If you’ve ever driven past a graveyard and wondered (while holding your breath) about the history behind it, then continue reading. We’ve got just the book for you.

Gone But Not Forgotten: New England’s Ghost Towns, Cemeteries, & Memorials, a new book co-written by Summer Paradis and Cathy McManus, explores New England’s rich history, which is replete with cemeteries, monuments and abandoned villages. The authors visit 36 sites across New England, providing a brief history and the significance of each location, complemented by glossy photos, visitor recommendations and notes.

Several of the 36 sites the authors visited are predictable, well-known places ~ like the Salem Witch Trial Memorial, the Bunker Hill Monument and the New England Holocaust Memorial in Boston. Although these were expected, the authors did do a good job of picking out other notable edifices in these historical towns. For example, everyone knows of the iconic image that is the Fisherman’s Memorial in Gloucester (also known as Man at the Wheel), but there is also a Fishermen’s Wives Memorial down the road that honors the women and children of fishermen’s families for their “faith, diligence, and fortitude.”

Plymouth is another Massachusetts town known for its history (who didn’t take a field trip to Plymouth Rock when they were younger?). In addition to the famous rock, Plymouth is also the home of the National Monument to the Forefathers, the largest granite monument in the United States, and the Massasoit Memorial honoring the leader of the native people who helped the Pilgrims establish a successful colony.

There are also some hidden gems highlighted in the book. There’s the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Concord, where you can find Author’s Ridge ~ the resting place of some of America’s greatest writers. Authors Louisa May Alcott, Nathaniel and Sophia Hawthorne, Harriet M. Lothorp (pen name Margaret Sydney) and Ralph Waldo Emerson are all buried in Sleepy Hollow. My favorite was the Unknown Confederate in Gray, Maine. In 1862, the body of a Confederate soldier was shipped to the parents of a fallen Union soldier. Despite the mix-up, the family gave this unknown Confederate a proper burial, and the gravesite is marked as “Stranger.”

Other cryptic highlights include the graves of P.T. Barnum and Tom Thumb in Connecticut, the gravesite of L.L. Bean in Maine and the resting place of accused vampire, Mercy Brown, in Rhode Island. While some of these gravesites seem underwhelming from the photos, the stories are interesting (which seems to be the case for many of the locations included in the book). My only disappointment was that the “ghost towns” did not actually contain any ghosts (although, some are rumored to be haunted) ~ but that could just be the paranormal fan in me.

Gone But Not Forgotten is a great addition to any coffee table in New England and a handy guide for those who want to explore the region’s history.

By Kimberly Dunbar