{"nrhp_refnum":"97001473","name":"Prince Hall Mystic Cemetery","other_names":[],"category":"site","location":{"address":null,"address_restricted":true,"city":"Arlington","county":"Middlesex County","state":"MA","lat":42.410203,"lon":-71.135406,"geom_source":"wikidata"},"listed_date":"1998-11-25","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Black","Historic - Aboriginal","Social History"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A small, nearly square cemetery lot of about 9,491 square feet on the north side of Gardner Street in East Arlington, Massachusetts, dedicated in 1868 by the Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons.","why_significant":"It is believed to be the only surviving cemetery of the Prince Hall Masons, the first African American Masonic organization in the United States. Its significance rests on its ties to the Massachusetts African American community (Criterion A) and on its archaeological potential, both prehistoric and historic (Criterion D). The site also lies within a recorded prehistoric occupation area along Alewife Brook.","narrative":"Prince Hall Mystic Cemetery is a small grassy lot on Gardner Street in East Arlington, Massachusetts, measuring roughly 93 by 100 feet. The Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons, a Boston-based African American fraternal organization, dedicated it in 1868 as a burial place for its members. Only a few burials are documented, and in the nineteenth century it served mainly as a memorial park with a central mound, an obelisk and several headstones. Those features vanished over time, and the Lodge sold the lot in 1953 before a court ordered it bought back. Interest revived in the 1980s, and in 1990 a new gate, walkway and black granite monument were installed. Today the site is believed to be the only surviving Prince Hall Masons cemetery. It is valued for its link to the history of Massachusetts' African American community and for the archaeological evidence it may hold, including prehistoric Native American material and possible graves.","period_of_significance":"1868-1875","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":null,"criteria":["A","D"],"status_note":"Cleared, fenced lot with a modern granite monument installed in 1990; the nineteenth-century above-ground features are gone, and a few small obelisk fragments and a granite block remain.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:13:04.696728-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/74/7961/63796174/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/97001473.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/97001473/b76ec58fa6-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/97001473/b76ec58fa6-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Daderot","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Prince_Hall_Mystic_Cemetery,_Arlington,_MA.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Daderot</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:Prince_Hall_Mystic_Cemetery,_Arlington,_MA.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63796174","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Hall_Mystic_Cemetery","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7244050"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/middlesex-county/prince-hall-mystic-cemetery-97001473/"}