Halloween

Copp’s Hill Burying Ground // 1659

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Happy Halloween! Welcome to Copp’s Hill Burying Ground, a historic cemetery nestled in Boston’s historic North End. Established in 1659, it served as a burial site for some of Boston’s earliest settlers and notable figures, including craftsmen, merchants, and members of the influential Mather family. Also burie here is abolitionist and leader in the free black community in Boston, Prince Hall. Originally called North Burying Ground, Copp’s Hill was the second place of interment on the Boston peninsula and was laid out in 1659. The area acquired its present name through its association with William Copp (1589-1670), a shoemaker and early settler who lived near today’s Prince Street; ironically, his stone is no longer standing.

The cemetery is particularly known for its distinct slate gravestones, many adorned with intricate carvings that reflect the artistry of the era. Over the centuries, it has witnessed significant events, including the American Revolution, when it was used as a lookout point for British troops. During the Revolution, the burying ground’s prominent location overlooking the harbor gave it strategic military importance. At its southwest side the British established their North Battery and an earthworks from which they directed the shelling of Bunker Hill and ultimately the torching of Charlestown. Legend has it that British troops used gravestones for target practice. Many have interpreted the round scars on the gravestone of Captain Daniel Malcolm, an ardent son of liberty who spoke against Britain, as the result of musketballs shot at close range. The cemetery was used continually until the 1850s and is today, an evocative reminder of Boston’s early days, drawing visitors who seek to connect with the city’s storied history amidst its tranquil surroundings while the city stretches upwards around it. The cemetery is open and free to visit most of the year and is a great place to stroll and learn about Boston’s early history and see amazing stone carving!

Forest Hills Administration Building & Chapel // 1884

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Located adjacent to the Entrance Gate at Forest Hills Cemetery in Boston, the Administration Building and Chapel perfectly compliments the Gothic Revival collection of structures welcoming all visitors to the cemetery. Designed by the firm of Van Brunt & Howe, the building was completed in 1884, when the cemetery’s popularity with visitors (alive and deceased) was at a high. The building is in the Gothic Revival style and is constructed of
Roxbury puddingstone, with sandstone trim on the original parts of the building and yellow freestone trim on the 1921 addition. The building remains as a perfect partner to the entrance gate, serving as a physical portal between metaphorical life and death.

Forest Hills Cemetery, “Boy in a Boat” // 1886

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While this funerary sculpture is not a building, I couldn’t help but share one of the most captivating graves in New England for Halloween, “The Boy in a Boat”. Louis Ernest Mieusset (1881-1886), just four years old, died of Nephritis, a kidney inflammation and Scarlet Fever. His mother, Madame Louise Mieusset, took every penny she had saved for the boy’s education and put it towards a commission of a funerary sculpture, depicting her late son’s playful spirit. Madame Mieusset worked as a hat-maker in Boston, barely scraping by until her death in the 1930s. She died penniless, and wished to be buried near her beloved son, but she did not have enough money set aside to be interred in the cemetery and was set to be buried in a pauper’s lot, until (legend says) Boston Mayor James Curley paid her burial expenses, allowing for her eternal rest with her late son Louis. The sculpture is carved of white marble and depicts Louis playing in a boat with a tennis racket in one hand and a shell in another. The funerary sculpture is enclosed in a bronze and glass vitrine to protect it as the marble was believed to be too soft to stand up to weathering, the artist is unknown.