Mount Wollaston Cemetery

Mount Wollaston Cemetery is a 51-acre municipal burial ground on a low hill in Quincy's Merrymount area, laid out in 1855 when the older Hancock Cemetery was filling. A town committee modelled it on the rural garden cemetery type, with curving tree-lined roads and generous family plots. A low granite wall with pyramid-capped posts encloses the grounds; the present wall was built by the Works Progress Administration between 1935 and 1940. Inside are an estimated 85,000 to 115,000 gravestones and markers, a granite office building, a row of mausolea, and war memorials including a Civil War monument of 1868 and a firemen's memorial of 1929. The cemetery was listed for its place in Quincy's history as the second public burial ground and for its ties to the local granite industry, shown in carved monuments, polished stones and large turned granite balls. It also reflects the garden cemetery movement in its design and artistry.