King's Chapel Burying Ground is a historic

graveyard 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 ...

Tremont Street Tremont Street is a major thoroughfare in Boston, Massachusetts. Tremont Street begins at Government Center in Boston's city center as a continuation of Cambridge Street, and forms the eastern edge of Boston Common. Continuing in a roughly so ...

, near its intersection with

School Street School Street is a short but significant street in the center of Boston, Massachusetts. It is so named for being the site of the first public school in the United States (the Boston Latin School, since relocated). The school operated at various ...

, in Boston, Massachusetts. Established in 1630, it is the oldest graveyard in the city and is a site on the

Freedom Trail The Freedom Trail is a path through Boston, Massachusetts, that passes by 16 locations significant to the history of the United States. Marked largely with brick, it winds from Boston Common in downtown Boston through the North End to the Bu ...

. Despite its name, the graveyard pre-dates the adjacent

King's Chapel King's Chapel is an American independent christianity, Christian unitarianism, unitarian congregation affiliated with the Unitarian Universalist Association that is "unitarian Christian in theology, anglicanism, Anglican in worship, and congrega ...

(whose first structure was built in 1688); it is not affiliated to that or any other church.Boston Parks and Recreation

History

King's Chapel Burying Ground was founded in 1630 as the first graveyard in the city of Boston. According to custom, the first interment was that of the land's original owner,

Isaac Johnson Isaac Johnson (November 1, 1803 – March 15, 1853) was a US politician and the 12th Governor of the state of Louisiana. Born on his father's plantation "Troy" near St. Francisville in West Feliciana Parish, Johnson was the fourth son of J ...

. It was Boston's only burial site for 30 years (1630–1660). After being unable to locate land elsewhere, in 1686 the newly established local

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

congregation was allotted land in the graveyard to build King's Chapel. Today there are 505

headstone A headstone, tombstone, or gravestone is a stele or marker, usually stone, that is placed over a grave. It is traditional for burials in the Christian, Jewish, and Muslim religions, among others. In most cases, it has the deceased's name, da ...

s and 59

footstone A footstone is a marker at the foot of a grave. The footstone lies opposite the headstone, which is usually the primary grave marker. As indicated, these markers are usually stone, though modern footstones are often made of concrete, or some me ...

s remaining from the more than one thousand people buried in the small space since its inception. There are also 78

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 ...

s, of which 36 have markers. This includes the large vault, built as a

charnel house A charnel house is a vault or building where human skeletal remains are stored. They are often built near churches for depositing bones that are unearthed while digging graves. The term can also be used more generally as a description of a pla ...

, which was converted into a tomb for children's remains in 1833. The earliest tombs are scattered among the grave markers. Most are in tabletop form.

Notable burials

Charles Apthorp Charles Apthorp (1698–1758) was a merchant and slave trader in Boston, colonial Massachusetts. Apthorp managed his import business from Merchants Row, and "in his day he was called the richest man in Boston." He also served in the employ of th ...

, merchant, slave trader * Francis Brinley, American landowner, government official, philanthropist and military officer *

Mary Chilton Mary Chilton (May 31, 1607 – May 16,1679) was a Pilgrim Fathers, Pilgrim and purportedly the first European woman to step ashore at Plymouth, Massachusetts. Biography Mary Chilton was baptized on May 31, 1607 in Sandwich, Kent, England and wa ...

, Plymouth Pilgrim, first European woman to step ashore in New England * Captain Roger Clapp, member of the

Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Massachusetts The Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Massachusetts is the oldest chartered military organization in North America and the third oldest chartered military organization in the world. Its charter was granted in March 1638 by the Great and Gen ...

, died February 2, 1691, formerly lived at DorchesterThe Clapp Memorial: Record of the Clapp Family in America, Ebenezer Clapp, David Clapp & Son, Boston, 1876
/ref> (Capt. Clapp's son Desire is also interred close by) * John Cotton, Puritan theologian * John Davenport, Puritan theologian *

William Dawes William Dawes Jr. (April 6, 1745 – February 25, 1799) was one of several men who in April 1775 alerted colonial minutemen in Massachusetts of the approach of British army troops prior to the Battles of Lexington and Concord at the outse ...

(disputed), American Revolution hero * William Emerson (father of

Ralph Waldo Emerson Ralph Waldo Emerson (May 25, 1803April 27, 1882), who went by his middle name Waldo, was an American essayist, lecturer, philosopher, abolitionist, and poet who led the transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century. He was seen as a champ ...

) *

Robert Keayne Robert Keayne (1595 – March 23, 1656) was a prominent public figure in 17th-century Boston, Massachusetts. He co-founded the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Massachusetts and served as speaker of the House of the Massachusetts Gene ...

, first captain of the

John Leverett John Leverett (baptized 7 July 1616 – 16 March 1678/79In the Julian calendar, then in use in England, the year began on 25 March. To avoid confusion with dates in the Gregorian calendar, then in use in other parts of Europe, dates between Ja ...

, colonial governor of Massachusetts *

John Oxenbridge John Oxenbridge (30 January 1608 – 28 December 1674) was an English Nonconformist divine, who emigrated to New England. Life He was born at Daventry, Northamptonshire, and was educated at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, and Magdalen Hall, Oxford ...

, Puritan theologian *

Elizabeth Pain Elizabeth Pain (c. 1652 – 26 November 1704), sometimes spelled Elizabeth Paine or Elisabeth Payne, was a settler in colonial Boston who was brought to trial after the death of her child. She was acquitted of the murder charge but found guilty of ...

, whose headstone is apocryphally claimed to be the inspiration for

Hester Prynne Hester Prynne is the protagonist of Nathaniel Hawthorne's 1850 novel ''The Scarlet Letter''. She is portrayed as a woman condemned by her Puritan neighbors. The character has been called "among the first and most important female protagonists in ...

's in ''

The Scarlet Letter ''The Scarlet Letter: A Romance'' is a work of historical fiction Historical fiction is a literary genre in which the plot takes place in a setting related to the past events, but is fictional. Although the term is commonly used as a synonym ...

'' * Major Thomas Savage, distinguished settler and soldier, son-in-law of Ann Hutchinson *

Frederic Tudor Frederic Tudor (September 4, 1783 – February 6, 1864) was an American businessman and merchant. Known as Boston's "Ice King", he was the founder of the Tudor Ice Company and a pioneer of the international ice trade in the early 19th century. H ...

, Boston's "Ice King" *

Hezekiah Usher Hezekiah Usher (1615 – May 14, 1676) of Boston was the first known bookseller in British America. The first books printed in the thirteen colonies were published and sold by Usher. Early life Usher was born in 1615. The medieval records ...

, first bookseller and book publisher in the British Colonies * John Wilson Puritan theologian *

John Winthrop John Winthrop (January 12, 1587/88 – March 26, 1649) was an English Puritan lawyer and one of the leading figures in founding the Massachusetts Bay Colony, the second major settlement in New England following Plymouth Colony. Winthrop led t ...

, first Puritan governor of Massachusetts

Image gallery

File:John Winthrop Tomb Boston.jpg,

's Tomb (died 1649) File:ComfortStarr.jpg, Tombstone of Dr.

Comfort Starr Comfort Starr (6 July 1589 – 2 January 1659) was a 17th-century English physician who emigrated to the Thirteen Colonies. He was one of the five founders of Harvard College. Early life Starr was born in Cranbrook, Kent, on 6 July 1589. He was ...

and wife Elizabeth. File:Mary Chilton Winslow grave Boston.jpg,

Winslow's burial spot in the Winslow Tomb (died c. 1679) File:Elizabeth-Pain-gravestone.jpg, Elizabeth Pain marker (died 1704) File:William Dawes tomb Boston.jpg, William Dawes tomb marker (died 1799) File:King's chapel, by John B. Heywood.jpg, King's Chapel (right) and Burying Ground (left), 19th century File:2884573163 KingsChapelBuryingGround Boston 1898.jpg, c. 1898, looking toward Tremont St. File:Kings Chapel 04 - Boston, MA.jpg, Ventilation shaft for

the T T is the twentieth letter of the Latin alphabet. (For the same letterform in the Cyrillic and Greek alphabets, see Te and Tau respectively). T may also refer to: Codes and units * T, Tera- as in one trillion * T, the symbol for "True" in lo ...

, 2015 File:Kings Chapel 05 - Boston, MA.jpg, The Burying Ground in 2015

References

External links

Interments (791) in KCBG
at

Find-a-Grave Find a Grave is a website that allows the public to search and add to an online database of cemetery records. It is owned by Ancestry.com. Its stated mission is "to help people from all over the world work together to find, record and present fi ...

{{Authority control 1630 establishments in Massachusetts Cemeteries in Boston

History

Notable burials

Image gallery

See also

References

External links