The Central Burying Ground is a

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 ...

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 ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...

. It was established on

Boston Common The Boston Common (also known as the Common) is a public park in downtown Boston, Massachusetts. It is the oldest city park in the United States. Boston Common consists of of land bounded by Tremont Street (139 Tremont St.), Park Street, Beac ...

in 1756. It is located on Boylston Street between

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 ...

and Charles Street. Famous burials there include the artist Gilbert Stuart, painter of the famed portraits of

George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of ...

and

Martha Washington Martha Dandridge Custis Washington (June 21, 1731 — May 22, 1802) was the wife of George Washington, the first president of the United States. Although the title was not coined until after her death, Martha Washington served as the inaugural ...

, and the composer

William Billings William Billings (October 7, 1746 – September 26, 1800) is regarded as the first American choral composer and leading member of the First New England School. Life William Billings was born in Boston, Massachusetts. At the age of 14, t ...

, 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 The Boston Tea Party was an American political and mercantile protest by the Sons of Liberty in Boston, Massachusetts, on December 16, 1773. The target was the Tea Act of May 10, 1773, which allowed the British East India Company to sell t ...

and fought in the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

. When the

Tremont Street subway The Tremont Street subway in Boston's MBTA subway system is the oldest subway tunnel in North America and the third oldest still in use worldwide to exclusively use electric traction (after the City and South London Railway in 1890, and the Bud ...

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 775–1776 and those who died of wounds received at Bunker Hill"King's hand-book of Boston. 1889; p.240 * Caleb Davis (1738–1797) *

(1746–1800), composer * John Baptiste Julien (d.1805), proprietor of Julien's Restorator * Gilbert Stuart (1755–1828)Bacon. Book of Boston: fifty years' recollections of the New England metropolis. 1916. * Charles Sprague (1791–1875)

Image gallery

Image:ChowManderien CentralBuryingGround 2008 BostonCommon 2952913054.jpg, Marker of Chow Manderien, died 1798 (photo from 2008) Image:WilliamRaymond CentralBuryingGround 2004 BostonCommon 2961221800.jpg, Marker of William Raymond (2004 photo) Image:1814 Common Boston map Hales.png, Detail of 1814 map of Boston, showing Central Burying Ground Image:Subway bodies 1895 CentralBuryingGround BostonCommon 3078646808.jpg, "Here were interred the remains of persons found under the Boylston St. Mall during the digging of the subway, 1895" (photo from 2008) Image:2008 CentralBuryingGround BostonCommon 3078646570.jpg, View of Boylston St., 2008 Image:Boston Common Central Burying Ground.jpg, 2008 Image:2008 CentralBuryingGround BostonCommon 2957264193.jpg, 2008 Image:Boston_Commons_Cemetery.JPG, 2005 File:USA-Boston Common Central Burying Ground0.jpg, Central Burying Ground

References

External links

Google news archive
Articles about the Central Burying Ground {{Coord, 42.35276, -71.06597, display=title 1756 establishments in the Thirteen Colonies History of Boston Cemeteries in Boston Boston Theater District Boston Common

Notable burials

See also

Image gallery

References

Further reading

External links