The Burying Ground
Siobhan C.
The sign directing visitors to the graveyard
In a burial ground that dates back to the 18th century, when it was converted to its present form by Sir Isaac Johnson, one would assume that, much like the church next to it, it stands slightly altered yet historically valuable. That assumption would be correct. It is true that King's Chapel's Burying Ground has been altered in the past. The headstones were rearranged into rows and columns to make them look orderly, even systematic. Of course, the result of this action was that none of the bodies are under the correct headstone. Yet, the grounds remain significant, not only as a part of the historical site King's Chapel, but as a link between people of the past, our forebears, and the people of today.
This linking of separate worlds of yesterday and today is accomplished
by the location of the burial ground. It is right in the middle of our
modern day world, downtown, where many Bostonians work. Right outside
of the burying ground there are busy streets, cluttered with cars. The
inside holds its very own piece of history.
Even though no historically significant events happened at King's Chapel
or its Burying Ground, historic notables, such as George Washington, attended
religious services at the chapel and others are buried on the grounds.
Sir Isaac Johnson, who's garden it was before hand, asked to be buried
in his pumpkin patch. Captain Kidd, a privateer, was buried on the grounds.
The founder of Boston (the Massachusetts Bay Colony) , John Winthrop,
was buried at the Burying Ground. Mary Chilton's gravestone can be found
at King's Chapel. She was supposedly the first pilgrim off the Mayflower.
An early patriot who joined Paul Revere on a famous midnight ride to worn
colonists of the British troops' arrival, William Dawes, is interred there.
Elisabeth Pain was also laid to rest there. She was a Puritan who committed
adultery, was made to wear an 'A' on her clothing to mark her as an adulterer,
and eventually became the inspiration for the main character, Hester Prynne,
Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter. Also interred there is Chevalier
de Saint-Sauver, a French naval lieutenant, who broke up a Boston mob.
This litany shows the wide range of historical importance the people buried
at the Burying Ground of King's Chapel have.
Elisabeth Paine's grave
The deaths of people of importance in Boston, some of whom are named above,
were announced by a tolling of the chapel's bell. At this tolling, all
the people of Boston would know that someone who had been much revered
had died. King's Chapel's bell was cast by Paul Revere, the town's silversmith.
Those who were feared and disrespected, criminals who had committed crimes
that were punishable by death, would be held at the pew just right of
the entrance. They would hear their final sermon before being put to death.
The chapel and burial ground that stand in Boston today tell much of our
country's history. King's Chapel represents the early religious separation
of England and the colonies, as it was the first church of England in
America (founded in 1686). The King's Chapel Burying Ground's significance
is this: it tells, by gravestones, the occupations, religion, and state
of our nation at the time.
The Burying Ground
BIBLIOGRAPHY
King's Chapel. Citysearch Staff. 28 Oct. 2000. http://boston.citysearch.com/E/V/BOSMA/0015/82/57/cs1.html
King's Chapel and King's Chapel Burying Ground. Freedom Trail Foundation. 28 Oct. 2000. http://www.ci.boston.ma.us/freedomtrail/kingschapel.asp
King's Chapel. Nanosoft Inc. 28 Oct. 2000. http://www.nanosft.com/freedom/kingchap/index.shtml
King's Chapel and King's Chapel Burying Ground. The Depressed Press of Boston. 23 Oct. 2000 http://www.vboston.com/VBoston/Content/FreedomTrail/ft-05/index.cfm
McBride, Stewart Dill. Boston in Color Profiles of America. New York: Hastings House of Publishers, 1977.
Harris, Patricia and Lyon, David. Boston. Boston: Fodor's Travel Publications, Inc., 1997.