Haywardville

Haywardville is a ghost town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, remembered today as an early American industrial community that grew up along Spot Pond Brook in Stoneham. Its story begins with Nathaniel Hayward, who acquired remodeled shoe mills there from Elisha Converse — the founder of the Boston Rubber Shoe Company in Malden, once the largest rubber shoe manufacturer in the world. The mill complex straddled the brook and gradually expanded into a full industrial village that took on Hayward's name. Notably, it was at this site that Hayward and Charles Goodyear conducted work that put the location on the map of American invention.

Visitors today are essentially exploring a quiet historical footnote rather than a dramatic ruin. The setting along Spot Pond Brook provides a pleasant backdrop, and the site rewards those with an interest in early American industrial and manufacturing history. Access is straightforward given its location in Stoneham, and the area is walkable in fair-weather months, though winter conditions can make exploration less practical.