{"nrhp_refnum":"85003241","name":"Walnut Hills Cemetery","other_names":[],"category":"site","location":{"address":"Grove St. and Allandale Rd.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Brookline","county":"Norfolk County","state":"MA","lat":42.30294677400005,"lon":-71.146516411708,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1985-10-17","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Landscape Architecture"],"significance_levels":["national","state","local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Walnut Hills Cemetery is a town-owned burial ground of about 45 acres at Grove Street and Allandale Road in southwest Brookline, Massachusetts. It was authorized in 1874 and consecrated in October 1875.","why_significant":"The cemetery is a fine example of the picturesque, garden-style cemetery that grew out of the rural cemetery movement, with a design that interferes little with natural features such as Roxbury puddingstone outcrops. It is also described as the first cemetery in America to control the design of headstones and lots. Notable burials include architect H.H. Richardson and Charles Sprague Sargent, founder of the Arnold Arboretum.","narrative":"Walnut Hills Cemetery occupies about 45 acres at Grove Street and Allandale Road in southwest Brookline. Town Meeting authorized a town cemetery in 1874, and the landscape gardeners Ernest Bowditch and Franklin Copeland prepared the plan adopted the following year. The grounds were consecrated in October 1875. Bowditch followed the rural cemetery tradition, laying out gently curving paths and keeping interference with the land to a minimum. Outcrops of Roxbury puddingstone, including Mt. Walley, and plantings of walnut, pine, birch, beech, maple, sassafras and cedar shape the setting. Rules adopted in 1886 limited headstones to uniform slate and later granite, so the cemetery now has three visible sections: sculptural stones, slate stones and granite stones. Buildings from 1901 include a puddingstone receiving tomb by A.W. Longfellow and a stable, shed, fence and probably the superintendent's house by Guy Lowell. Burials include H.H. Richardson, Guy Lowell and Charles Sprague Sargent.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Ernest Bowditch and Franklin Copeland (landscape plan); Guy Lowell (stable, shed, fence, probably superintendent's house, 1901); A.W. Longfellow (receiving tomb, 1901)","architectural_style":"Picturesque, garden-style rural cemetery","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Described as well kept up and still receiving burials (most recent death date listed as current).","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:57.066175-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/86/7926/63792686/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/85003241.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/85003241/80a7a18292-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/85003241/80a7a18292-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 3.0","author":"John Phelan","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Walnut_Hills_Cemetery,_Brookline_MA.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">John Phelan</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Walnut_Hills_Cemetery,_Brookline_MA.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63792686","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walnut_Hills_Cemetery_(Brookline,_Massachusetts)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7963634"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/norfolk-county/walnut-hills-cemetery-85003241/"}