{"nrhp_refnum":"74000915","name":"Dorchester North Burying Ground","other_names":["First Burying Ground in Dorchester"],"category":"district","location":{"address":"Stroughton St. and Columbia Rd.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Boston","county":"Suffolk County","state":"MA","lat":42.31689090000003,"lon":-71.06381852399994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1974-04-18","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Landscape Architecture","Art","Social History"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Dorchester North Burying Ground, also called the First Burying Ground in Dorchester, is a 3.27-acre cemetery district at Stoughton Street and Columbia Road in Dorchester, Boston, Massachusetts. It was established in 1633 and expanded between 1694 and 1820.","why_significant":"The nomination argues it is locally significant for its link to Dorchester's founding citizens, its early 17th-century establishment, and its exceptional collection of 17th, 18th and 19th century funerary sculpture. It contains the earliest surviving gravestone in Boston's ancient burying grounds and remained in use well into the 19th century.","narrative":"Dorchester North Burying Ground occupies 3.27 acres at the corner of Columbia Road and Stoughton Street in Boston's Dorchester neighborhood. Established in 1633, it was the settlement's only cemetery for two centuries and grew through several additions between 1694 and 1820. A concrete wall now encloses it, while earlier gates carry bronze tablets placed by the city in 1883. Paths laid out in 1834 divided the grounds into twenty-four sections, and the maple clusters date from that work. About 1,200 markers survive, ranging from curved 17th-century slabs to slender neoclassical stones of the Revolutionary era and varied Victorian monuments. The earliest existing stone in Boston's ancient burying grounds, for Abel and Submite Clarke, is here. Burials include Lieutenant Governor William Stoughton, the Reverend Richard Mather, and printer John Foster, along with forty unidentified soldiers who died during the Siege. The site was listed for its founding-era associations and its funerary art.","period_of_significance":"17th Century (specific date 1633); 18th and 19th centuries also discussed","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Owned by the City of Boston Parks and Recreation Department; in use as a cemetery; condition listed as fair and unaltered.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:53.749421-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/78/7970/63797078/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/74000915.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/74000915/74de2c2c5a-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/74000915/74de2c2c5a-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"User:Magicpiano","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:BostonMA_DorchesterNorthBuryingGround.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:BostonMA_DorchesterNorthBuryingGround.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"100009975","name":"Uphams Corner Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/massachusetts/uphams-corner-historic-district-100009975/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63797078","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorchester_North_Burying_Ground","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5297613"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/suffolk-county/dorchester-north-burying-ground-74000915/"}