{"nrhp_refnum":"82004421","name":"Hancock Cemetery","other_names":[],"category":"site","location":{"address":"Hancock St. in Quincy Sq.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Quincy","county":"Norfolk County","state":"MA","lat":42.250649277000036,"lon":-70.99547126899995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1982-01-28","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Art","Exploration/Settlement","Politics/Government","Social History"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A public burying ground of slightly more than two acres on Hancock Street in Quincy Square, Quincy, Massachusetts, with its origins in the 1640s or earlier. It is owned by the City of Quincy and includes graves from the 17th through 19th centuries.","why_significant":"The nomination argues that it is the only surviving 17th-century component of Quincy Center and has integrity of location, design, materials and workmanship. It holds the graves of families of local, state and national repute, including the Adams and Quincy families and early ministers. It also contains notable early gravestone art, especially the 1703 Cleaverly marker attributed to the carver J.N.","narrative":"Hancock Cemetery is a grassy, wooded burying ground of just over two acres in the civic centre of Quincy, Massachusetts. Burials are believed to date from the earliest settlement, and the site was formally recorded after 1640. It stayed on private land until the town took custody in 1809. An ornamental cast iron fence along Hancock Street was added in 1844. Its stones span the 17th to 19th centuries, with early slate markers giving way to marble and granite. Henry Adams, who died in 1646, is the oldest identified burial, and members of the Adams and Quincy families lie here, along with early ministers such as Rev. William Tompson and Rev. John Hancock. Revolutionary War soldiers are commemorated by a modern monument. The 1703 Cleaverly stone, attributed to a carver who signed J.N., is the most artistically significant marker. The cemetery is valued as Quincy's only surviving 17th-century element of its original center.","period_of_significance":"1600-1699, 1700-1799, 1800-1899 (specific date: about 1640)","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Public cemetery owned by the City of Quincy; described as occupied and unaltered, on its original site.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:53.141111-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/14/7964/63796414/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/82004421.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/82004421/2136ee960f-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/82004421/2136ee960f-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Sswonk","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hancock_Cemetery.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Sswonk</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:Hancock_Cemetery.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63796414","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hancock_Cemetery","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5647024"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/norfolk-county/hancock-cemetery-82004421/"}