Sited on the town common in Sterling, Massachusetts, the Mary Had a Little Lamb statue, commemorates the story of Mary Sawyer and the lamb that followed her to school, which may have inspired the well-known nursery rhyme, “Mary Had a Little Lamb.”

The bronze statue of a life-sized lamb sits on a rectangular base and was dedicated in 1991. It is inscribed with three plaques reading:

Front

BORN IN STERLING, MASS.
MARY ELIZABETH SAWYER
1806 – 1889
AND HER LITTLE LAMB

Side

“Mary had a little lamb,
Its fleece was white as snow,
And everywhere that Mary went,
The lamb was sure to go.”
John Roulstone

Rear

This memorial, commemorating the
poem, “Mary had a little lamb”,
Was presented to the Town of Sterling
by the STERLING HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
It was made possible by donations
from the “young-at-heart” everywhere
***
Dedicated May, 1991