{"nrhp_refnum":"05000277","name":"Vine Lake Cemetery","other_names":[],"category":"site","location":{"address":"Main St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Medfield","county":"Norfolk County","state":"MA","lat":42.18712439400005,"lon":-71.31572865484283,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2005-04-14","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Art","Communications","Social History"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Vine Lake Cemetery is a 31.9-acre public town cemetery on the north side of Main Street (Route 109) in Medfield, Norfolk County, Massachusetts. It began as a small burying ground in 1651 and grew to nearly twenty burial sections.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the cemetery is a virtual microcosm of cemetery design, with Colonial, Rural and Landscape Lawn sections blending together. Section A holds early gravestones by noted Boston and regional carvers, along with fine 19th-century monuments. The site also has potential archaeological significance for both Native American and early colonial settlement.","narrative":"Vine Lake Cemetery, on Main Street in Medfield, Massachusetts, began as a small burying ground in 1651 and now covers 31.9 acres in nearly twenty sections. The town added land over time, and each addition brought a new landscape style while the older sections were kept intact. The result moves from the Colonial burying ground of Section A, through the winding roads and family plots of the Rural cemetery sections, to Landscape Lawn areas. Vine Lake, created around 1800 by widening Vine Brook and building a dam, gives the grounds their name and their main views. Section A contains slate gravestones from the 1690s, many carved by well-known Boston and regional carvers, plus marble, sandstone, granite and white bronze monuments, an 1844 receiving tomb, granite walls and a granite bridge from 1890. The nomination also notes possible Native American and early colonial archaeological resources beneath the grounds.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Colonial, Rural Cemetery and Landscape Lawn cemetery design periods","criteria":[],"status_note":"Still in use as the town's public cemetery; a Preservation & Management Plan was completed in 2004.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:13:03.546038-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/10/7964/63796410/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/05000277.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/05000277/3e4a78cb89-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/05000277/3e4a78cb89-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 3.0","author":"John Phelan","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Vine_Lake_Cemetery,_Medfield_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:Vine_Lake_Cemetery,_Medfield_MA.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63796410","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vine_Lake_Cemetery","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7932377"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/norfolk-county/vine-lake-cemetery-05000277/"}