Photo by John Gisis Photography

Wakefield was chartered in 1749 when the Masonian Proprietors conveyed 79 one hundred acre parcels to investors from Somersworth, Dover and Kittery. Many of these men never settled here but sold off smaller lots to individuals who did. According to the terms of the grant, 40 families had to be settled within five years of the end of the French & Indian War and seven years later a meeting house was to be provided and preaching maintained. Six acres was set aside on the shore of what is now Lovell Lake for the meetinghouse, a school, a training ground and a burial ground. In 1771 the frame for the first meetinghouse was raised on this parcel near the outlet of Lovewell’s Pond. There is a marker in what is now Lovell Lake Cemetery denoting this site. In this building, plans for the Revolutionary War were formulated, and voting for the democracy and for George Washington occurred.