Old Burial Hill (Marblehead, Massachusetts)
Encyclopedia
Old Burial Hill is an historic cemetery
in Marblehead, Massachusetts
. It is located on the high ground between Marblehead's colonial-era residential and retail district, called "Downtown" by longtime residents and "Old Town" by others, and the Barnegat neighborhood that stretches from Little Harbor to Doliber's Cove, and is accessible via a walkway at Redd's Pond and a stairway at the intersection of Orne and Pond streets. Old Burial Hill features scenic vistas of Marblehead Harbor and Salem Sound.
The burying ground was founded in 1638 and contains many historic Puritan
gravestones featuring diverse stone carving
artwork from the seventeenth century. The burial ground also contains the remains of a victim of the 1692 Salem Witch Trials
. It is referenced briefly in the horror author H.P Lovecraft's
short-story, The Festival
.
Cemetery
A cemetery is a place in which dead bodies and cremated remains are buried. The term "cemetery" implies that the land is specifically designated as a burying ground. Cemeteries in the Western world are where the final ceremonies of death are observed...
in Marblehead, Massachusetts
Marblehead, Massachusetts
Marblehead is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 19,808 at the 2010 census. It is home to the Marblehead Neck Wildlife Sanctuary and Devereux Beach...
. It is located on the high ground between Marblehead's colonial-era residential and retail district, called "Downtown" by longtime residents and "Old Town" by others, and the Barnegat neighborhood that stretches from Little Harbor to Doliber's Cove, and is accessible via a walkway at Redd's Pond and a stairway at the intersection of Orne and Pond streets. Old Burial Hill features scenic vistas of Marblehead Harbor and Salem Sound.
The burying ground was founded in 1638 and contains many historic Puritan
Puritan
The Puritans were a significant grouping of English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries. Puritanism in this sense was founded by some Marian exiles from the clergy shortly after the accession of Elizabeth I of England in 1558, as an activist movement within the Church of England...
gravestones featuring diverse stone carving
Stone carving
Stone carving is an ancient activity where pieces of rough natural stone are shaped by the controlled removal of stone. Owing to the permanence of the material, evidence can be found that even the earliest societies indulged in some form of stone work....
artwork from the seventeenth century. The burial ground also contains the remains of a victim of the 1692 Salem Witch Trials
Salem witch trials
The Salem witch trials were a series of hearings before county court trials to prosecute people accused of witchcraft in the counties of Essex, Suffolk, and Middlesex in colonial Massachusetts, between February 1692 and May 1693...
. It is referenced briefly in the horror author H.P Lovecraft's
H. P. Lovecraft
Howard Phillips Lovecraft --often credited as H.P. Lovecraft — was an American author of horror, fantasy and science fiction, especially the subgenre known as weird fiction....
short-story, The Festival
The Festival (short story)
"The Festival" is a short story by H. P. Lovecraft written in October 1923 and published in the January 1925 issue of Weird Tales. It is considered to be one of the first of his Cthulhu Mythos stories.-Inspiration:...
.
Notable burials and cenotaphs
- Wilmot ReddWilmot ReddWilmot Redd was one of the victims of the Salem witch trials of 1692. She was born in Marblehead, Massachusetts, and executed by hanging on September 22, 1692. Her husband was Samuel Redd, a fisherman...
, victim of 1692 Salem Witch Trials - General John Glover, Revolutionary War general