

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[p. 14] was the picturesque Wood's mill, with its low but hated and fated dam. On the left lay the broad acres of the Brooks estate, enclosed by walls of dark Medford granite, just behind which were spruce trees, as well as others of deciduous variety. Well back from the road and on the rising ground were the Mystic hickories, and farther on, but nearer the highway and approached by a curving drive bordered by spruces, was the farmhouse and great barn surmounted by a cupola with a dragon vane. This barn was then but ten years old, and replaced the one destroyed by an incendiary in 1860. Its basement was of Medford granite, each column and arched lintel cut from a single block. Just northward from the farmhouse was the granite arch, built fifty years before, over the canal. This was of Concord granite, of marked contrast to the somber walls that bordered the highway. Elms that once bordered the canal banks and shaded the streets later gave the place the name of Elms Farm.

Beyond this, among great oaks, and some pines as well as elms, was the mansion house, the home of Edward Brooks and his son Francis, but this was approached from Grove street, the ancient Cambridge road to Woburn. Fifty years before, Mr. Brooks' father had begun Medford's park system by setting trees and fencing the ‘Delta’ at Grove street. The stone walls beyond extended to a long line of spruces that bordered the railway.

At the right hand from Wear bridge lay a broad open plain that sloped gradually to the river, and beyond its center was a large house of cruciform shape and flat roof surmounted by a two-storied cupola, with roofs also flat. This was the home of George F. Spaulding, and his land was enclosed by a fence of not fifty-seven, but many varieties. A few sizable elms were before it, and these, with a few others scattered here and there, a willow or two, and a big dilapidated barn opposite the Brooks farmhouse, were the only objects to break the monotony of the scene. This plain was then called the Smith estate, and along the street for most of the way was also walled. After passing Grove street there were entrances in the walls, and cellar holes and remains of foundations could