Wayland Town Crier 1/28/10: 'A to Z': 'S' is for 'Shoe Industry'. Cochituate began its colonial history as farmland, as did the bulk of the area west of Boston. Natick, however, was designated a "praying village," where the clergy settled to convert Native Americans to Christianity. At first, Cochituate was not part of a particular settlement, its land having been granted to private owners as part of colonial politics and investment. As towns began to form, the settlers knew they must join a town – either Sudbury to the north or Natick to the south. Not wanting to join a town inhabited largely by Indians, they chose Sudbury.