Welcome to Reading

Reading is a town in Middlesex County about 12 miles north of Boston, at the northern edge of the I-93 and I-95/Route 128 interchange. It pairs a downtown built around the Common on Main Street, with Reading station on the MBTA Haverhill Line, with the Woburn Street Historic District, the Reading Town Forest along the Ipswich River, and the Bare Meadow Conservation Area.

About Reading

Settlers from Lynn petitioned for an inland plantation in 1639, and Reading was incorporated in 1644. Its first center grew up on the shore of Lake Quannapowitt, in what is now Wakefield. That original first parish became South Reading in 1812 and was renamed Wakefield in 1868, and North Reading became a separate town in 1853, leaving today's Reading in the section once known as Wood End. Western Reading land also helped form Wilmington in 1730.

The meeting house on the Common went up in 1769, and the Parker Tavern, built by 1694, is now a museum run by the Reading Antiquarian Society. The Andover-Medford Turnpike, today's Main Street and Route 28, opened in the early 1800s, and the railroad arrived in the 1840s. Reading made shoes, furniture, clocks, and organ pipes in the 1800s, and the town has run its own electric utility since 1894. Reading borders North Reading to the north, Lynnfield to the east, Wakefield to the southeast, Stoneham and Woburn to the south, and Wilmington to the west.

Getting Around

Reading station on Lincoln Street downtown is a stop on the MBTA Haverhill Line, with trains to North Station in Boston. MBTA bus route 137 runs from Reading Depot to Malden Center on the Orange Line. I-93 and I-95/Route 128 meet at the town's southern edge, Route 28 runs north and south through downtown as Main Street, and Route 129 crosses the town east to west.

Reading Real Estate

Reading's homes span more than three centuries. Center-chimney Colonials, most from the mid-1700s, survive alongside Federal houses, Greek Revival and Italianate homes near the center and on Salem, Woburn, and South Main streets, and Queen Anne, Second Empire, and Shingle Style houses from the late 1800s, many on the west side of town. Colonial Revival, Dutch Colonial, and bungalow homes followed in the early 1900s, and newer neighborhoods came later in the century.

Reading has dozens of National Register listings, including the Common and Woburn Street historic districts, the Parker Tavern, the Stephen Hall House, and the Walnut Street School. Downtown Reading centers on the Common at Main and Salem streets, with churches and civic buildings around it.

Living in Reading

The Reading Town Forest, created in 1930, covers almost 300 acres along the Ipswich River with trails for hiking, mountain biking, and cross-country skiing. The Bare Meadow Conservation Area has about 125 acres of forest, fields, and wetlands with trails and community gardens, and the Aberjona River Headwaters Trail runs through the Maillet Conservation Area.

The Reading Public Library is in the former Highland School on Middlesex Avenue, renovated and expanded in 2016, and the Quannapowitt Players perform in the old Walnut Street School. Birch Meadow Park and Memorial Park are town parks, and each September the Reading Fall Street Faire fills downtown.

Questions About Reading

Does Reading have a train station?

Yes. Reading station on Lincoln Street downtown is on the MBTA Haverhill Line, with trains to North Station in Boston.

Is Lake Quannapowitt in Reading?

No. Lake Quannapowitt is in Wakefield. Reading's first settlement was on its shore, but that area became South Reading in 1812 and is now Wakefield.

What kinds of homes are in Reading?

Reading has center-chimney Colonials from the 1700s, Victorian-era houses near downtown and on the west side, early 1900s Colonial Revival homes and bungalows, and later suburban neighborhoods.

To see homes for sale in Reading, browse the listings below. Thinking of buying or selling in Reading? Call (617) 848-9616 or get a free home valuation. Reading is part of our North of Boston guide.

Photos: Terageorge, CC BY-SA 3.0 and Swampyank, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.