Copp's Hill Burying Ground

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Copp's Hill Burying Ground
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Location:	Boston, Massachusetts
Coordinates:	42°22′2″N 71°3′23″W / 42.36722, -71.05639Coordinates: 42°22′2″N 71°3′23″W / 42.36722, -71.05639
Built/Founded:	1659
Added to NRHP:	April 18, 1974
NRHP Reference#:	74000385 [1]
Governing body:	Local

Copp's Hill Burying Ground was founded on February 20, 1659 when the town of Boston bought land on Copp's Hill from John Baker and Daniel Turell starting the "North Burying Ground". Now named "Copp's Hill Burying Ground" (although often mistakenly called "Copp's Hill Burial Ground", even by locals), it is the second oldest cemetery in Boston (second only to the King's Chapel founded in 1630). It contains the remains of various notable Bostonians from the colonial era.

The first extension was made on January 7, 1708 when the town bought additional land from Judge Samuel Sewall and his wife Hannah. The land was part of a pasture which Mrs. Sewall had inherited from her father, John Hull, master of the mint.

Benjamin Weld and his wife Nabby sold the second extension to the town for $10,000 on December 18, 1809 soon after they had bought it from Jonathan Merry, who had used it as pasture. Ten years later, Charles Wells, later mayor of Boston, bought a small parcel of land from John Bishop of Medford and used this as a cemetery that was later merged with the adjacent North Burying Ground. Because of this complicated history, it is no longer possible to discern the original boundaries of the cemetery.

On the Snow Hill Street side are the many unmarked graves of the African Americans who lived in the "New Guinea" community at the foot of the hill. In addition to the graves there are 272 tombs, most of which bear inscriptions that are still legible.

By 1840 the cemetery had fallen into near disuse but the town continued to maintain the site intermittently. By 1878 it was badly neglected. The cemetery was not an official stop on the Freedom Trail when it was created in 1951 but it has since been added and is much-frequented by tourists and photographers. The site was added to the National Historic Register in 1974.

[edit] Notable people buried in Copp's Hill Burying Ground

• William Copp's children
• Increase Mather, Puritan minister
• Cotton Mather, Puritan minister
• Robert Newman, the patriot who placed the signal lanterns in the steeple of Old North Church for Paul Revere's midnight ride to Lexington and Concord
• Prince Hall (the father of Black Freemasonry).

[edit] References and external links

• City of Boston Official Freedom Trail Information

[edit] Images

From left to right can be seen the Skinny House, the Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Memorial Bridge, and the Copp's Hill Burying Ground.

The Copp's Burying Ground in the foreground with the Custom House Tower and One International Place glimpsed in the background.

The Mather tomb in Cobb's Hill Cemetery.

Prince Hall's grave in Cobb's Hill Cemetery.

v • d • e U.S. National Register of Historic Places Keeper of the Register · History of the National Register of Historic Places · Property types · Historic district · Contributing property List of entries National Park Service · National Historic Landmarks · National Battlefields · National Historic Sites · National Historical Parks · National Memorials · National Monuments

This article about a Registered Historic Place in Massachusetts is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.