BOSTON – Monday, September 15 – The Boston Parks and Recreation Department today announced the receipt of grant funding to conserve historic gravestones at Dorchester North Burying Ground in Dorchester. Established in 1633, Dorchester North is Dorchester’s earliest remaining landmark and one of the earliest burying grounds in the United States.

This gravestone conservation project is being supported in part by a Semiquincentennial grant from the Historic Preservation Fund administered by the National Park Service, Department of the Interior. Additional funding is supported by a grant from the Massachusetts Cultural Council.

This critical funding will help conserve approximately 150 endangered gravestones, restoring and stabilizing them for future generations to learn from and reflect on. As one of Boston’s oldest burying grounds, Dorchester North serves as a powerful link to the city’s early history and to generations of descendants now living across the country and around the world.

Dorchester North Burying Ground is the final resting place of some of Dorchester’s most prominent founding citizens, including two colonial governors, William Stoughton–Chief Justice during the Salem witch trials of 1692–and William Tailer. Other notable burials include John Foster, the first printer in Boston; minister Richard Mather; forty unknown Revolutionary War soldiers; and three African-American enslaved people.

Comments or questions on this project may be directed to Kelly Thomas at the Historic Burying Grounds Initiative at [email protected], by telephone at 617-961-3034, or by mail at Boston Parks Department, 1010 Massachusetts Ave., Boston, MA 02118.

Learn more about Dorchester North Burying Ground at boston.gov/cemeteries/dorchester-north-burying-ground. To stay up to date with news, events, and improvements in Boston parks visit boston.gov/parks, call (617) 635-4505, join our email list, and follow our social channels @bostonparksdept on X, Facebook, Instagram, and @parks.boston.gov on Bluesky.