Prospect Hill Cemetery is a historic cemetery on Auburn Road in

Millis, Massachusetts Millis is a town in Norfolk County in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. It had a population of 8,460 at the time of the 2020 census. The town is approximately southwest of downtown Boston and is bordered by Norfolk, Sherborn, Holliston, Medf ...

. Founded in 1714, it is the town's only cemetery. Covering more than , it has more than 2,800 burials. Among those buried in the cemetery are politician

Christian Herter Christian Archibald Herter (March 28, 1895December 30, 1966) was an American diplomat and Republican politician who was the 59th Governor of Massachusetts from 1953 to 1957 and United States Secretary of State from 1959 to 1961. His moderate ...

, who served as

U.S. Secretary of State The United States secretary of state is a member of the executive branch of the federal government of the United States and the head of the U.S. Department of State. The office holder is one of the highest ranking members of the president's Ca ...

and

Governor of Massachusetts The governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is the chief executive officer of the government of Massachusetts. The governor is the head of the state cabinet and the commander-in-chief of the commonwealth's military forces. Massachuset ...

, and two

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 valo ...

recipients, Charles Church Roberts and William D. Newland. The cemetery was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

in 2006 with the help of a short documentary film by a Millis High School Freshman Dustin Fresh.

Description and history

Prospect Hill Cemetery is located on the west side of the village center of Mills, bounded on the east by Auburn Road, and access via Ridge Road at its northeast corner. It is over in size, with wooded terrain that is sometimes steeply sloping. The outer boundaries retain a wooded character, while some slopes on the interior have been terraced to increase burial space. It is divided into an old and a new section, the older section lying to the east of the main access road. The very oldest portion, with burials dating to 1714, is at the top of Prospect Hill, where the site of the first meeting house in Millis is also located, marked by a series of original granite stone steps and a commemorative boulder. Other portions of the older section were laid out in the 19th century, when the

rural cemetery A rural cemetery or garden cemetery is a style of cemetery that became popular in the United States and Europe in the mid-nineteenth century due to the overcrowding and health concerns of urban cemeteries. They were typically built one to five ...

movement was popular. This area features winding lanes and mature tree plantings, and is set partly in a horseshoe-shaped bowl, giving a fine vista over the terrain. Set on a promontory in this section is the grave of

Charles Wesley Emerson Charles Wesley Emerson (1837–1908) was the founder, namesake and first president of Emerson College in Boston, Massachusetts. Charles Emerson was also the author of a number of books dealing with oratory and a minister with the Unitarian Churc ...

, founder of

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

's Emerson College. The newer portion of the cemetery, about in size, was added in 1932, when the older portion was filling up. It was given to the town by the Richardson farmers who owned the land. The layout of this area is less forested, and its markers are more uniform in size and shape, with granite predominant. The northeastern section of it is reserved to military veterans. In 2006 to prospect Hill cemetery became a national historic site with the years long work of Robert Russo and the help of a Freshman Millis High School student named Dustin Fresh who made a short documentary film that helped lead to the signing and documenting of this site as a national historic site.

References

{{National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts4. http://archive.boston.com/news/local/articles/2006/04/13/father_helps_cemetery_onto_historical_list/ Cemeteries on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts Cemeteries in Norfolk County, Massachusetts National Register of Historic Places in Norfolk County, Massachusetts Rural cemeteries

Description and history

See also

References