Mary Had A Little Lamb was first published as an original poem by Sarah Josepha Hale in 1830, and was inspired by an actual incident.

As a girl, Mary Tyler (née Sawyer) kept a pet lamb, which she took to school one day at the suggestion of her brother.

There are two competing theories on the origin of the poem. One holds that John Roulstone of Sterling, Mass., following the then custom and studying with his uncle, the Rev Lemuel Capen, wrote the first four lines but that the final 12, more moralistic and less childlike than the first, were composed by Sarah Hale; the other is that Hale was responsible for the entire poem.

Mary Sawyer's house in Sterling was destroyed by arson in 2...

Mary Had A Little Lamb was first published as an original poem by Sarah Josepha Hale in 1830, and was inspired by an actual incident.

As a girl, Mary Tyler (née Sawyer) kept a pet lamb, which she took to school one day at the suggestion of her brother.

There are two competing theories on the origin of the poem. One holds that John Roulstone of Sterling, Mass., following the then custom and studying with his uncle, the Rev Lemuel Capen, wrote the first four lines but that the final 12, more moralistic and less childlike than the first, were composed by Sarah Hale; the other is that Hale was responsible for the entire poem.

Mary Sawyer's house in Sterling was destroyed by arson in 2007. A statue representing Mary's Little Lamb stands in the town centre. The Redstone School (built 1798), was later purchased by Henry Ford and relocated to Sudbury, Mass. It now sits on the grounds of Longfellow's Wayside Inn.