Hildreth Cemetery

42°39′41″N 71°18′32″W / 42.661417°N 71.308796°W / 42.661417; -71.308796

Hildreth Cemetery is a small cemetery located on Hildreth Street at Sutherland and By Streets in the Centralville neighborhood of Lowell, Massachusetts. The cemetery's history dates back to the mid-18th century, when it was designated as a burial ground by Major Ephraim Hildreth before his death in 1740. Though located within the Lowell city limits, it is actually administered by the nearby town of Dracut because the cemetery was built when Centralville was still a part of Dracut.

In 1913, the City of Lowell attempted to sell the cemetery after the Town of Dracut neglected to pay a tax on a new sidewalk on Hildreth Street; this would have resulted in the forced relocation of many of the remains at the cemetery. After an injunction in Suffolk County court to prevent the sale, the town continues to maintain the cemetery.^[1] The nearby private cemetery containing the graves of General Benjamin Butler and his wife, Sarah Hildreth, was not affected.

(1818–1893): A controversial Union general during the American Civil War and later a Congressman and Governor of Massachusetts. He married Sarah Hildreth (1816–1876) in 1844.

Benjamin Franklin Butler

(1835–1933): A highly decorated Union general during the Civil War, who served as a U.S. Senator and Governor of Mississippi during Reconstruction. He married Butler's daughter Blanche (1847–1939) in 1870, while serving in the Senate. (Ames' date of birth is erroneously listed on the monument as October 30 while all known records, as well as the Medal of Honor plaque at the base of the monument, list his birthday as October 31.)

Adelbert Ames

Charlotte Ellison Butler (1782–1870): Benjamin Butler's mother.

Andrew Jackson Butler (1815–1864): Benjamin Butler's elder brother, a colonel in the United States Army who accompanied him to New Orleans and died of fever in February 1864.

[6]

Dr. Israel Hildreth (1791–1859): Noted physician of the area, and father of Sarah Hildreth Butler.

Greater Lowell

Butler Ames

The Hildreth family's private cemetery is set behind the public cemetery and entered via two locked gates accessible only from Hildreth Street. The cemetery is closed all year, with the exception of the annual commemoration of General Butler's birthday and the replacement of the flag, held the first Sunday in November.^[5]

Several generations of the Hildreth family are buried in the cemetery. The more well-known members include:

Ames' youngest son, Adelbert Ames, Jr., has his name inscribed on the monument; however, he is actually buried at the cemetery on the grounds of Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire.^[7]

A warning against grave robbing and disrespect, on the inner gate to the Hildreth family cemetery, it reads "Those who harm or rob a grave, from God's just wrath no one can save, bad luck comes to those who thread, with careless steps above the dead."