Tombstones at King’s Chapel Burying Ground in Boston

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See the Cemeteries web page for an interactive location map.

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LOCATION

King’s Chapel Burying Ground, part of Boston National Historical Park, is located near the corner of Tremont and School streets.

MANAGEMENT AND WEB SITE

King’s Chapel Burying Ground is owned by the city of Boston. See the King’s Chapel Burying Ground web page for more information.

OPERATING HOURS

Daily from 9 AM to 4 PM

VISITING THE CEMETERY

King’s Chapel Burying Ground is located next door to King’s Chapel, though it is not, nor has it ever been, a part of that church. In fact, it has never been affiliated with any church. It is actually a surviving portion of a Puritan cemetery that was not confiscated by the Royal Governor of Boston in 1686 so that King’s Chapel could be built. Because the land was to be used for a Church of England, there wasn’t anything the Puritans could do about it despite the fact that they dominated the local population. They were allowed to move the graves where the church building was to sit and reinter them in the remaining part of the cemetery, so no graves were actually covered up by the building.

King’s Chapel Church in Boston

The original Puritan cemetery was opened in 1630, and at the time it was the only cemetery in Boston. Because of this it was simply called The Burying Place. By the late 1650s it was just about full, so the city of Boston established Copp’s Hill Burying Ground in 1659, which was referred to as the New Burying Ground. The Burying Place took on the name Old Burying Ground. It wasn’t until the mid-1700s that it became known as King’s Chapel Burying Ground due to its proximity to the church. The cemetery is now owned by the city of Boston.

Once the New Burying Ground was opened, burials at the Old Burying Ground were forbidden, but due to a lack of cemetery space in Boston, they continued up through 1896. There are a few people who were buried in family plots as late as the 1920s. Today there are only 600 remaining tombstones, most from the 1700s, though countless more bodies are buried on the grounds.

Grave of Joseph Tapping (died 1678) at the King’s Chapel Burying Ground in Boston

Gravel of Elizabeth Foster (died 1773) at the King’s Chapel Burying Ground in Boston

Grave of William Halewell (died 1702) at the King’s Chapel Burying Ground in Boston

There are five wayside exhibits placed throughout the cemetery that provide a wealth of information about the important people who are now permanent residents at King’s Chapel Burying Ground. Not only are names mentioned, but interesting stories are told was well. However, while important, none are nationally famous; a few may be recognizable to history buffs. For example, William Dawes rode with Paul Revere on April 18, 1775, on his Midnight Ride to warn the Patriot militia that the British were coming to Concord to confiscate a cache of weapons. Leaving from Boston, Dawes took the land route by way of Cambridge while Revere first rowed a boat across the Charles River to Charlestown, then rode on horse along the Mystic River. Their rendezvous point was in Lexington at the hideout of Samuel Adams and John Hancock. After warning Adams and Hancock that the British were coming for them as well, the two set off towards Concord. Though they were on the same mission, Revere became famous and Dawes faded into obscurity. Why? Because nearly a hundred years later Henry Longfellow wrote the poem, Paul Revere’s Ride.

Revere’s name fit the rhyme: “Listen, my children and you shall hear of the midnight ride of Paul Revere.” The Midnight Ride of William Dawes just doesn’t have the same ring to it. To make matters worse, Revere never made it to Concord to warn the militia that the British were coming because he was captured shortly after leaving Lexington. In all fairness, Dawes didn’t make it to Concord either; he got bucked off his horse when trying to escape from the same British soldiers who captured Revere. Another man who had joined them near Lexington, Samuel Prescott, is the one who got away and made it to Concord…and who ever heard of him?

Grave of William Dawes at the King’s Chapel Burying Ground in Boston

The only other grave of note is that of John Winthrop, the first Royal Governor of Massachusetts and founder of Boston. He died in 1649.

Family tomb of John Winthrop at the King’s Chapel Burying Ground in Boston

The tombstones were originally placed haphazardly around the cemetery. In the early 1800s, cemeteries were becoming more like parks than simply places to bury a body. Many people began removing dead relatives from the unkempt Boston city cemeteries and reinterring them at fancier church- and private-owed cemeteries. To keep up with the times, in the 1830s the Boston cemeteries were remodeled with sidewalks and trees, and the tombstones were arranged in organized rows. However, the graves themselves were not moved, which means the tombstones are no longer over the actual bodies they once belonged to.

Tombstones at the King’s Chapel Burying Ground in Boston are now neatly aligned with each other

Most of the tombstones are made of slate and are now nearly impossible to read due to weathering and mildew. The inscriptions are often still there, but it’s like trying to read dark grey ink on black paper. The fact that you must stay on the sidewalks doesn’t help matters, for you often find yourself a dozen yards away from some of the tombstones.

SCHEDULING YOUR TIME

There aren’t that many “must see” graves at the King’s Chapel Burying Ground, so I only spent about a half hour for my visit. This gave me time to read the information on the five wayside exhibits and see the graves of note. Of the four cemeteries within Boston National Historical Park, the most famous graves are found at the Granary Burying Ground, so be sure not to miss that stop on the Freedom Trail®.

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