Shedd Road

Shedd Road is a short street of about 900 feet that runs east from Treble Cove Road, at the Route 3 interchange near River Street, toward the River Pines neighborhood west of the Centre. It takes its name from the Shedd family, who lived on Treble Cove Road near River Street.

The lane served an old farmhouse, shown on the Walling map of 1853 with the name "N. Abbott." In the later nineteenth century Warren Shedd lived nearby; he sold gravel to the town in 1885, pastured cattle and watched fires for it in the 1890s, and appears in the directories of 1901 and 1912 at "Treble Cove rd. n. River." The highway surveyor's report of 1900 lists gravel "near W. Shedd's," and the Shedd house long served the town as a landmark on Treble Cove Road: in 1934 the road was "tarred, sanded and honed from the Shedd residence to Boston Road," in 1939 it was tarred "from Bridge Street to Warren Shedd residence," and in 1941 brush was cut "from Nashua Road to Shedd residence." The Shedd name in Billerica goes back to Daniel Shed, one of the first settlers, but the records found do not show Warren Shedd's descent, and no record found says when the lane was first called Shedd Road.

The way was private until the 1970s, when a petition for its laying out came before the selectmen. The annual town meeting of 1970 voted money "for the purposes of survey engineering, and planning relative to laying out of Shedd Road, as petitioned before the Board of Selectmen." An article of 1971 to construct or accept Shedd Road was dismissed, but at the annual town meeting of March and April 1972 the town accepted Shedd Road, as laid out by the Board of Selectmen, under Article 40 together with a long list of other streets. A drainage complaint of 1971 placed it in "the River Pine area." The road was graded in the late 1970s and crack sealed in 2013. It is not among the roads of the 1831 map accepted by town meeting in 2016.

Historic Buildings

Name	Alternate	Address	Built	Moved	Demolished
N. Abbott House		5 Shedd Rd	1852		1899

References

1. Annual Report 1934: Treble Cove Road tarred, sanded and honed from the Shedd residence to Boston Road
2. Annual Report 1970: Article 41, survey, engineering and planning for the laying out of Shedd Road, as petitioned before the Selectmen
3. Annual Report 1971: Article 88, to construct or accept Shedd Road as a public way
4. Annual Report 1971: Article 88 dismissed
5. Annual Report 1972: Article 40 warrant, streets to be accepted as laid out by the Selectmen, including Shedd Road
6. Annual Report 1972: Article 40, the following streets were accepted, including Shedd Road
7. Annual Report 2013: Shedd Road crack sealed under the Roadway Management Program