{"nrhp_refnum":"03000993","name":"Bellvue Cemetery","other_names":[],"category":"site","location":{"address":"170 May St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Lawrence","county":"Essex County","state":"MA","lat":42.71085080100005,"lon":-71.1854999586374,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2003-10-03","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Community Planning and Development","Landscape Architecture","Social History"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Bellevue Cemetery is a garden cemetery of about 96 acres at 170 May Street, mostly in northwest Lawrence, Massachusetts, with a 2.3-acre strip in Methuen. The Old Yard was begun in 1847 and the New Yard (New Bellevue) was acquired in 1893.","why_significant":"The cemetery's markers, landscape and monuments reflect the changing social, cultural and religious makeup of Lawrence, from early Protestant families to later Catholic immigrant families. It holds the graves of the city's founder, mayors, congressmen and industrialists, plus memorials to mill workers lost in the 1860 Pemberton Mill disaster. It also has potential archaeological significance for Native American and historic-period information.","narrative":"Bellevue Cemetery is a 96-acre garden cemetery in northwest Lawrence, Massachusetts, with a small strip reaching into Methuen. Its Old Yard dates to 1847, and the larger New Bellevue section was added from 1893. Curving roads and paths wind over hilly, partly terraced ground. Notable features include the 1873 Second Empire Hearse House, which serves as the office, granite hillside crypts, a 1918 cremation tomb, Civil War veterans' plots, and a bronze statue by Anna Coleman Ladd. The cemetery holds the graves of Lawrence's founder Daniel Saunders, many mayors, congressmen and industrialists, and relatives of poet Robert Frost. Monuments also honor Pacific Mills workers and victims of the 1860 Pemberton Mill collapse. Changes in marker material, size and design, and in the families buried here, trace the city's growth from a Protestant mill town to a more diverse, immigrant community. Land beside the cemetery could also hold archaeological evidence of Native American settlement.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Hearse House designed by Moses and Willard B. Perkins, built 1873 by James Flanagan","architectural_style":"Garden cemetery; Second Empire (Hearse House)","criteria":[],"status_note":"Still an active cemetery. The Hearse House (cemetery office) was restored in 2000. Some older trees, roads and marble markers are in poor condition.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:13:04.722176-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/28/7948/63794828/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/03000993.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/03000993/936c81b4bf-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/03000993/936c81b4bf-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 2.0","author":"EraserGirl","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bellevue_Cemetery_Lawrence.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">EraserGirl</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY 2.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bellevue_Cemetery_Lawrence.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63794828","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bellevue_Cemetery","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4883920"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/essex-county/bellvue-cemetery-03000993/"}