{"nrhp_refnum":"04001256","name":"South Burying Ground","other_names":["Winchester Street Burying Ground"],"category":"site","location":{"address":"Winchester St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Newton","county":"Middlesex County","state":"MA","lat":42.31778146200003,"lon":-71.20921854199997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2004-11-27","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Art","Social History","Community Planning and Development"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"South Burying Ground is a 1.37-acre municipal cemetery on Winchester Street in southwestern Newton, Massachusetts, established in 1802 by Upper Falls and Oak Hill residents and used for burials from 1803 to 1938.","why_significant":"It is the third burying ground established in Newton and the first not tied to a specific parish, and it is linked to the early growth of the Upper Falls neighborhood. It illustrates early 19th century New England burial practice, including the shift from single graves to family lots and from headstones to monuments. It also holds Revolutionary War and Civil War veterans' graves and markers signed by regional carvers.","narrative":"South Burying Ground is a small municipal cemetery of 1.37 acres on Winchester Street in southwestern Newton. Residents of Upper Falls and Oak Hill organized it in 1802 as a neighborhood burial place, and it was sold to the town in 1833. It was the third burying ground in Newton and the first without a parish connection. The 357 recorded burials date from 1803 to 1938 and include 11 Revolutionary War veterans, many placed in tombs built in 1806, and two Civil War veterans. About 165 headstones survive, roughly 55 of slate and 110 of marble, along with one pillar and five obelisks. The layout shows a move from single graves to family lots, and several stones are signed by carvers from Harvard, Newton Corner, Dedham and Waltham. A detailed 1901 map records lots, graves and plantings. Listing recognized its ties to local history and its value as an early 19th century New England burial ground, despite lost markers and overgrowth.","period_of_significance":"1802-1938","architect_builder":"Farnu(m), Stanton; Houghton, E. W. (Harvard, MA); Jepson (Newton Corner, MA); Lord, A. H. (Dedham, MA); Runnels (Waltham, MA)","architectural_style":null,"criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Inactive cemetery; the last burial was in 1938. Many headstones, footstones and brick tomb facings have deteriorated, and overgrown vegetation threatens markers.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:13:04.442199-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/79/7914/63791479/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/04001256.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/04001256/24439770a2-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/04001256/24439770a2-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"User:Magicpiano","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:NewtonMA_SouthBuryingGround.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">User: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:NewtonMA_SouthBuryingGround.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63791479","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Burying_Ground","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7566459"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/middlesex-county/south-burying-ground-04001256/"}