{"nrhp_refnum":"99000636","name":"Bridge Road Cemetery","other_names":[],"category":"site","location":{"address":"Bridge Rd.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Eastham","county":"Barnstable County","state":"MA","lat":41.82602071600007,"lon":-69.98084993499998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1999-05-27","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Art","Religion","Social History"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A 1.4-acre colonial and early-19th-century town burying ground on the west side of Bridge Road in central Eastham, Barnstable County, Massachusetts, laid out in 1720 with the town's second meeting house.","why_significant":"The cemetery marks the site of Eastham's second meeting house and town center and holds the graves of many of the town's 18th and early-19th century residents. Its slate and other gravestones show changes in New England funerary art from the winged skull to the cherub, urn and willow, including work by noted Boston carvers. The stones and epitaphs also record community events such as the 1816 epidemic.","narrative":"Bridge Road Cemetery is a 1.4-acre burying ground on the west side of Bridge Road in central Eastham, Massachusetts. It was laid out in 1720 alongside the town's second Congregational meeting house and remained in use until 1886, long after the meeting house and town center moved north in 1830. Together with the former Parsonage/Crosby Tavern, it is one of the few surviving reminders of Eastham's 18th and early-19th century center. Most gravestones are slate, with some sandstone, limestone and marble. They show the shift from the winged skull of the Colonial period to the cherub, urn and willow motifs of the Federal era. Several stones are attributed to Boston carvers including William Codner, H.C. Geyer and Lemuel Savery. Many graves belong to families such as Doane, Knowles, Atwood and Freeman. The inscriptions also record local hardship, including children lost in the 1816 epidemic. Surveys in 1905, 1975-76 and 1997 have documented the stones and their condition.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Burials ceased in 1886; the cemetery is still classed as a cemetery. Weathering and freeze/thaw have damaged many stones, especially marble, and repairs began in 1975.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:13:03.403486-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/92/7940/63794092/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/99000636.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/99000636/a1d6f3a91f-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/99000636/a1d6f3a91f-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 3.0","author":"John Phelan","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bridge_Road_Cemetery,_Eastham_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:Bridge_Road_Cemetery,_Eastham_MA.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63794092","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bridge_Road_Cemetery","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4966286"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/barnstable-county/bridge-road-cemetery-99000636/"}