Kids & Family

Graveyard Tour Highlights Centuries Of Wakefield History

Wakefield Historical Society kicked off the weekend before Halloween with a tour of the Old Burying Ground overlooking Lake Quannapowitt.

Many Wakefielders drive past the town's Old Burying Ground every day unaware of the various details that make this an important local historical resource. On Friday, Nancy Bertrand of the Wakefield Historical Society led a tour of the site that touched upon several centuries of town history, dating back to some of the earliest settlers. 

Bertrand noted that settlers arrived in Wakefield from Lynn in 1639, only 19 years after the landing at Plymouth Rock. In the 1630s, the present-day town was known as Lynn Village, then Redding, then South Redding, and finally, Wakefield. The historical society president noted that Wakefield was home to the 12th congregation ever established in Massachusetts, and that the first meeting house stood near the site of the present East Boston Savings Bank on Main Street.

And while the Old Burying Ground holds the remains of some of Wakefield's most prominent historical figures, the bodies were not always interred there. In fact, noted Bertrand, many of the earliest ones started off buried under what is now the present-day Wakefield Common before being moved to their present spots toward the end of the 1940s. The current semicircle-based layout of the stones was reportedly designed by prominent architect Harland Perkins. 

Some of the early graves offer valuable examples of Puritan gravestone art, including one that the Smithsonian even unsuccessfully inquired about taking to Washington years ago. Some later stones provide important examples of designs representing the move away from the Puritan area. 

Other noteworthy graves include: 

A grave that was once featured in "Ripley's Believe It Or Not." A tree has almost completely consumed the head stone (photo can be viewed above), leaving just a small circular area of stone still visible from within the tree. The gravestone belongs to... Wait For It... Joseph Underwood. Believe It, Or Not. 

Dr. John Hart, who reportedly served in the Revolutionary War from Bunker Hill all the way to the end of it. He was a well-known physician in Wakefield after the war and owned the Hartshorne House, which to this day is the oldest house in Wakefield. He also reportedly served as a selectman, school committee member and elected representative. 

General Benjamin Brown: A Revolutionary War general who lived near the Beebe Mansion in Wakefield and sent home a number of letters to his wife and son. He was a leather maker by trade. 

Jonathan Miller - a veteran of King Philip's War (against certain Indian tribes in the region), dated 1678. 

Jeremiah Swain: An early settler and doctor who served as the Commander in Chief during King Philip's War. 

John Brown: A signer of the original land deed in the 1600s with Indian leader James Quannapowitt, who the town's lake was named after. 

Thomas Parker - A relative of a veteran of Lexington and Concord. 

Lydia Dustin: An elderly woman from Wakefield arrested during the Puritans' Witchcraft Hysteria of 1692. Several other women from her family were also accused as witches, although none were executed. Lydia Dustin however does count as a victim of the Witchcraft Hysteria because she was apparently unable to pay her way out of prison afterward and died there. 


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