Removals From Mechanics Street

Location: Section 47

In 1878, in the name of progress, the City Council voted to close the Mechanic Street burial ground and surrender the land to development. In use from the late eighteenth century until 1859, the cemetery's 1116 burials were removed, some to Rural Cemetery (most notably the tomb of Isaiah Thomas) and others gathered here and elsewhere in Hope. Most of these simple slate stones are carved with the urn and willow motif, one of the most popular gravestone decorations of the late 18th and 19th centuries.