{"nrhp_refnum":"00000534","name":"Amherst West Cemetery","other_names":[],"category":"site","location":{"address":"Triangle St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Amherst","county":"Hampshire County","state":"MA","lat":42.379391715000054,"lon":-72.51801449999994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2000-05-26","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Art","Community Planning and Development","Black"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A municipal burial ground of about four acres on Triangle Street in Amherst, Massachusetts, founded in 1730 by a Hadley town meeting vote and taken over by the Town of Amherst in 1786.","why_significant":"The cemetery holds hundreds of Colonial-era slate markers, Victorian monuments and the grave of poet Emily Dickinson. Its stones show changing carving styles and mark the town's leading families, and it contains a section of African American burials including Civil War veterans. Its 1833-1854 upgrades reflect the rural cemetery movement.","narrative":"West Cemetery in Amherst, Massachusetts, is a four-acre burial ground on Triangle Street, established in 1730 when Hadley voters approved a new burying place for their east precinct. The town of Amherst took over its care in 1786. The earliest surviving stone dates to 1737. Hundreds of Colonial slate markers carry death's heads and portal designs, while Victorian limestone, marble and granite monuments include obelisks, chest markers and a single zinc monument. Poet Emily Dickinson is buried near the center with her family. Many early settlers, politicians and businessmen also rest here, including the Boltwood, Seelye, Cowles, Cutler and Kellogg families. The southeast corner holds about fifty graves of Black residents, among them Civil War soldiers. Between 1833 and 1854 the town added fencing, a town tomb and curving paths, following the rural cemetery movement. Granite gateways from 1907 and 1954 mark the entrances, and a small shed from about 1920 is the only building.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Still in use as a cemetery; the figure-eight path remains in use today.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:13:04.789116-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/75/7954/63795475/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/00000534.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/00000534/b7adef81c5-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/00000534/b7adef81c5-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"DyanFrench","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gravestones_in_West_Cemetery,_Amherst,_Massachusetts.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">DyanFrench</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:Gravestones_in_West_Cemetery,_Amherst,_Massachusetts.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63795475","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amherst_West_Cemetery","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4746056"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/hampshire-county/amherst-west-cemetery-00000534/"}