Old Baptist Cemetery

Old Baptist Cemetery is a historic cemetery in Yarmouth, Maine, United States.[1][2] Dating to the late 17th century, it stands on Hillside Street (formerly named Brimstone Hill or Byram's Hill), adjoining the North Yarmouth and Freeport Baptist Meetinghouse, a National Register of Historic Places property,[3] on its southern side. It is the only burial site in the town attached to an extant church building.

Old Baptist Cemetery
A 2022 view of the cemetery, looking northwest from just inside the gates
Details
Establishedlate 17th century
Location
Hillside Street
Yarmouth, Maine
CountryUnited States
Coordinates43.8033°N 70.1967°W / 43.8033; -70.1967
Owned byTown of Yarmouth
Find a GraveOld Baptist Cemetery

The meetinghouse was completed in 1796, but there are burials in the cemetery dating to the late 17th century and early 18th century. The earliest discovered burial is that of Jacob Mitchell Sr. (1643–1675).[2]

In 2011, the previously unmarked 1870 grave site of Private William Johnson was formally dedicated at the cemetery.[4] Johnson, of Saco, Maine, served in the 1st Regiment Maine Cavalry. The location of his grave remained unknown until a descendant of his, 91-year-old Dick Johnson, of McMinnville, Oregon, discovered via research that his great-grandfather was a Civil War veteran.[5]

In October 2021, the gravestone of Mary Pratt (wife of David), who died in 1810, was found in the middle of Methodist Road in Westbrook, Maine, and was turned over to the local police department. It had been removed from Old Baptist Cemetery.[6]

Hill gravestones

Immediately inside the gate, on the left-hand side, are a billboard-style trio of gravestones (of members of the Hill family) – one of two in the cemetery, but only around forty are known to have been found in Maine.[7]

  • The Hill gravestones, mounted in a billboard style
    The Hill gravestones, mounted in a billboard style

Notable burials

References
  1. Cemeteries in Yarmouth – Town of Yarmouth official website
  2. Ancient North Yarmouth and Yarmouth, Maine 1636-1936: A History, William Hutchison Rowe (1937)
  3. "NRHP nomination for North Yarmouth and Freeport Baptist Meetinghouse". National Park Service. Retrieved 2016-01-23.
  4. "Yarmouth honors Civil War soldier" – Portland Press Herald, July 7, 2011
  5. :Civil War veteran’s Yarmouth grave now marked" – Bangor Daily News, July 3, 2011
  6. "Gravestone dated 1840 found in middle of Westbrook street" – Portland Press Herald, October 3, 2021
  7. "Cemetery talk and walk with Ron Romano at Yarmouth Baptist Cemetery" - Bangor Daily News, September 2019
  8. "NRHP nomination for S.C. Blanchard House". National Park Service. Retrieved 2015-10-17.
  9. Images of America: Yarmouth, Alan M. Hall (Arcadia, 2002), p.24
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