{"nrhp_refnum":"04000958","name":"Wilson Cemetery","other_names":[],"category":"site","location":{"address":"Wilson St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Marlborough","county":"Middlesex County","state":"MA","lat":42.352557227000034,"lon":-71.50761308699998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2004-09-10","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Art","Community Planning and Development","Social History"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A small municipal burial ground of 1.22 acres on the east side of Wilson Street in Marlborough, Massachusetts. Its first documented burial dates to 1764, and it is bordered on the south and east by Evergreen Cemetery.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the cemetery reflects the history of Marlborough's 19th-century Farms neighborhood and the town's social history, including family ties, infant mortality and immigration. It also illustrates the shift from burial ground to cemetery with family lots, and from slate to marble to granite markers, including a signed stone by A. Cary of Boston. It is also noted for its continuous use as a neighborhood burying ground.","narrative":"Wilson Cemetery is a 1.22-acre municipal burial ground on Wilson Street in Marlborough, Massachusetts. It holds about 202 headstones, 14 granite family monuments and one hillside tomb, recording burials from 1764 to 2000, most from the 19th century. The older northern section has loosely arranged rows, while the later southern section is laid out in orderly family lots. The markers show a progression from carved slate with winged heads and willow-and-urn designs, to marble, to granite. Some stones are signed, including work by A. Cary of Boston. The grounds include the tomb of Revolutionary War veteran Robert Eames, along with Civil War and World War II veterans. Burials reflect the area's farming roots, high infant mortality, and the arrival of Scandinavian and other immigrant families. One of several neighborhood burial grounds that passed to municipal control after 1855, it was recognized for its association with local history and for its evolving funerary art.","period_of_significance":"1764 - 1954","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":null,"criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Generally well maintained but with some gravestone loss and deterioration; marble stones are weathering badly. Not generally considered an active cemetery except for burials in existing family lots; the most recent interment was in 2000.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:13:04.493358-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/87/7960/63796087/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/04000958.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/04000958/c620717f03-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/04000958/c620717f03-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"Magicpiano","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:MarlboroughMA_WilsonCemetery2.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Magicpiano</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:MarlboroughMA_WilsonCemetery2.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63796087","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilson_Cemetery","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q8023005"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/middlesex-county/wilson-cemetery-04000958/"}