New England cemeteries great visits in fall
In New England’s historic cemeteries, the grave markers themselves are perhaps just as interesting as the people who lie beneath them. Around each corner lurk skulls with wings, weeping willows and epitaphs of long ago.
These cemeteries tell centuries of stories – some are endearing and sad, while others are frightening and spinechilling. Among those laid to rest in their bounds are suspected ax murderer Lizzie Borden, accused witches of Salem, famed authors like Henry David Thoreau, state governors, soldiers, enslaved people and countless unidentified individuals.
The fall season presents a perfect time to appreciate New England’s burial grounds. Visitors should always be respectful of the cemeteries and those who are buried there.
Oak Grove Cemetery – Fall River, MA
At Oak Grove Cemetery, established in 1855, visitors can view the grave of the infamous Lizzie Borden, who was accused of murdering her father and stepmother, Andrew and Abby Borden, with an ax in 1892. Abby and Andrew are also buried at the family monument, along with Lizzie’s sister, Emma.
Lizzie was ultimately acquitted of the murders, which still remain a nationally known story of much intrigue and mystery. Her gravesite is a highly trafficked location every year.
Aside from the Borden family fame, according to the city of Fall River, in 1866, Oak Grove also became the final resting place for more than 255 children in just one year. According to theclio.com, it may have been due to the cholera epidemic that broke out in the state that year.
Hope Cemetery – Barre, VT
Hope Cemetery, established in 1895, is a 65-acre “museum of granite.” It’s known for its unmatched granite artistry among 10,000 gravestones and memorials.
According to Atlas Obscura, around the time the cemetery was created, stone cutters from around the world, particularly Italy, were coming to Barre for the city’s thriving granite industry.
Monuments and gravestones at Hope Cemetery are perhaps some of the most creative and elaborate you’ll ever see, including two joined tombstones resembling a bed, an airplane, a race car, and countless human figures who in the dark could certainly be mistaken for real.
Spider Gates – Leicester, MA
A Quaker cemetery nicknamed “Spider Gates” because of its spooky-looking iron entrance, legend has it that this Leicester graveyard is the eighth gate to hell.
It’s not uncommon to see Spider Gates included on “haunted Massachusetts” lists. Wild tales say a young boy hanged himself in the cemetery, and that an altar in the center was used by a satanist. The most jarring tale is that the cemetery itself is, quite literally, a portal to hell.
Spider Gates, located at the end of a dirt path and actually named “Friends Cemetery,” is owned by Worcester Friends Meeting, and some gravestones date back to the 1700s.
Mount Hope Cemetery – Bangor, ME
Mount Hope Cemetery was the destination that inspired Stephen King’s horror novel “Pet Sematary,” and later became the site of some filming for the 1989 film adaptation. It was located not
far from King’s home in Bangor, where
he resided for many years
The cemetery was established in 1838, and today, more than 30,000 people are buried there. Mount Hope recently made headlines for becoming what is thought to be the first cemetery in Maine that will allow people and their pets to be buried together in the same plot.
Swan Point Cemetery – Providence, RI
More than 40,000 people are buried in the 200-acre Swan Point Cemetery, one of the two largest cemeteries in Providence. There are more governors, senators and congressmen buried in Swan Point than any other cemetery in Rhode Island.
Visitors to Swan Point are sure to be impressed by its vast array of art and architecture, much of which reflects the taste of wealthy late 19th-century families, its website says. There are ornate monuments, family crypts built into hillsides, and bronze and marble statues scattered throughout. Swan Point also has features like state-of-the-art mausolea and columbarium.
‘Author’s Ridge’ in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery – Concord, MA
For literature aficionados, Sleepy Hollow Cemetery has some especially famed burials. In a particular heavily trafficked area called “Author’s Ridge,” Henry David Thoreau, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Louisa May Alcott and Ralph Waldo Emerson are all buried.
Author’s Ridge is just a corner of the large historic cemetery, yet somehow all of these famous thinkers found their final resting place among each other. Visitors and literature lovers frequently
leave writing utensils and notes at the grave sites.
Howard Street Cemetery – Salem, MA
Howard Street Cemetery is one of three burial grounds significant to the 1692 Salem Witch Trials. It’s said to be where Giles Corey, one of five men executed during the trials, was pressed to death. Corey denied being a witch and refused to stand trial.
He was buried in an unmarked grave near the site of his execution in what is now Howard Street Cemetery. The cemetery is a small 2.5 acres but contains 1,100 headstones.
Old Burial Hill – Marblehead, MA
While visiting Old Burial Hill, you might recognize the scenery from a beloved 1990s Halloween movie. The daytime cemetery scenes of Disney’s “Hocus Pocus” were filmed here.
Old Burial Hill was established in 1638 and is thought to be one of the oldest graveyards in New England. It includes 600 Revolutionary War-era graves, most of which are unmarked. In 1998, a memorial stone was erected here for Wilmott Redd, the only person from Marblehead who was executed for witchcraft in 1692.
Union Cemetery – Easton, CT
Looking for a thrilling cemetery visit? At Union Cemetery, which dates back to the 1700s, you might come across the “White Lady.”
Ghost hunters say this Connecticut cemetery might be one of the most haunted in the United States.
The “White Lady” is a spiritual entity who allegedly walks the property in a white gown or wedding dress. Legend has it she died in the 1940s, but her identity today is still a mystery.