{"nrhp_refnum":"87000302","name":"Marstons Mills Hearse House and Cemetery","other_names":[],"category":"site","location":{"address":"MA 149","address_restricted":false,"city":"Barnstable","county":"Barnstable County","state":"MA","lat":41.66233211000005,"lon":-70.40846827267472,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1987-03-13","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Community Planning and Development","Art"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A small wood-frame hearse house built about 1885 beside the Marstons Mills Cemetery on Route 149 (Cotuit Road) in Marstons Mills, a village of Barnstable, Massachusetts. The 5.75-acre cemetery next to it dates to the Colonial period.","why_significant":"The hearse house is argued to be significant for its ties to the village of Marstons Mills and as the only building of its type in Barnstable to remain substantially unaltered since the mid-19th century. The cemetery is significant for its role in the village's development and for the artistic quality of its gravestones, which span the full range of 19th-century types.","narrative":"A small gable-roofed hearse house, built around 1885 and sheathed in painted wood shingles, sits beside the Marstons Mills Cemetery on Route 149. In the 1800s each of Barnstable's seven villages had a horse-drawn hearse and a building to house it, paid for by town meeting appropriations. This one stopped serving that purpose in the early 1930s and later became a storage and tool shed. In 1984 the town planned to move it to Sandy Neck as a gatehouse, but residents and the Barnstable Historical Commission objected, and local groups raised money for repairs in 1985. It is one of only two hearse houses left in town, and the only one on its original site that has not been substantially altered. The adjoining cemetery holds an estimated 300-400 gravestones, including those of the Marston family and other early village families, and displays the full range of 19th-century stone types.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Vernacular","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"The hearse house is listed as vacant and in fair-good condition; it was repaired in 1985 with concrete footings and new timbers. The cemetery is still in use and needs gravestone repair.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:13:02.160447-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/39/7891/63789139/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/87000302.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/87000302/822e5c3654-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/87000302/822e5c3654-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"Magicpiano","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:BarnstableMA_MarstonsMillsHearseHouse.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">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:BarnstableMA_MarstonsMillsHearseHouse.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63789139","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marstons_Mills_Hearse_House_and_Cemetery","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6774014"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/barnstable-county/marstons-mills-hearse-house-and-cemetery-87000302/"}