Eastern Cemetery

Last updated
Eastern Cemetery
Eastern Cemetery, Portland.JPG
Monument to Sgt. Alonzo P. Stinson, 5th Maine Volunteers, killed in action July 21, 1861
USA Maine location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Usa edcp location map.svg
Red pog.svg
LocationCongress St., corner Mountfort St., Portland, Maine
Coordinates 43°39′46″N70°15′3″W / 43.66278°N 70.25083°W / 43.66278; -70.25083
Area5.3 acres (2.1 ha)
Built1668
NRHP reference No. 73000112 [1]
Added to NRHPDecember 12, 1973

Eastern Cemetery is a historic cemetery at the intersection of Washington Avenue and Congress Street in the Munjoy Hill neighborhood of Portland, Maine. Established in 1668, it is the city's oldest historic site. [2] It has more than 4,000 marked graves with an estimated further 3,000 burials in unmarked plots. [3] It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973. [1]

Contents

The cemetery is owned by the city of Portland. The volunteer nonprofit group Spirits Alive, founded in 2006, is dedicated to the protection and preservation of the cemetery through conservation and education. [4] Spirits Alive offers daily walking tours from June through mid-October. [5]

Description and history

Eastern Cemetery is located on the northeastern part of the Portland peninsula, at the base of Munjoy Hill. It occupies a roughly triangular, seven-acre lot bounded on the north by Congress Street, the east by Mountfort Street, and the south by Federal Street. The sloping lot is only at street level along Congress and part of Mountfort Street, the rest supported by a stone retaining wall. Its street-facing sides are ringed by iron fencing, with the main entrance gates on Congress Street. The landscape is mostly grass, with a few widely spaced trees.

Eastern Cemetery was comprehensively surveyed by City Engineer William Goodwin in 1890. Goodwin's map divided the cemetery into 12 sections, A to L. Every individual grave marker, monument or tomb—a total of 4,189—was assigned a number within one of these sections. [6]

The only building in the cemetery is the Dead House, a small shed that stands immediately inside the front gate. Built in 1871 and restored 2014–2016, the Dead House protects the entrance to the City Receiving Tomb. The 21-foot-long underground tomb, built in 1849, had space for temporary storage of up to 80 coffins during the winter months. Use of the tomb was discontinued after about 40 years. [7]

The earliest burials were clustered in what is now Section E near a tall Norway pine. Successive replacement trees were planted after the original tree blew down; the current white pine was planted in 1969. [7]

The size of the cemetery was approximately doubled in 1795, when the city purchased a plot of land along Congress Street from the Reverend Thomas Smith. The land, now Sections A and B, had been used as a town common; at one time a gallows and stocks stood there.

Eighty-six underground family tombs were constructed on the new land. Laid out in four rows, the tombs could house up to thirty coffins each. [2]

Certain sections along the perimeter of the cemetery were reserved for minority populations. As the cemetery expanded in the late 18th century, graves of Black residents were segregated in Section L, in what was then the back edge of the property. A second area designated for graves of Black people was in use by 1825. There are also sections designated for Quakers, Catholics, Black Catholics and "Strangers" (that is, paupers and those without known family). Several of these sections, which do not appear on historical maps of the cemetery, were discovered by the historian Ron Romano. [7]

As Eastern Cemetery became crowded beyond capacity, the city opened Western Cemetery in 1829 and, twenty-five years later, Evergreen Cemetery. In 1858, burials at Eastern were officially suspended except for those in existing family plots or tombs. [6]

The retaining walls along Mountfort and Federal Streets date from 1854 and 1868, respectively. [3] The iron and granite fence along Congress Street was erected in 1916, having been moved from Portland High School.

Mary Green's headstone

The grave marker with the earliest death date belongs to Mistress Mary Green, who died on May 23, 1717, at the age of 54. She was the sister-in-law of Major Samuel Moody, who led the resettlement of Falmouth Neck (now Portland) in 1716. No markers have survived from earlier burials dating back to the 1660s. [7]

The captains' graves

The graves of Lt. William Ward Burrows II, US Navy (1785–1813), and Commander Samuel Blyth, Royal Navy (1783–1813), have a prominent place on high ground in the cemetery. Both men were killed when the ships they commanded met in battle off the Maine coast during the War of 1812. The action ended with the capture of HMS Boxer by the USS Enterprise. The two captains' bodies were taken to Portland, where they were buried side by side following a grand funeral procession through the city. A third grave was placed next to the captains two years later after Lt. Kervin Waters, a young American officer mortally wounded in the battle, succumbed to his injuries. [8]

Notable burials

Monuments

Gravestones by Bartlett Adams

Bartlett Adams; grave marker for his son and namesake. Grave marker of Bartlett Adams, Jr.jpg
Bartlett Adams; grave marker for his son and namesake.

Bartlett Adams (1776–1828) operated the first stone-cutting shop in Portland. Located just a few blocks from Eastern Cemetery, his shop produced about 700 gravestones between 1800 and 1828 that can be found in the cemetery today. One of the most noteworthy is the richly detailed stone he made for his namesake and son in 1806. Bartlett Adams, Sr. died on January 28, 1828, at age 51. He and other members of his family were laid to rest in a private tomb at Eastern Cemetery. The table-style monument that once decorated the tomb has been lost or destroyed, though a small sandstone marker at the entrance to the tomb is still there bearing his name. [11]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arlington National Cemetery</span> Military cemetery in Arlington, Virginia, US

Arlington National Cemetery is one of two cemeteries in the United States National Cemetery System that are maintained by the United States Army. Nearly 400,000 people are buried in its 639 acres in Arlington County, Virginia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peleg Wadsworth</span> American politician

Peleg Wadsworth was an American Patriot officer during the American Revolutionary War and a Congressman from Massachusetts representing the District of Maine. He was also grandfather of noted American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Congressional Cemetery</span> Historic burial ground in Washington, D.C.

The Congressional Cemetery, officially Washington Parish Burial Ground, is a historic and active cemetery located at 1801 E Street, S.E., in Washington, D.C., on the west bank of the Anacostia River. It is the only American "cemetery of national memory" founded before the Civil War. Over 65,000 individuals are buried or memorialized at the cemetery, including many who helped form the nation and Washington, D.C. in the early 19th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Portland Observatory</span> United States historic place

The Portland Observatory is a historic maritime signal tower at 138 Congress Street in the Munjoy Hill section of Portland, Maine. Built in 1807, it is the only known surviving tower of its type in the United States. Using both a telescope and signal flags, two-way communication between ship and shore was possible several hours before an incoming vessel reached the docks. The tower was designated a National Historic Landmark and a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark in 2006; it is now managed by Greater Portland Landmarks, a local historic preservation nonprofit. It is open to the public as a museum.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Munjoy Hill</span> Area of Portland, Maine, US

Munjoy Hill is both a neighborhood and prominent geographical feature of Portland, Maine. It is located east of downtown and south of East Deering, the neighborhood it is connected to by Tukey's Bridge. The neighborhood historically had a large Irish and Italian American population.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Evergreen Cemetery (Portland, Maine)</span> United States historic place

Evergreen Cemetery is a garden-style cemetery on Stevens Avenue in the Deering neighborhood of Portland, Maine. With 239 acres (97 ha) of land, it is the largest cemetery in the state. Established in 1855, in what was then Westbrook, the cemetery is home to one of the state's most prominent collections of funerary art. The 140-acre (57 ha) historical portion of the cemetery was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1992.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stephen Longfellow</span> American politician

Stephen Longfellow was a U.S. Representative from Maine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of Portland, Maine</span>

The History of Portland, Maine begins when Native Americans originally called the Portland peninsula Məkíhkanək meaning “At the fish hook” in Penobscot and Machigonne in Algonquian. The peninsula and surrounding areas was home to members of the Algonquian-speaking Aucocisco branch of the Eastern Abenaki tribe who were forcibly relocated to current day Canada during European settlement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maine Historical Society</span> Historical society in Maine, US

The Maine Historical Society is the official historical society of the U.S. state of Maine. It is located at 489 Congress Street in downtown Portland. The Society currently operates the Wadsworth-Longfellow House, a National Historic Landmark, Longfellow Garden, the Maine Historical Society Museum and Store, the Brown Research Library, as well as the Maine Memory Network, an online database of documents and images that includes resources from many of state's local historical societies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arts District (Portland, Maine)</span>

The Arts District is a section of downtown Portland, Maine’s designated in 1995 as to promote the cultural community and creative economy of the city. It covers a large part of upper Congress Street towards the West End and spans Congress Street toward the East ending at Portland City Hall and its Merrill Auditorium concert hall.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eastern Promenade</span> United States historic place

The Eastern Promenade is a historic promenade, 68.2-acre (27.6 ha) public park and recreation area in Portland, Maine. Construction of the Promenade began in 1836 and continued periodically until 1934. The 1.5-mile (2.4 km) park was designed by the Olmsted Brothers design firm and experienced its greatest expansion from the 1880s to the 1910s. The Promenade rings around the Munjoy Hill neighborhood and occupies the farthest eastern portion of Portland's peninsula. The Promenade is home to many historical sites, including a mass grave and the mast of USS Portland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Western Cemetery (Portland, Maine)</span>

The Western Cemetery is an urban cemetery in Portland, Maine, United States. At one time Portland's home for the "poor and indigent", the cemetery is named for its location in city's West End neighborhood and proximity to the Western Promenade. Founded in the 18th century, the land was acquired by the city in 1829. In 1841, the city expanded the cemetery to its present 12 acres (4.9 ha). The Western Cemetery was Portland's primary cemetery from 1829 to 1852, when Evergreen Cemetery was established in the suburb of Deering. It was an active cemetery until 1910. In October 2003, the cemetery began a restoration and reconstruction project was run by the Stewards of the Western Cemetery and the City of Portland and funded with municipal funds.

Portland, Maine, is home to many neighborhoods.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Monument</span> United States historic place

The Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Monument is a public monument in Portland, Maine's West End. Located on the corner of State and Congress Street, it honors poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, who was born in Portland in 1807. The intersection built around the monument is known as Longfellow Square.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Memorial</span> Statue in Washington, D.C., U.S.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow is a bronze statue, by William Couper, and Thomas Ball. The statue depicts American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. It is located at the intersection of M Street and Connecticut Avenue, N.W. Washington, D.C., and was dedicated on May 7, 1909.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Congress Street (Portland, Maine)</span> Street in Portland, Maine, US

Congress Street is the main street in Portland, Maine. Around 5.77 miles (9.29 km) long, it stretches from County Road, Portland's southwestern border with Westbrook, through a number of neighborhoods, before ending overlooking the Eastern Promenade on Munjoy Hill. In March 2009, the Portland City Council designated much of the inner portion of Congress Street a historic district. The western section of the street includes the city's Arts District.

The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Portland, Maine, USA.

George Munjoy was an early settler in what was Falmouth, Province of Maine. Munjoy Hill, in today's Portland, Maine, is named for him, as was Peaks Island for a period.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Federal Street (Portland, Maine)</span> Downtown street in Portland, Maine

Federal Street is a historic downtown street in Portland, Maine, United States. It runs for around 0.56 miles (0.90 km), from Monument Way, in Monument Square, in the southwest to Mountfort Street, at the foot of Munjoy Hill, in the northeast. Its middle section was wiped out by the widening of Franklin Street in 1967.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mountfort Street</span> Downtown street in Portland, Maine

Mountfort Street is a historic downtown street in Portland, Maine, United States. It runs for around 0.22 miles (0.35 km), from Congress Street, at the foot of Munjoy Hill, in the northwest to Fore Street in the southeast. It forms the eastern boundary of Eastern Cemetery, which was established in 1668.

References

  1. 1 2 "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Tours mark 350th anniversary of Eastern Cemetery in Portland". Press Herald. 2018-07-15. Retrieved 2024-01-16.
  3. 1 2 "NRHP nomination for Eastern Cemetery". National Park Service. Retrieved 2015-12-02.
  4. "Historic Cemeteries" . Retrieved December 14, 2023.
  5. "Walking Tours" . Retrieved December 14, 2023.
  6. 1 2 Jordan, William B. Jr. (1987). Burial Records, 1717-1962 of the Eastern Cemetery, Portland, Maine. Westminster, MD: Heritage Books (published 2009). pp. xii. ISBN   9781556130670.
  7. 1 2 3 4 Romano, Ron (2017). Portland's Historic Eastern Cemetery. Charleston, SC: History Press. ISBN   9781625859969.
  8. Willis, William (1972). The History of Portland (A facsimile of the 1865 ed.). Somersworth, NH: New Hampshire Publishing Company. pp. 759–60.
  9. "Civil War Monument, Stinson Memorial". publicartportland.org. Retrieved January 14, 2024.
  10. "Remains of ‘first Navy Seals’ lie in Tripoli" - Washington Post, May 29, 2011
  11. Romano, Ron (2016). Early Gravestones in Southern Maine. Charleston, SC: The History Press. ISBN   9781467136396.