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Archiver > MAWORCES > 2003-11 > 1069573344


From: lisa lepore <>
Subject: Re: [MAWORCES] Worcester Common Burial Ground
Date: Sun, 23 Nov 2003 02:42:24 -0500


Page -

That's a great idea. I don't have any ancestors buried in this
cemetery, but maybe some who do could get their local genealogy
society interested in approaching a university. Actually, Massachusetts
has a State Archaeologist -

Massachusetts Historical Commission
220 Morrissey Blvd.,
Boston, MA 02125.
Telephone 617-727-8470.
Web: http://www.state.ma.us/sec/mhc/mhcidx.htm
MHC emaill:
State Archaeologist:

Maybe they could answer whether the stones could have survived
underground that way.

Lisa



On Sat, 22 Nov 2003 07:29:29 -0800 (PST) Page <>
writes:
> You might interest a university Anthropology department in a
> historical archeology project - just in uncovering the stones,
> maybe. I wonder if the rubbings are still available?

> Page in Kansas
>

> lisa lepore <> wrote:I doubt very much that the
> city of Worcester would undertake
> such a project. Some organization with clout and deep pockets
> would be required to try to do this. Then you would have the future
> maintenance to consider. If the cemetery was neglected and in
> such disrepair in 1854, there probably isn't much left to recover
> by now - although I suppose it depends on what the stones were
> made of.
>
> Interesting subject - I never heard of the before.
>
> Lisa
>
>
> On Fri, 21 Nov 2003 09:26:02 -0600 "Deborah Campbell"
> writes:
> >
> > This may be a silly question, but why can't the stones be set
> > upright again?
> > I have often wondered about not just this burial ground, but
> others
> > as well.
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Jim Halpin [mailto:]
> > Sent: Friday, November 21, 2003 9:08 AM
> > To:
> > Subject: Re: [MAWORCES] Worcester Common Burial Ground
> >
> >
> > From the Worcester Parks dept web site....
> >
> > http://www.ci.worcester.ma.us/wpr/parks/common/history.htm
> >
> > "In 1730 about an acre of land on the easterly end of the
> > Common was set apart for a burying ground and as such was
> > the principal cemetery of Worcester until 1795. The lot,
> > enclosed by a stone wall, extended to a point near the
> > present Soldier's Monument, then to about where the
> > Timothy Bigelow Monument stands.
> >
> > For some reason it was not square but more like a keystone
> > in shape. As a result of the neglect, the burial ground
> > gradually became an eyesore and in 1854, the city had a
> > plan made of the graves and the inscriptions copied from
> > the headstones. The headstones were then laid flat on the
> > graves and the whole plot covered with a foot of earth and
> > leveled off."
> >
> >
> >
> > On Fri, 21 Nov 2003 08:09:51 -0600 (CST)
> > (Marcia Payne) wrote:
> > >
> > >I just read a paragraph in a book and I'd like to know
> > >the reason for
> > >doing this.
> > >
> > >Ths is what was said:
> > >
> > >"In 1853, the city council (of Worcester) voted that the
> > >stones in this
> > >ancient burying place should be laid flat, their
> > >inscriptions carefully
> > >copied, and then covered with earth. The grave markers of
> > >more than 300
> > >early settlers are now lost from sight."
> > >
> > >Does anyone have an explanation for this? Seems awfully
> > >strange.
> > >



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