History of the Circular Wing Cemetery in Wayne, Maine, Unearthed

The following excerpt is from an article in the October 4, 2009 edition of the Kennebec Journal about the locating of information that details the history of the historic Wing Cemetery in Wayne, Maine.

Wing Cemetery

For many in the Wing family, the final resting place is the Wing Cemetery on Pond Road, a graveyard built in concentric circles that emanate out from an obelisk at the center.

Until recently, however, the cemetery’s history was a glaring “unknown” in Wayne history.

Discovery

Ault and fellow Wayne Historical Society members had often wondered about the Pond Road cemetery.

The site was granted a spot on the National Register of Historic Places in 1991, but the register’s records carried the following notes: “history — unknown” and “architect — unknown.”

In 2002, Ault says, the Wayne Historical Society experienced a breakthrough.

A Livermore Falls woman dropped off a plastic garbage bag to historical society members. It was filled with letters, ledgers, deeds, bills and receipts dated from 1837 to 1864. The documents belonged to Llewellyn Wing, a descendant of one of the Wing brothers who settled Wayne, according to Ault’s account of her research in the historical society’s 2008 book “A Happy Abundance.”

From the crumpled and blemished 150-year-old documents, Ault and the historical society pieced together the history of a cemetery that underwent a major redesign in 1867, resulting in the concentric circle configuration.

Read the full article.

About Leland Meitzler

Leland K. Meitzler founded Heritage Quest in 1985, and has worked as Managing Editor of both Heritage Quest Magazine and The Genealogical Helper. He currently operates Family Roots Publishing Company (www.FamilyRootsPublishing.com), writes daily at GenealogyBlog.com, writes the weekly Genealogy Newsline, conducts the annual Salt Lake Christmas Tour to the Family History Library, and speaks nationally, having given over 2000 lectures since 1983.

One Reply to “History of the Circular Wing Cemetery in Wayne, Maine, Unearthed”

  1. My name is Lynda Martin and I am related to the Wings from the Wayne area. My grandmother Nellie A Wing and Aunt Berdina Wing. Trying to to get more history I know they were fro Raymond….I remember as a child gouing on many trips to Kingfield,Flaggstaff, Eustis,Wayne, Winthrop and noe find that it was all part of a search. Have a rough time finding history of Wintrop and had found out at one time Winthrop/Wayne where all one. My Aunt Evely Harvey who’s mother was Nellie just turned 90 and is giving me all her Owl collection. So I’m still on a who am I search……………

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