King's Chapel Burying Ground is a historic

graveyard A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite, graveyard, or a green space called a memorial park or memorial garden, is a place where the remains of many death, dead people are burial, buried or otherwise entombed. The word ''cemetery'' (from Greek ...

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

, 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 variou ...

, in

Boston, Massachusetts Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

. 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 that passes by 16 locations significant to the history of the United States. It winds from Boston Common in downtown Boston, to the Old North Church in the North End and the Bunker Hill Monument i ...

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

King's Chapel King's Chapel is an American independent Christian unitarian congregation affiliated with the Unitarian Universalist Association that is "unitarian Christian in theology, Anglican in worship, and congregational in governance." It is housed in ...

(whose first structure was built in 1688); it is not affiliated with 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. 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, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

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

headstone A gravestone or tombstone is a marker, usually stone, that is placed over a grave. A marker set at the head of the grave may be called a headstone. An especially old or elaborate stone slab may be called a funeral stele, stela, or slab. The u ...

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 ( ''tumbos'') or sepulchre () is a 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 called '' immurement'', alth ...

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 plac ...

, 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, merchant, slave trader * Francis Brinley, American landowner, government official, philanthropist and military officer * Mary Chilton, 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. A volunteer militia of the Commonwealth of Massachusett ...

, 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 an American soldier, and was one of several men who, in April 1775, alerted minutemen in Massachusetts of the approach of British regulars prior to the Battles of Lexington and Concor ...

(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, minister, abolitionism, abolitionist, and poet who led the Transcendentalism, Transcendentalist movement of th ...

) *

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 Ge ...

, first captain of the

* John Leverett, 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, Oxfo ...

, 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 for having a child out of wedlock. The character has been called "among the first and mos ...

's in ''

The Scarlet Letter ''The Scarlet Letter: A Romance'' is a historical novel by American author Nathaniel Hawthorne, published in 1850. Set in the Puritan Massachusetts Bay Colony during the years 1642 to 1649, the novel tells the story of Hester Prynne, who concei ...

'' * 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, first bookseller and book publisher in the British Colonies *

Samuel Waldo Samuel Waldo (August 7, 1696 – May 23, 1759) was an American merchant, land speculator, army officer and politician in the Province of Massachusetts Bay. Biography He was born in Boston, the son of Jonathan Waldo and Hannah Mason. In 1722, ...

, 1696-1759 * John Wilson Puritan theologian *

John Winthrop John Winthrop (January 12, 1588 – March 26, 1649) was an English Puritan lawyer and a leading figure in the founding of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, the second major settlement in New England following Plymouth Colony. Winthrop led the fir ...

, first Puritan governor of Massachusetts

Image gallery

File:King's Chapel Burying Ground aerial 2024.jpg, Looking north along

, showing the burying ground's location beside the chapel (2024) File:John Winthrop Tomb Boston.jpg,

's Tomb (died 1649) File:ComfortStarr.jpg, Tombstone of Dr. Comfort Starr and wife Elizabeth. File:Mary Chilton Winslow grave Boston.jpg, Mary Chilton 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, 2015 File:Kings Chapel 05 - Boston, MA.jpg, The Burying Ground in 2015

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1630 establishments in the Massachusetts Bay Colony Cemeteries in Boston Cemeteries established in the 17th century

History

Notable burials

Image gallery

See also

References

External links