{"nrhp_refnum":"00000483","name":"Fairview Cemetery","other_names":[],"category":"site","location":{"address":"Curtis Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Dalton","county":"Berkshire County","state":"MA","lat":42.476965429000074,"lon":-73.17196162870262,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2000-05-11","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Art","Landscape Architecture","Social History"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Fairview Cemetery is a 6.3-acre municipal burial ground on Curtis Avenue in Dalton, Berkshire County, Massachusetts, opened in 1885 and used mainly by the town's Irish-Catholic residents. It holds over 750 burial plots.","why_significant":"The cemetery is argued to mark a transition between mid-nineteenth-century rural cemetery design, with curving drives and specimen plantings, and the later lawn-park approach with small grid-laid family plots that were easier to maintain. It also reflects the economic status and Catholic identity of Dalton's working and middle class immigrant community, and its markers show changing monument fashions through about 1950.","narrative":"Fairview Cemetery occupies 6.3 acres a few blocks north of Main Street in Dalton, Massachusetts. Opened in 1885 and set aside by the town for its Catholic population, it holds more than 750 burial plots, mostly marked by gray granite headstones and chest-style monuments, many carved with crosses. Its layout combines curving gravel drives, recalling the rural cemetery movement, with a tidy grid of small, uniform lots designed for easier mowing and upkeep. Plantings are sparse compared with the older Main Street Cemetery, and markers are modest, reflecting the means of the working-class families who used it. A cast iron fence with granite-trimmed brick gateposts, built in 1921 and expanded in 1926, borders Curtis Avenue. Burial plots were provided free to town residents. The cemetery was listed for its landscape design, its artistic monuments and its place in the social history of Dalton's Irish-Catholic community between 1885 and 1950.","period_of_significance":"1885-1950","architect_builder":"D.W. Dwyer (gateposts); Anchor Iron Works (iron fence)","architectural_style":null,"criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Still used as a cemetery; grave markers are in good to excellent condition and the grounds are well preserved. No unclaimed lots remain, though some assigned plots are unused.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:13:03.578816-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/48/7943/63794348/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/00000483.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/00000483/f1da80f2e8-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/00000483/f1da80f2e8-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Magicpiano","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:DaltonMA_FairviewCemetery.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Magicpiano</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:DaltonMA_FairviewCemetery.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63794348","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairview_Cemetery_(Dalton,_Massachusetts)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5430796"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/berkshire-county/fairview-cemetery-00000483/"}