{"nrhp_refnum":"04000024","name":"Ringville Cemetery","other_names":[],"category":"site","location":{"address":"Witt Hill Rd.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Worthington","county":"Hampshire County","state":"MA","lat":42.37036849000003,"lon":-72.91500813899995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2004-02-11","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Art","Social History","Landscape Architecture","Community Planning and Development"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Ringville Cemetery is a municipally owned burial ground of about 3 acres on Witt Hill Road in the Ringville hamlet of Worthington, Massachusetts. Its earliest burials date from the 1840s, and the town acquired the land in stages from 1866 onward.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the cemetery reflects the growth of the Ringville mill hamlet in the mid-1800s, and holds the graves of local mill-owning families, parents of Russell Conwell, and 35 veterans. It also cites its landscape features, including a fieldstone wall, mature sugar maples and the ca. 1927 Blair Vault, along with locally carved gravestones.","narrative":"Ringville Cemetery sits on the south side of Witt Hill Road in the Worthington hamlet of Ringville, once a busy mill and dairy center. Roughly three acres in size, it is bounded on the road side by a fieldstone retaining wall with a granite cap, lined inside by tall sugar maples, and bordered by Watts Stream. Its earliest burials date to the 1840s, and the town assembled the grounds through land purchases between 1866 and 1887, adding another acre later. About 300 stones of granite, marble, schist and brownstone include Victorian markers, obelisks, and a set of graves reportedly moved from Ireland Street. The brick and granite Blair Vault, built about 1927, is the most prominent structure. The cemetery was listed for its reflection of Ringville's growth through the Ring family mills and other local enterprises, for burials of figures such as the parents of Temple University founder Russell Conwell, and for its landscape and locally carved gravestones. The town still buries there.","period_of_significance":"1847-1953","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":null,"criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Still in use by the Town of Worthington for burials; the original layout and historic walls are described as preserved, and an acre was added in the late 1900s.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:13:03.878549-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/81/7954/63795481/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/04000024.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/04000024/e01e5668e3-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/04000024/e01e5668e3-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"John Phelan","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ringville_Cemetery,_Ringville_MA.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">John Phelan</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:Ringville_Cemetery,_Ringville_MA.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63795481","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ringville_Cemetery","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7335004"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/hampshire-county/ringville-cemetery-04000024/"}