The Assonet Burying Ground is the main public

cemetery A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite or graveyard is a place where the remains of dead people are buried or otherwise interred. The word ''cemetery'' (from Greek , "sleeping place") implies that the land is specifically designated as a buri ...

for

Freetown, Massachusetts Freetown is a town in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 9,206 at the 2020 census. Freetown is one of the oldest communities in the United States, having been settled by the Pilgrims and their descendants in the la ...

. Prior to becoming a cemetery, the land occupied by the Assonet Burying Ground was used as a military musterfield for the

southeastern Massachusetts Southeastern Massachusetts consists of those portions of Massachusetts located along Buzzards Bay, including the cities of New Bedford and Fall River and their respective suburbs. Despite the location of Cape Cod and the islands to its south, ...

area.Deane, Maj. John M. ''A History of the Town of Freetown, Massachusetts: Record and Tradition''. Assonet: Assonet Village Improvement Society, 1902. The cemetery is , the first having been acquired by the town from Benedict and Thomas Andros in 1864, despite burials dating back to the late 18th century. The remaining were acquired from the

heir Inheritance is the practice of receiving private property, titles, debts, entitlements, privileges, rights, and obligations upon the death of an individual. The rules of inheritance differ among societies and have changed over time. Officiall ...

s of Wallace T. Reynolds in 1956. Remains from two other cemeteries were moved to the Assonet Burying Ground, one cemetery having been disestablished, and the other having been reduced in size. The entrance to the cemetery is on South Main Street, marked by two stone

gate A gate or gateway is a point of entry to or from a space enclosed by walls. The word derived from old Norse "gat" meaning road or path; But other terms include ''yett and port''. The concept originally referred to the gap or hole in the wall ...

s erected sometime prior to 1954. Near the entrance to the main cemetery is an abandoned receiving

tomb A tomb ( grc-gre, τύμβος ''tumbos'') is a :wikt:repository, repository for the remains of the dead. It is generally any structurally enclosed interment space or burial chamber, of varying sizes. Placing a corpse into a tomb can be ...

, built of

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies undergro ...

into the side of an earthen mound in 1892. East of the receiving tomb is a

brick A brick is a type of block used to build walls, pavements and other elements in masonry construction. Properly, the term ''brick'' denotes a block composed of dried clay, but is now also used informally to denote other chemically cured cons ...

mausoleum A mausoleum is an external free-standing building constructed as a monument enclosing the interment space or burial chamber of a deceased person or people. A mausoleum without the person's remains is called a cenotaph. A mausoleum may be consid ...

, and on the northern edge of the cemetery is a tool

shed A shed is typically a simple, single-story roofed structure that is used for hobbies, or as a workshop in a back garden or on an allotment. Sheds vary considerably in their size and complexity of construction, from simple open-sided ones de ...

built prior to 1910. The cemetery is bounded on the north by the

Assonet River The Assonet River is located in Bristol County, Massachusetts. It flows U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed April 1, 2011 in a westerly direction through Freetown, Massachu ...

, on the south by a residential subdivision, on the east by MA 24, and on the west by MA 79. The cemetery is at the southern extreme of the Assonet Historic District.

Veterans Section

A special section of the cemetery for veterans, spouses, and dependents opened in 2012.

Notable burials

* Maj. John M. Deane, recipient of the

Medal of Honor The Medal of Honor (MOH) is the United States Armed Forces' highest military decoration and is awarded to recognize American soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen, guardians and coast guardsmen who have distinguished themselves by acts of valor. ...

for action during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

* Preston Hubbard, bass player * Mrs. Damaris Jones, wife of Elder Abner Jones * Gen.

Ebenezer W. Peirce Ebenezer Weaver Peirce (April 10, 1822 – August 14, 1902), was a brigadier general in the Massachusetts militia, serving as 90–day volunteers in the Union Army in the opening months of the American Civil War, and a colonel of the 29th ...

, Civil War officer, local historian, and author *

Tec White James White (21 August 1899 – August 1983), also known as Jimmy White or Tec White, is a Scottish former footballer who spent most of his career playing for Fall River Marksmen in the American Soccer League. He was born in Airdrie, North Lana ...

, professional soccer player,

Fall River Marksmen Fall River Marksmen was an American soccer club based in Fall River, Massachusetts. They originally played as Fall River United before becoming known as the Marksmen after their owner, Sam Mark. During the 1920s and early 1930s they were one of t ...

and

New Bedford Whalers New Bedford Whalers was the name of three American soccer teams based in New Bedford, Massachusetts. The first Whalers played in the Southern New England Soccer League between 1914 and 1918. The second Whalers played in the American Soccer League ...

References

{{coord, 41.7898, -71.0747, display=title 18th-century establishments in Massachusetts Freetown, Massachusetts Cemeteries in Bristol County, Massachusetts