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It’s that time of year again when leaves are changing colors and falling, temperatures are dropping and there is a crisp cool feeling in the air. If you’re from New England, you know what I mean. There is nothing like spending time outside in the fall, crunching leaves under your feet and admiring the colorful scenery. You may not have thought, but a walk through a cemetery can be a great way to spend a fall afternoon. Sounds kind of weird, huh? However, cemeteries in wooded areas are often very peaceful and quiet as one would imagine to pay respect to those buried there. There are often large old growth trees with huge canopies towering over the paths and gravestones. Many of the older historical cemeteries also have some really interesting features like wrought iron gates, hand carved headstones with intricate patterns, stone memorials, beautiful chapels and hand laid fieldstone walls.
Worcester is home to many beautiful cemeteries but one is particularly breathtaking and has an interesting story to it located just off Grove Street. This burial ground is called Rural Cemetery and is the final resting place for many well known figures of Worcester’s past. This is Worcester’s first garden cemetery, founded in 1838, and served as a burial ground located outside of the busy city where families could peacefully bury their loved ones and also enjoy the natural beauty of the surrounding landscape. In early days, cemeteries were located in the downtown region and were often overcrowded, dirty and in the way of future development. This garden cemetery movement helped to bring those who passed to a more permanent burial site that is spread out and fits into the natural landscape.
A well known cemetery in Central Massachusetts called Friends Cemetery is a hidden rural burial ground nestled in a wooden area in Leicester and is open to the public to visit during daylight hours. Known for its round wrought iron gates that are shaped like spider webs, this burial ground is commonly referred to as Spider Gates Cemetery and is claimed to be riddled with folklores and hauntings by the paranormal community. Established in 1740 by the local Quaker community, this cemetery is a resting place for some of the earliest Quakers in Leicester. One of the amazing qualities of this cemetery is the tranquility visitors can experience due to its location far off of the road making this a peaceful place for anyone walking through. This is not a very large cemetery by any means but it has some very early gravestone carvings and beautiful fieldstone walls surrounding the burial ground. Due to its location, the fall foliage makes this quite a spectacular site to see.
Easy to miss while walking by, on the Worcester town common is the city’s first burial ground dating back to the early 1700s where some of Worcester’s first residents were buried. There were hundreds of burials on the common until other nearby cemeteries were finally established. After being abandoned for over a hundred years, in 1968 the old burial ground was rediscovered during a construction project and the creation of a small cemetery reconstruction was built on the site to honor those early colonial settlers buried there. In the center of the graveyard stands a Gothic style Revolutionary War monument built in 1861.
While you enjoy some of the great New England fall weather this year, take a stroll through a local garden cemetery and you might be amazed by the peace and the fall colors you might experience. Look at some of the early gravestone markings and start to learn what different shapes and symbols might mean about the people buried there. Don’t forget to be respectful but do remember to get outside before all of the leaves fall.
Rural Cemetary
Quaker Cemetary
Worcester Common Burial Ground
