{"nrhp_refnum":"08000795","name":"Ohabei Shalom Cemetery","other_names":[],"category":"site","location":{"address":"147 Wordsworth St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Boston","county":"Suffolk County","state":"MA","lat":42.383046632500054,"lon":-71.01482464444928,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2008-08-19","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Community Planning and Development","European","Religion","Social History"],"significance_levels":["state","local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A 2.36-acre Jewish cemetery at 147 Wordsworth Street in the Harbor View area of East Boston, Boston, founded in 1844 by Congregation Ohabei Shalom. It holds a granite Gothic chapel built in 1903, five mausoleums and about 2,000 gravesites.","why_significant":"It was the first legally established Jewish cemetery in Massachusetts and shows how Boston's Jewish immigrant community developed socially and culturally. It is one of the last traces of East Boston's regional Jewish community. Its markers show a shift from Eastern European traditions to Victorian and 20th-century American memorial styles.","narrative":"Ohabei Shalom Cemetery in East Boston was founded in 1844 and is the first legally established Jewish cemetery in Massachusetts. Laid out on a hillside of about 2.36 acres, it has seven burial sections, roughly 2,000 graves, a granite Victorian Gothic chapel from 1903 and five mausoleums along its southern edge. The oldest markers, mostly weathered marble with Hebrew inscriptions and traditional symbols such as hands of blessing and ewers, sit on the high western side. Later family monuments in polished granite use classical forms, and their English inscriptions reflect the community's growing assimilation and prosperity. Several linked headstones joined by a shallow arch are a rare type in Massachusetts. The cemetery was listed for its role in the history of Boston's Jewish immigrants, who once formed the largest Jewish population in New England in this part of the city, and for its funerary art. The chapel was damaged in 2003, and the eroding older stones, which hold genealogical information, remain a concern.","period_of_significance":"1844-1958","architect_builder":"John A. Hasty (signed building permit for chapel, 1903)","architectural_style":"Gothic Revival","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Still active on a limited basis. The chapel was damaged by fire and vandalism in 2003 and is deteriorated and no longer usable. Day-to-day maintenance is good, but there is a large backlog of deferred maintenance.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:13:03.914631-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/67/7968/63796867/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/08000795.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/08000795/9d822fd87a-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/08000795/9d822fd87a-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Jameslwoodward","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ohabei_Shalom_Cemetery_East_Boston_MA_04.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Jameslwoodward</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:Ohabei_Shalom_Cemetery_East_Boston_MA_04.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63796867","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temple_Ohabei_Shalom_Cemetery","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7698624"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/suffolk-county/ohabei-shalom-cemetery-08000795/"}