Central Burying Ground, Boston
The Central Burying Ground is a cemetery in Boston, Massachusetts. It was established on Boston Common in 1756. It is located on Boylston Street between Tremont Street and Charles Street.
Famous burials there include the artist Gilbert Stuart, painter of the famed portraits of George Washington and Martha Washington, and the composer William Billings, who wrote the famous colonial hymn "Chester." Also buried there are Samuel Sprague and his son, Charles Sprague, one of America's earliest poets. Samuel Sprague was a participant in the Boston Tea Party and fought in the American Revolutionary War.
When the Tremont Street subway was under construction in the 1890s, burials were discovered in the area abutting the cemetery. These were reinterred in a mass grave within the bounds of the burying ground.
Notable burials
- "British soldiers who died of disease during the occupation of the city [1775–1776], and those who died of wounds received at Bunker Hill"[1]
- Caleb Davis (1738–1797)[2]
- William Billings (1746–1800), composer[3]
- John Baptiste Julien (d.1805), proprietor of Julien's Restorator[1]
- Gilbert Stuart (1755–1828)[4]
- Charles Sprague (1791–1875)
Image gallery
Marker of Chow Manderien, died 1798 (photo from 2008)
Marker of William Raymond (2004 photo)
Detail of 1814 map of Boston, showing Central Burying Ground
"Here were interred the remains of persons found under the Boylston St. Mall during the digging of the subway, 1895" (photo from 2008)
View of Boylston St., 2008
2008
2008
2005
Central Burying Ground
References
- King's hand-book of Boston. 1889; p.240
- Ogden Codman, comp. Gravestone inscriptions and records of tomb burials in the Central burying ground, Boston Common: and inscriptions in the South burying ground, Boston. The Essex Institute, 1917
- City of Boston. "Central Burying Central". Retrieved May 9, 2010.
- Bacon. Book of Boston: fifty years' recollections of the New England metropolis. 1916.
Further reading
- Nathaniel Bradstreet Shurtleff. "Central Burying-Ground." A topographical and historical description of Boston, Part 1, 2nd ed. Boston: Printed by request of the City Council, 1871.
External links
- Official website – City of Boston
- Central Burying Ground, Boston at Find a Grave
- Google news archive. Articles about the Central Burying Ground