Central Burying Ground on Boston Common: Resting Place for Indigents, Immigrants and Early Bostonians

Central Burying Ground on Boston Common, Fall 2022

Tucked away in a shady plot at the corner of Tremont and Boylston Street on Boston Common is the Central Burying Ground, cemetery established in 1756 as Boston's fourth cemetery. It was originally called the South Burying Ground, and was used to bury foreigners, strangers, indigents and soldiers.

"This is the only historic burying ground (in Boston) where you will see a large number of Celtic crosses carved into the slate headstones," according to a booklet published by the Boston Parks Department entitled A Self-Guiding Bicycle Tour of Boston's Historic Burying Grounds. "These mark the graves of the earliest Irish settlers, before the establishment of the Irish-Catholic cemetery at St. Augustine's in South Boston."

The booklet was published in 1990 during the Administration of Mayor Raymond L. Flynn, under the direction of Parks Commissioner Larry Dwyer, and written by Kathy Kottaridis as part of Boston's Historic Burying Grounds Initiative.

In addition to Irish and other immigrants, "British soldiers killed in the Battle of Bunker Hill (1775) were buried here, along with patriots who opposed them," according to the Boston Common Management Plan, published in 1990. In addition, well known figures are buried there, including painter Gilbert Stuart and musician George Billings.

In a story entitled, Common Bones, the Boston Post reported on April 28, 1895, "At the present day there can be seen headstones with Inscriptions still legible. Which Indicate that all sorts and conditions of men, irrespective of race or creed, have been there Interred—Americans, Irish, negroes, and Chinese—Catholics, Protestants and Masons."

In 1917, Gravestone Inscriptions and Records of Tomb Burials in the Central Burying Ground, Boston Common was compiled by Ogden Codman and published by the Essex Institute. Among the Irish immigrants he mentions include George Vaughn, native of Ireland (1801), Thomas Sheridan of Dublin (1806), John Quinn of Wexford (1808), James Landrigan and native of Tipperary (1807).

In November 1818, Boston officials granted permission to create St. Augustine Cemetery in South Boston, the first Catholic cemetery permitted in greater Boston. Henceforth, many Irish were buried there.

The Central Burying Ground is part of Boston's Irish Heritage Trail, a three-mile walk through 300 years of Boston Irish history. Read about other Revolutionary Irish connections in Boston.

For information about visiting Boston, go to Bostonusa.com.

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