[MassHistPres] Historic "abandoned" burial grounds

[Betty Slade]

Thank you.  we are following some of these paths and will report back.  It is helpful to see that other towns have similar issues and how they were or were not resolved.
 Betty SladeWestportCPC
Sent from AOL DesktopIn a message dated 6/2/2025 11:12:04 AM Eastern Daylight Time, mterrasalomao at gmail.com writes: 
Betty, I am by no means an expert on historical cemeteries and burial grounds, and I'm not sure if this bears directly on your situation in Westport, but perhaps some of the information below is useful: Is the burial ground in question truly of unknown ownership, or is it on abandoned private property, or abandoned public property? To me, the first question would be to clarify who truly owns the land. Perhaps it is simple enough to do deed research as a Historical Commission, or perhaps it would be prudent to hire a professional archaeologist and historian through the use of CPC/CPA funds to clarify the situation. If the burial ground is publicly owned, I would imagine your Cemetery Department has primary responsibility. Certainly, those of you on the Historical Commission could work with them to protect and preserve the burial ground. Perhaps your Conservation Commission and/or Veterans' Services Department would be interested in working with you also, depending on who is buried there. If the burial ground is privately owned, your options are quite limited, beyond contacting the property owner and asking for permission to protect or preserve the site. I would argue sometimes public advocacy groups by citizens can be more effective than action by the Historical Commission, when property owners perceive any requests from municipal entities as "overreach." For example, here in Hudson, at 560 Main Street we have an unmarked, overgrown, partially paved-over cemetery that was formerly part of the Marlborough and then Hudson public poor farms, reverted to private property since 1942. In 1989 MHC archaeologists secured permission to survey the cemetery and produced a report identifying at least two burials as Revolutionary War veterans. For years we on the Hudson Historical Commission asked the owner for permission to clean the site and install memorial markers without success. At some point, the Sons of the American Revolution caught wind of this impasse and offered to contact the property owner again. We did not interfere with their outreach work, and a few years ago they successfully convinced the property owner to allow installation of a bronze plaque visible from the road, at the Sons of the American Revolution's expense, honoring the veterans buried there. Perhaps someone from MHC or from a town in Bristol or Essex counties with lots of private historic cemeteries can weigh in. Thanks,Mark Mark J. Terra-Salomão, AIAArchitect(he / him) Member, Hudson Historical Commission, Hudson Silas Felton Local Historic District Commission, and Hudson Commission on Disabilities www.markjterra.com(978) 289-3326

On Mon, Jun 2, 2025 at 9:10 AM Betty Slade via MassHistPres <masshistpres at cs.umb.edu> wrote:
Which town entity has responsibility to protect historic but "abandoned" burial grounds?  
 If a historic cemetery is on a lot that has no ownership, does the town have responsibility or authority to protect it from vandalism? Can the Local Historical Commission take responsibility? Betty SladeWestportCPC  
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