Old Cemetery

History

The Old Cemetery, also known as the Milk Row Cemetery, is a historic cemetery on Somerville Avenue and School Street in Somerville, Massachusetts. Established in 1804 on land donated by Samuel Tufts, it is the city's oldest cemetery. The cemetery was established when Somerville was still a part of Charlestown, and many Somerville residents used that city's Phipps Street Burying Ground, and later the Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge instead of this one. As a result, this cemetery remained small, and was the only one established within the city limits in the 19th century.

The cemetery was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1989.

The city of Somerville opens the Cemetery for tours during the spring through early fall, and holds a special event called "Ghosts of Somerville" in concert with the annual Halloween Monster Mash event. Costumed guides accompany visitors through some of the historically relevant graves, which includes one of an unknown British soldier of the Revolutionary War era that was discovered and relocated during nearby street reconstruction.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. The official nomination form is linked under Sources.