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King's Chapel Burying Ground

Coordinates: 42°21′29.7″N 71°3′35.4″W / 42.358250°N 71.059833°W / 42.358250; -71.059833
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King's Chapel Burying Ground
The graveyard in 2022, looking toward King's Chapel and Tremont Street
Map
Interactive map of King's Chapel Burying Ground
Details
Established1630
Location
Tremont and School Streets, Boston, Massachusetts
Coordinates42°21′29.7″N 71°3′35.4″W / 42.358250°N 71.059833°W / 42.358250; -71.059833
No. of graves1,600+
King's Chapel and Burying Ground, 1833

King's Chapel Burying Ground is a historic graveyard on Tremont Street in Boston, Massachusetts, near its intersection with School Street, established in 1630. It is the oldest graveyard in the city and is a site on the Freedom Trail. The graveyard pre-dates the adjacent King's Chapel, whose first structure was built in 1688, and it is not affiliated with any church despite its name.[1]

History

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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 owner, Isaac Johnson. It was Boston's only burial site for 30 years (1630–1660). The local Anglican congregation was allotted land in the graveyard to build King's Chapel in 1686, being unable to locate land elsewhere.

In an 1855 Boston Evening Transcript article, a Boston resident wrote that some years before, he had personally witnessed the Burying Ground's superintendent rearrange the site's headstones into neat rows and columns without moving their corresponding buried remains. As a result, many of the headstones today do not match the precise burial locations of the individuals listed on the stones.[2]

Today there are 505 headstones and 59 footstones remaining from the more than one thousand people buried in the small space since its inception. There are also 78 tombs, of which 36 have markers. This includes the large vault, built as a charnel house and converted into a tomb for children's remains in 1833. The earliest tombs are scattered among the grave markers. Most are in tabletop form.[1]

Notable burials

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  • Looking north along Tremont Street, showing the burying ground's location beside the chapel (2024)
    Looking north along Tremont Street, showing the burying ground's location beside the chapel (2024)
  • John Winthrop's Tomb (died 1649)
    John Winthrop's Tomb (died 1649)
  • Tombstone of Dr. Comfort Starr and wife Elizabeth.
    Tombstone of Dr. Comfort Starr and wife Elizabeth.
  • Mary Chilton Winslow's burial spot in the Winslow Tomb (died c. 1679)
    Mary Chilton Winslow's burial spot in the Winslow Tomb (died c. 1679)
  • Elizabeth Pain marker (died 1704)
    Elizabeth Pain marker (died 1704)
  • William Dawes tomb marker (died 1799)
    William Dawes tomb marker (died 1799)
  • King's Chapel (right) and Burying Ground (left), 19th century
    King's Chapel (right) and Burying Ground (left), 19th century
  • c. 1898, looking toward Tremont St.
    c. 1898, looking toward Tremont St.
  • Ventilation shaft for the T, 2015
    Ventilation shaft for the T, 2015
  • The Burying Ground in 2015
    The Burying Ground in 2015

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b Boston Parks and Recreation
  2. ^ Appleton, William Sumner; McGlenen, Edward Webster; Watkins, Walter Kendall; Whitmore, William Henry (1880). Records Relating to the Early History of Boston. Boston: Rockwell and Churchill, City Printers. p. 10. Retrieved April 14, 2026.
  3. ^ Foote. Annals of King's Chapel. Boston: Little, Brown, 1896.
  4. ^ The Clapp Memorial: Record of the Clapp Family in America, Ebenezer Clapp, David Clapp & Son, Boston, 1876
  5. ^ Fletcher, Ron (February 25, 2005). "Who's buried in Dawes's tomb?". Boston Globe.
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