{"nrhp_refnum":"74000907","name":"Phipps Street Burying Ground","other_names":[],"category":"site","location":{"address":"Phipps St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Boston","county":"Suffolk County","state":"MA","lat":42.376222347000066,"lon":-71.06964868099993,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1974-05-14","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Landscape Architecture","Art","Religion","Social History"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A roughly square burying ground of about 1.76 acres on a small mound off Phipps Street in Charlestown, Boston, established in 1630 and owned by the City of Boston Parks and Recreation Department.","why_significant":"The form cites its early establishment in 1630, its association with John Harvard, and its many 17th to early 19th century gravestones and tombs as examples of funerary sculpture. Its grave markers dated before April 1775 are the only pre-Revolutionary artifacts remaining in Charlestown. Its family-plot layout is unusual among Boston's 17th century burying grounds.","narrative":"Phipps Street Burying Ground in Charlestown, Boston, occupies a small mound of about 1.76 acres and dates to the town's founding in 1630. It once overlooked an estuary of the Charles River, but the surrounding land has since been filled and its uses changed. Graves are grouped in small rectangular family plots rather than in rows, a layout unlike other 17th century burying grounds in Boston. Paths are named for Charlestown families such as Frothingham, Hurd, Harvard, Phipps and Russell. A granite obelisk erected in 1828 by Harvard College graduates marks the burial place of John Harvard. The earliest marker dates from 1642, and most stones are from the later 18th century. Because British forces destroyed the town's buildings after the Battle of Bunker Hill, the markers made before April 1775 are the only pre-Revolutionary artifacts left in Charlestown. The carved designs show a shift from winged death's heads to neoclassical urns and willows.","period_of_significance":"17th Century (specific date 1630)","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Condition listed as fair; altered; original site; pathways overgrown or covered by silt; in use as a cemetery.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:54.501557-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/74/7970/63797074/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/74000907.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/74000907/c12e9daa88-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/74000907/c12e9daa88-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Jameslwoodward","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Phipps_Street_Burying_Ground_Boston_MA_01.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:Phipps_Street_Burying_Ground_Boston_MA_01.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63797074","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phipps_Street_Burying_Ground","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7186417"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/suffolk-county/phipps-street-burying-ground-74000907/"}