{"nrhp_refnum":"00001086","name":"East Lawn Cemetery and Sherman Burbank Memorial Chapel","other_names":[],"category":"district","location":{"address":"605 Main St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Williamstown","county":"Berkshire County","state":"MA","lat":42.70746250000008,"lon":-73.19583477857964,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2000-09-14","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Community Planning and Development"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A town-owned cemetery district on Main Street (Route 2) in Williamstown, Massachusetts, begun in 1842, with about 19 nominated acres. It includes the 1936 Sherman Burbank Memorial Chapel with receiving vault, and a small private Lloyd family mausoleum.","why_significant":"The nomination presents the cemetery as a town burial ground that took on its park-like appearance through major improvements in 1898-1899, with a veterans' circle added in 1900. The chapel is significant as a small Late Gothic Revival design by Philadelphia architect Frank Rushmore Watson, built with medieval-style masonry methods in keeping with ideas popularized by Ralph Adams Cram.","narrative":"East Lawn Cemetery occupies a sloping site on the south side of Main Street in Williamstown, Massachusetts. Begun in 1842 on a two-acre parcel, it grew through gifts and purchases of land. Major improvements in 1898-1899 gave it a park-like plan, with lawns, new drives, a stone entrance wall and perimeter fencing, and an Old Veterans' Circle was dedicated in 1900. The nominated 19 acres hold most of the graves, including marble obelisks, a Medal of Honor recipient's grave, and a small white marble Lloyd family mausoleum. At the front stands the Sherman Burbank Memorial Chapel, built in 1936 to designs by Philadelphia architect Frank Rushmore Watson. Its walls are local yellow and brown quartzite trimmed with Indiana limestone, and it has a tower, porte-cochere and receiving vault. Built by contractor David Deans using Italian stone masons, it reflects Late Gothic Revival ideas about medieval-style construction. The cemetery remains in use.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Frank Rushmore Watson (firm Watson, Edkins and Thompson); David Deans, local building contractor","architectural_style":"Late Gothic Revival","criteria":[],"status_note":"Cemetery remains in use as a cemetery; the Lloyd mausoleum section is not yet filled.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:13:05.081358-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/22/7942/63794222/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/00001086.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/00001086/5192fb2345-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/00001086/5192fb2345-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 3.0","author":"John Phelan","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sherman_Burbank_Memorial_Chapel,_Williamstown_MA.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">John Phelan</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sherman_Burbank_Memorial_Chapel,_Williamstown_MA.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63794222","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Lawn_Cemetery_and_Sherman_Burbank_Memorial_Chapel","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5328814"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/berkshire-county/east-lawn-cemetery-and-sherman-burbank-memorial-chapel-00001086/"}