Waltham was named after an English town and the name means "forest home." This was the original vision of Waltham: a country utopia. And even when industrialization began changing the town, it retained a reputation as a rural paradise with factories, which were viewed as a step up from farm work.
To the 19th century factory workers and Boston Brahmins, Waltham was an Arcadian Garden, with its streams and hills, thick forests and clean-cut meadows. The picture in the 19th century mind was canoeing on the peaceful Charles River with picnics on the banks, and glorious fall foliage and winter walks in pristine snow.
Waltham was a haven from Boston's crowds, noise and crime. The Brahmins fell in love with Waltham and made it their escape. Waltham's idyllic landscape is still evident in many places around the city - particularly around the river.
In the 19th century, Waltham was the country to Boston. It was at least an hour's ride from Boston by horse - or about as long as it takes a Bostonian to get upcountry to New Hampshire by car today.
Boston's merchant princes, the descendants of the Puritans, created the Boston we know today. It was once said: "And this is good ole Boston, home of the bean and the cod, Where the Cabots talk only to the Lowells and the Lowells talk only to God."
In the center of the Boston ruling class were the Lowells (related to the Cabots) who came to Waltham to start the Boston Manufacturing Company on Moody Street. This mill represented the beginning of the Puritan aristocracy's industrial power and wealth. The Lowells became one of the most renowned families in America. Francis Cabot Lowell II - for whom Lowell, Mass., was named - built a summer home near River Street.
By the Civil War, ten of the richest men in Massachusetts were residents of Waltham. Some of the Boston Brahmins with homes in Waltham were investors in the Lowell's Boston Manufacturing Company.
The Brahmin estates had some of the most fashionable architecture of the day and were luxuriously surrounded by acres of forest, fields and lawns. The Warren Estate, called Cedar Hill and now home to the Massachusetts Girl Scout Council, had a working farm and 148 acres. There are still dozens of modest Brahmin mansions standing, a legacy of another era when Waltham was a Boston Brahmin "Summer Place."
If you've ever wanted to take a trip back in time and see how the other half lived in Waltham's Edenic glory days of the mid 19th century, there are three Brahmin mansions open to the public. These three houses represent some of the finest architecture in the state.
There's the house of one of Massachusetts' first governors and senators, Christopher Gore. The Gore Estate shows what a fine European home of 200 years ago looks like. Gore copied the design while on a European tour.
On the other side of town, near Bentley College, are the Lyman Estate (The Vale) and the Robert Treat Paine house (Stonehurst). The Paine Estate is the work of one of America's greatest architects, H.H. Richardson, who designed America's finest church building - Trinity Church next to the John Hancock Tower in Boston. The interior of the Paine house is said to be Richardson's best inside job. The exterior shows Richardson's unique style that was copied by a multitude of architects across America in the late 19th century.
Frederick Law Olmsted laid out the grounds around Stonehurst. Olmsted, who designed Boston's Emerald Necklace and New York's Central Park, is considered the father of American landscape design.
These estates show a bygone era in Waltham history and the 19th century American vision of the heavenly mansion in the World To Come.
