The stone reads:

1630  1930

CAPTAIN THOMAS WHEELER HOUSE

SITE OF FIRST HOUSE IN ACTON, BUILT BY CAPTAIN THOMAS WHEELER IN 1668.  HE WAS COMMISSIONED TO KEEP FIFTY CATTLE FOR THE INHABITANTS AND AT NIGHT PROTECT THEM IN A YARD FROM WILD BEASTS.  HE WAS WOUNDED BY THE INDIANS IN KING PHILIP'S WAR.

MASSACHUSETTS BAY COLONY TERCENTENARY COMMISSION

According to Shattuck's history of Concord, in 1668, Thomas Wheeler leased 260 acres from the town of Concord on the condition that he keep and protect cattle for the good of the inhabitants, and he also agreed to build a shingled house with chimneys and a barn.  He apparently built a grist-mill, the first in Acton.  In 1675, with the rank of Captain, he was sent to Brookfield with his company to protect Captain Edward Hutchinson as he tried to negotiate a treaty with the Native Americans there.  In the confrontation that followed, Wheeler was shot and was rescued by his son (who was also shot).  He wrote a memoir of the Brookfield expedition that is available online and has been used in various later sources. Captain Thomas Wheeler died on December 10, 1976 according to Concord's vital records.

For more information, see:

• Bodge, George Madison.  Soldiers in King Philip’s War Being a Critical Account of That War.  Boston: Rockwell and Churchill Press: 1896, pages 102-113.

• Fletcher, James. Acton in History, Compiled for the Middlesex County History, Philadelphia: J. W. Lewis & Co., 1890, pages 239-240.

• Morison, Samuel Eliot.  Historical Markers Erected by Mass. Bay Colony Tercentenary Commission.  Boston: Commonwealth of Massachusetts, 1930.  (See page 9 for Acton's markers.)

• Shattuck, Lemuel.  History of the Town of Concord; Middlesex County, Massachusetts, From Its Earliest Settlement to 1832, and of the adjoining towns, Bedford, Acton, Lincoln, and Carlisle.  Boston: Russell, Odiorne, and Company, 1835., pages 43, 48.

• West Brookfield Historical Commission.  Captain Thomas Wheeler's Narrative.  Online transcription.

• Wheeler, Joseph C.  The Captain Thomas Wheeler Line.  Concord Free Public Library Special Collections.  Online revision to The Wheeler Families of Old Concord, Massachusetts, updated through 12 October 2016.