{"nrhp_refnum":"09000470","name":"Gate Cemetery","other_names":[],"category":"site","location":{"address":"Ireland St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Chesterfield","county":"Hampshire County","state":"MA","lat":42.39261933300003,"lon":-72.88394756299994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2009-07-01","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Art","Community Planning and Development","Religion"],"significance_levels":[],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A small rural burial ground of about one-third of an acre on the east side of Ireland Street in West Chesterfield, Hampshire County, Massachusetts, enclosed by fieldstone walls, with markers dating from 1808 onward.","why_significant":"The cemetery is a neighborhood burial ground tied to the families who settled along Ireland Street and the Pontoosuc Turnpike toll gate, which gave 'The Gate' its name. Its markers show regional gravestone carving, including work by Elijah Sikes and Thomas Sturges, and an unusual zinc family monument. It reflects changing forms and settlement patterns from the Federal period through the early industrial era.","narrative":"Gate Cemetery is a small burial ground of roughly one-third of an acre on Ireland Street in West Chesterfield, Massachusetts. Fieldstone walls about four and a half feet high enclose it, and the only entrance is a pair of granite posts holding removable wooden rails. Inside are 121 markers and footstones plus 26 fragments, mostly marble slabs and tabernacle forms, with obelisks, a few schist, slate and granite stones, and one zinc family monument. The earliest marker, for Joseph Gere, dates to 1808 and carries an open book, a rare motif locally. The cemetery served families settled along Ireland Street and the Pontoosuc Turnpike, where a toll gate gave the neighborhood the name The Gate. Markers show the work of carvers such as Elijah Sikes and Thomas Sturges, and they stay modest in form and imagery. Burials were most numerous between 1830 and 1870 and dropped sharply after 1900. The period of significance runs from 1808 to 1959.","period_of_significance":"1808-1959","architect_builder":"Marker carvers include Elijah Sikes (attributed) and Thomas Sturges (signed)","architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Active cemetery with 121 markers and footstones and 26 fragments; a few markers postdate 1959.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:13:03.583432-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/77/7954/63795477/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/09000470.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/09000470/d9d72f79c9-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/09000470/d9d72f79c9-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"User:Magicpiano","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:ChesterfieldMA_GateCemetery.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:ChesterfieldMA_GateCemetery.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63795477","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gate_Cemetery","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q16891555"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/hampshire-county/gate-cemetery-09000470/"}