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King's Chapel Burying Ground

King's Chapel Burying Ground is a historic graveyard on Tremont Street, near its intersection with School Street, in Boston, Massachusetts. Established in 1630, it is the oldest graveyard in the city and is a site on the Freedom Trail. Despite its name, the graveyard pre-dates the adjacent King's Chapel (whose first structure was built in 1688); it is not affiliated with that or any other church.[1]

King's Chapel Burying Ground

History[edit]

King's Chapel Burying Ground was founded in 1630 as the first graveyard in the city of Boston. According to custom, the first interment was that of the land's original owner, Isaac Johnson. It was Boston's only burial site for 30 years (1630–1660). After being unable to locate land elsewhere, in 1686 the newly established local Anglican congregation was allotted land in the graveyard to build King's Chapel.


Today there are 505 headstones and 59 footstones remaining from the more than one thousand people buried in the small space since its inception. There are also 78 tombs, of which 36 have markers. This includes the large vault, built as a charnel house, which was converted into a tomb for children's remains in 1833. The earliest tombs are scattered among the grave markers. Most are in tabletop form.[1]

merchant, slave trader[2]

Charles Apthorp

American landowner, government official, philanthropist and military officer

Francis Brinley

Plymouth Pilgrim, first European woman to step ashore in New England

Mary Chilton

member of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Massachusetts, died February 2, 1691, formerly lived at Dorchester[3] (Capt. Clapp's son Desire is also interred close by)

Captain Roger Clapp

Puritan theologian

John Cotton

Puritan theologian

John Davenport

(disputed),[4] American Revolution hero

William Dawes

(father of Ralph Waldo Emerson)

William Emerson

colonial governor of Massachusetts

John Leverett

Puritan theologian

John Oxenbridge

whose headstone is apocryphally claimed to be the inspiration for Hester Prynne's in The Scarlet Letter

Elizabeth Pain

Major , distinguished settler and soldier, son-in-law of Ann Hutchinson

Thomas Savage

Boston's "Ice King"

Frederic Tudor

first bookseller and book publisher in the British Colonies

Hezekiah Usher

Puritan theologian

John Wilson

first Puritan governor of Massachusetts

John Winthrop

Looking north along Tremont Street, showing the burying ground's location beside the chapel (2024)

Looking north along Tremont Street, showing the burying ground's location beside the chapel (2024)

John Winthrop's Tomb (died 1649)

John Winthrop's Tomb (died 1649)

Tombstone of Dr. Comfort Starr and wife Elizabeth.

Tombstone of Dr. Comfort Starr and wife Elizabeth.

Mary Chilton Winslow's burial spot in the Winslow Tomb (died c. 1679)

Mary Chilton Winslow's burial spot in the Winslow Tomb (died c. 1679)

Elizabeth Pain marker (died 1704)

Elizabeth Pain marker (died 1704)

William Dawes tomb marker (died 1799)

William Dawes tomb marker (died 1799)

King's Chapel (right) and Burying Ground (left), 19th century

King's Chapel (right) and Burying Ground (left), 19th century

c. 1898, looking toward Tremont St.

c. 1898, looking toward Tremont St.

Ventilation shaft for the T, 2015

Ventilation shaft for the T, 2015

The Burying Ground in 2015

The Burying Ground in 2015

List of cemeteries in Boston, Massachusetts

at Find a Grave

King's Chapel Burying Ground