Burial Hill

William Bradford's monument on Plymouth Burial Hill

Burial Hill is a historic cemetery or burying ground in Plymouth, Massachusetts, and the burial site of several Pilgrims. The cemetery was founded in the 17th century and is located off Leyden Street, the first street in Plymouth.

History

Burial Hill. ca.1890

The first Pilgrim burial ground was on nearby Cole's Hill in 1620-21.^[1] Originally, the Pilgrims constructed a fort on top of Burial Hill in 1621-22 (a reconstruction exists in nearby Plimoth Plantation).^[2] The Burial Hill fort also served as a meeting house for the colony and for First Parish Church in Plymouth until 1677.^[3] According to tradition, the first grave on Burial Hill was Pilgrim John Howland's.^[4] However, he did not die until 1672; other people claimed to be buried there died considerably earlier.^[5]

First Parish's congregation currently meets in an 1899 church building at the base of Burial Hill on the town square, near where it first met in 1621.^[6]

Notable burials and cenotaphs

• Mary Allerton, Pilgrim, last surviving Mayflower passenger
• William Bradford, Pilgrim, Governor
• William Brewster, Church Elder
• Edward Doty, Mayflower passenger
• Francis Cooke, Pilgrim, Mayflower Passenger
• John Howland, Pilgrim, Mayflower passenger
• Adoniram Judson, Christian missionary to Asia
• Thomas Prence, Colonial Governor
• Zabdiel Sampson, Congressman
• Squanto, Patuxet guide and interpreter (unmarked grave)
• James Warren, Patriot leader
• Mercy Otis Warren, author
• Richard Warren, Pilgrim, Mayflower Passenger
• Elizabeth Walker Warren, Pilgrim, Anne Passenger

See also

• Myles Standish Burial Ground
• Cole's Hill
• Plymouth Rock
• Town Brook
• National Register of Historic Places listings in Plymouth County, Massachusetts

References

1. Frank Herman Perkins, Handbook of old Burial Hill, Plymouth, Massachusetts: Its history, its famous dead, and its quaint epitaphs (A.S. Burbank, 1896), pg. 11
2. Frank Herman Perkins, Handbook of old Burial Hill, Plymouth, Massachusetts: Its history, its famous dead, and its quaint epitaphs (A.S. Burbank, 1896), pg. 8-10
3. Frank Herman Perkins, Handbook of old Burial Hill, Plymouth, Massachusetts: Its history, its famous dead, and its quaint epitaphs (A.S. Burbank, 1896), pg. 8-10
4. Frank Herman Perkins, Handbook of old Burial Hill, Plymouth, Massachusetts: Its history, its famous dead, and its quaint epitaphs (A.S. Burbank, 1896), pg. 13
5. E.g., Squanto.
6. Frank Herman Perkins, Handbook of old Burial Hill, Plymouth, Massachusetts: Its history, its famous dead, and its quaint epitaphs (A.S. Burbank, 1896), pg. 7

Images

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  John Howland's grave

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  Harlow Old Fort House in Plymouth made of timbers from the Burial Hill Fort

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  Burial Hill Fort, housed the original church in Plymouth

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  First Parish Church in Plymouth (now Unitarian Universalist) at the base of Burial Hill, is a continuation of the original Pilgrim church

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  First Parish Church in Plymouth

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  Site of 1621 First Fort and Meeting House on Burial Hill

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  Burial Hill, cemetery entrance

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  recreation of original Burial Hill fort/meeting house at Plimoth Plantation

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  Map of early Plymouth home lots

Coordinates: 41°57′22″N 70°39′58″W / 41.956°N 70.666°W