The Old Village Cemetery is an historic cemetery in Dedham, Massachusetts. [1] [2]
The Old Village Cemetery is an historic cemetery in Dedham, Massachusetts. [1] [2]
The first portion of the cemetery was set apart at the first recorded meeting of the settlers of Dedham on August 18, 1636, with land taken from Nicholas Phillips and Joseph Kingsbury. [1] The original boundaries were roughly Village Avenue on the north, St. Paul's Church in the east, land later added by Dr. Edward Stimson in the south, and the main driveway off Village Avenue in the west. [3] It remained the only cemetery in Dedham for nearly 250 years until Brookdale Cemetery was established. [4]
Many of the early ministers and founders of the town are buried there, including John Allen, Joseph Belcher, Samuel Dexter, Edward Alleyn, and Eleazer Lusher. [1] [5] A road, today known as Bullard Street, was established in 1664 between the First Church and Parish in Dedham to the cemetery. [1] Graves were dug six feet deep and due east to west, with the feet placed at the eastern end in preparation for the final judgement with Christ coming from the east. [3]
John Fisher's was the first recorded death in Dedham on the "5th of ye 5 mo 1637," but the oldest gravestone still standing is from Hannah Dyar, who died September 15, 1678. [3] The cemetery also holds the remains of Civil War soldiers who died at Camp Meigs. [5] [6] Additionally, 15 soldiers who died in the war are buried there. [7] There is another monument to the ship Maritana which sank off the coast of Nahant. [5] [6] [8] The captain, G.W. Williams, had family in Dedham and his funeral was held from there. [8]
At the entrance to the cemetery is a large ornately carved monument with the name "Bonnemort." [9] It was erected to mark the remains of the Bonnemort family but, in effect, it also greets those who will spend eternity within the cemetery. [9]
Few tombs exist in the cemetery: one built by Timothy Dwight around 1700, [lower-alpha 1] one by Daniel Fisher, one by Samuel Dexter after the death of his father, the minister of the same name, and Edward Dowse. [4] The parish tomb was built in 1816, and a number of tombs have been added to it in the years since. [4]
While the tomb of Nathaniel Ames was open and awaiting Faith Huntington's corpse, Jabez Fitch, a soldier from Connecticut, entered the tomb with a few companions and discovered Ames' decaying remains. [9] [11] [lower-alpha 2]
In 1800, another acre was added through purchase. [12] In 1859, Stimson purchased land that was originally part of an old Dedham High School's grounds for $1,000. [4] In 1861, he divided the land into burial plots and his son conveyed the land to the Town in 1881. [4]
The cemetery is part of the Dedham Village Historic District. In 2017, an effort was undertaken to raise $1,000,000 to restore the cemetery by the Dedham Village Preservation Association. [13] The Association, along with the Town, selected Boston's Halvorson Design Partnership to undertake the project. [14] The phased renovations and improvements will include landscaping and hardscaping, including paths, steps, and ironwork fencing, and future improvements to the cemetery grounds. [14] In 2019, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts appropriated $150,000 towards the effort. [15]
In 1842, a fair was held by the ladies of the Society for the Improvement of the Burial Ground". [4] They raised $234. [4]
The history of Dedham, Massachusetts, 1635–1699, begins with the first settlers' arrival in 1635 and runs to the end of the 17th century. The settlers, who built their village on land the native people called Tiot, incorporated the plantation in 1636. They sought to build a community in which all would live out Christian love in their daily lives, and for a time did, but the Utopian impulse did not last. The system of government they devised was both "a peculiar oligarchy" and a "a most peculiar democracy." Most freemen could participate in Town Meeting, though they soon established a Board of Selectmen. Power and initiative ebbed and flowed between the two bodies.
The history of Dedham, Massachusetts, from 1800 to 1899 saw growth and change come to the town. In fact, the town changed as much during the first few decades of the 19th century as it did in all of its previous history.
Nathaniel Ames, a colonial American physician, published a popular series of annual almanacs. He was the son of Nathaniel Ames first (1677–1736) and the father of Nathaniel and Fisher Ames. The family was descended from William Ames of Bruton, Somerset, England, whose son William emigrated to Massachusetts and settled at Braintree as early as 1640.
The Dedham Public School System is a PK–12 graded school district in Dedham, Massachusetts. It is the oldest public school system in the United States.
St. Mary of the Assumption Church is a parish of the Roman Catholic Church in Dedham, Massachusetts, in the Archdiocese of Boston.
The Dedham Museum and Archive, is a historical society dedicated to preserving and establishing a greater sense of appreciation for the history of Dedham, Massachusetts. It consists of a museum and an archive. As of 2002, it had nearly 1,000 members.
Major Eleazer Lusher was a politician and military leader from Dedham, Massachusetts.
Joseph Belcher was a minister at the First Church in Dedham, Massachusetts.
Nathaniel Ames represented Dedham, Massachusetts in the Great and General Court.
Captain Timothy Dwight (1629–1718) represented Dedham in the Great and General Court of Massachusetts and was the progenitor of the Dwight family.
Brookdale Cemetery is an historic cemetery in Dedham, Massachusetts. More than 28,000 people are buried there. Mother Brook runs behind it.
John Hunting was Ruling Elder of the First Church and Parish in Dedham.
The history of Dedham, Massachusetts from 1700 to 1799 saw the town become one of the largest and most influential country towns in Massachusetts. As the population grew and residents moved to outlying areas of the town, battles for political power took place. Similar battles were taking place within the churches, as liberal and conservative factions bristled at paying for ministers with whom they had differences of theological opinion. New parishes and preciencts were formed, and eventually several new towns broke away.
The Dedham Bank was a bank in Dedham, Massachusetts. It was located on the corner of High and Pearl Streets.
Temperance Hall was an assembly hall in Dedham, Massachusetts associated with the temperance movement.
This is a timeline of the history of the town of Dedham, Massachusetts.
Jeremiah Shuttleworth was a merchant and postmaster from Dedham, Massachusetts.
Memorial Hall served as both the town hall of Dedham, Massachusetts from 1868 until 1962 and as the Town's monument to the soldiers from the town who died in the Civil War.
The Pillar of Liberty is a monument in Dedham, Massachusetts commemorating the repeal of the Stamp Act. Erected by the Sons of Liberty, it originally had a pillar with a bust of William Pitt on top.
Faith (née Trumbull) Huntington was an early American woman.
