Evergreen Cemetery
Also known as: West Medway Cemetery
Why it's listed
Evergreen Cemetery covers 19.66 acres along Commonwealth Avenue in Boston's Brighton neighborhood. Brighton's selectmen bought the wooded Aspinwall tract in 1848, and the cemetery was consecrated on August 7, 1850, after the town's Market Street burying ground ran out of room. Surveyor William A. Mason designed a formal layout of two long ovals set against rocky, uneven terrain, departing from the winding roads of Mount Auburn Cemetery, which served as the model. Boston acquired the cemetery when it annexed Brighton in 1874. Notable features include a puddingstone entrance gate designed by Boston City Architect Edmund March Wheelwright in 1892, a Jacobethan Revival office built in 1903, a 1920 maintenance building, a receiving tomb, and a soldiers monument. Burial lots progress from large family plots in the oldest section to compact rows in the 1970s additions. The cemetery is still in use, and its mature trees, stone walls and monuments preserve its mid-19th-century character.
Significance in brief: The cemetery reflects mid-19th-century rural cemetery ideals, inspired by Mount Auburn Cemetery but laid out in a more formal oval geometry. It is closely tied to the history of the Brighton community and its horticulturists. It keeps distinctive landscape features, buildings, walls and monuments from the mid 19th century to 1958.
Machine-generated summary. This summary was generated by a language model from the official nomination document and has not been reviewed line by line by an editor. It may contain errors. Check the source document before relying on any detail. Source: nomination document (PDF) · National Archives catalog entry. NRHP reference 100006778, listed August 4, 2021. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-sonnet-5-5, prompt v1.0-2026-10-29, confidence medium).
Key facts
| Address | 8 Evergreen St., Medway |
|---|---|
| County | Norfolk County |
| Listed | August 4, 2021 |
| Reference number | 100006778 |
| Resource type | District |
| Architect / builder | William A. Mason (original layout, 1850); James Mulcahy (cemetery office, 1903); Samuel J. Rantin (maintenance building, 1920); Edmund March Wheelwright (entrance gate, 1892) |
| Architectural style | Jacobethan Revival (cemetery office) |
| Areas of significance | Exploration/Settlement, Social History, Art |
| Level of significance | Local |
| Status (as stated in the nomination) | Remains an active cemetery, although new burial space is limited. Some interior walls are in poor condition and overgrown. |
| Acreage | 12.8 |
| Coordinates | 42.14577, -71.42334 (NPS GIS) |
What listing means for this property
This is a historic district. Buildings within its boundary are either contributing (they add to the district's significance) or non-contributing. Owners of contributing income-producing buildings can claim the 20% federal rehabilitation tax credit; homeowners should look at state credits. National Register districts impose no design review by themselves; a local historic district ordinance, if one exists, does (the difference explained).
General information, not legal or tax advice. Rules change; confirm with your State Historic Preservation Office or a qualified adviser.
Sources and further reading
- National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places database (snapshot May 2026), reference 100006778.
- Nomination form (PDF, National Archives) — catalog entry
- This listing as JSON
Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.