{"nrhp_refnum":"74002045","name":"King's Chapel","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Tremont and School Sts.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Boston","county":"Suffolk County","state":"MA","lat":42.358029352000045,"lon":-71.06000775953036,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1974-05-02","is_nhl":true,"nhl_designated_date":"1960-10-09","areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A small square burying ground of about 0.44 acres on Tremont Street in Boston, Suffolk County, Massachusetts, established in 1630 and owned by the City of Boston. It is bounded by King's Chapel, Old City Hall and a commercial building.","why_significant":"The nomination cites its early establishment as Boston's only cemetery for nearly thirty years, and its burials of persons important to the city and nation. It also cites its collection of 17th and 18th century funerary sculpture, and its role as part of Boston's chain of urban green open spaces.","narrative":"King's Chapel Burying Ground is a small plot on Tremont Street in Boston, founded in 1630 and enclosed by King's Chapel, Old City Hall and a commercial building. Early Puritan settler Isaac Johnson asked to be buried in his garden, and other colonists soon sought burial nearby. It served as the city's only cemetery for nearly thirty years. Interments include Governor John Winthrop, the minister John Cotton, William Dawes Jr., who rode with Paul Revere, Robert Keayne, founder of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company, and Mary Chilton. With nearly 1800 markers, the ground holds an almost unbroken series of stones from 1658, tracing the carver's craft from winged death's heads to neoclassical urns and willows. Nineteenth-century landscaping set the stones in rows, and an iron fence was added in 1854. Together with Old City Hall Plaza, it forms part of the chain of green spaces that begins at Boston Common.","period_of_significance":"17th Century, 18th Century, 19th Century (specific date 1630)","architect_builder":"Iron fence erected in 1854 by Smith, Lovett & Co.","architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Listed as in good condition, altered, on its original site; occupied and used as a cemetery, with burials officially closed by 1896 and a few tomb interments as late as the 1960s.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:53.685557-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/80/7970/63797080/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/74002045.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/74002045/fafcd9340d-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/74002045/fafcd9340d-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"User:Chensiyuan","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kings_chapel_boston_2009h.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">User:Chensiyuan</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:Kings_chapel_boston_2009h.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63797080","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King%27s_Chapel","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1139921"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/suffolk-county/kings-chapel-74002045/"}