FORM E - BURIAL GROUND ' Assessor's number USGS Quad Areais) Form Number

Massachusetts Historical Commission 157, 70-118 I I Marlborough I I 800

80 Boylston Street
Boston, Massachusetts 02116

Town Marlborough

Place (neighborhood or village) East Vjl1age;

Spring HjJ!

Address Brown St teet

Name Spring Hill Cemetery

Ownership: [] private [X] public

Approximate number of stones __ 7•.•.

0•.•.
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Earliest death date 1675 (marked)

..Latest death date 1909

.Landscape Architect Done

Sketch Map -- l Qc:t;~~\

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Condition fair/oDad-
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minimal mainte-
)raw or duplicate a map showing the property's lo-
cation in relation to geographic features and nearby nanre; most slates good, b1lt some broken or
streets. Indicate all buildings or features within and
surrounding the inventoried property. Indicate the fallen over; many marble stones effaced; two
nearest intersection (s). Indicate north.
marble obelisks broken

Acreage 262 acres

Setting On slope of Spring Hm in neighbor-

if ~eD -;:)) hood of mid-late-19th-C hOllSes

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-..fnCAH 'S;f Recorded by Anne Forbes, consultant

Organization for MarlboroJlobo Hist Carom

Date May 15, 1994

Follow Massachusetts Historical Commission SUn'f!V Manua! instructiions for completing this [onn.
BURIAL GROUND

VISUAUDESIGN ASSESSMENT [X] see continuation sheet

Describe landscape features, gravestone materials, designs, motifs, and symbols that are either
common or unusual. Note any known carvers.

As Marlborough's oldest burial ground, the Spring Hill Cemetery is a smallfiiangular plot of ground
occupying 2.6 acres of the south slope of Spring Hill. The only entrance is off Brown Street, at the
long, narrow southern point of the triangle, through an ungated opening marked by four rusticated
square granite posts. East of the entrance is a short section of rough-cut stone retaining wall with
granite capstones, the largest and highest of which is carved with the cemetery's name and "1675".
Between the wall and the path just inside the entrance is a set of low cut-granite steps leading a
short way up the slope. The rest of the cemetery is ringed by a chain-link fence, inside of which
along the eastern border is a long fieldstone and cut-granite wall; a short section of fieldstone wall
J
runs along the center section of the north border, as well. .;

Low outcroppings of rock are exposed in the southern section of the cemetery, possibly indicating
why all the gravestones are located in the wide, northern half of the triangle. The only object in
the narrow southern section is a group tomb built into the hillside. It contains four barrel-vaulted
family tombs, each of which is faced with large, flat, unadorned cut-granite blocks. Built in 1839,
three of the four sections have early doors--two of them consist of a single granite slab on long iron
hinges, the fourth is an iron door. (Cont.)

(
HISTORICAL NARRATIVE [X] see continuation sheet
Explain religious affiliations, major period of use, and evaluate historical association of this burial !
~
ground with the community.

In spite of its proximity to the Spring Hill Meeting House, which was not sited nearby until 1806,
the Spring Hill Cemetery predates the church by nearly 150 years. It is the oldest of the many
burial grounds in Marlborough, commonly understood to have been established at the time the town
was founded in 1660. Unfortunately, any early town records of the laying out of the first burial
ground have been lost. Local historians, noting the fact that the location ofthe cemetery a half-mile
away from the first meeting house was somewhat unusual for a New England town, have speculated
that the settlers cautiously placed it some distance from the "Indian Planting Field". They had, in
fact, built their original meeting house on a corner of that land, angering the native people, to
whom the planting field had been granted by the government.

The earliest graves here were apparently unmarked, or had wooden markers. The first marked with
a stone was that of Capt. Edward Hutchinson, who died in August of 1675 as a result of wounds
received in the ambush near Brookfield during King Philip's War. He was not a native of
Marlborough, but was brought here after he was shot, and died several days later.

Among the families buried here are those of most of the early settlers of Marlborough, including
some of the first proprietors, and many generations of their descendants. The families with the
largest number of markers include Barrett, Barn(e)s, Howe, Maynard, Rice, and Ward. (Cont.)

BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES [ ] see continuation sheet

Bigelow, Ella. Historical Reminiscences of the Early Times in Marlborough. 1910.

Hudson, Charles. History of the Town of Marlborough. 1862.
Drake, Samuel. History of Middlesex County, Mass. 1880.
Maps and Atlases: Wood: 1830, 1835; Walling: 1853, 1857, 1871; Beers: 1875;
Bailey & Hazen: 1878; Walker: 1889; Sanborns.

[ X] Recommended for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. If checked, a

completed National Register Criteria Statement form is attached.
INVENTORY FORM CONTINUATION SHEET Community Property

Marlborough Spring Hill Cemetery

Massachusetts Historical Commission

80 Boylston Street Area(s) Form No.
Boston, Massachusetts 02116 I 800

HISTORICAL NARRATIVE, cont.

It was apparent that the available space
in 1706 a second cemetery, now known
established by the town adjacent to the
most of the nineteenth century. however.
this century.
on the rocky hillside here would eventually be filled, and
as the Old Common Cemetery, (see Form #805), was
meetinghouse. Burials continued at Spring Hill through
with the last death dates recorded in the first decade of
,,-:.....\ -.
INVENTORY FORM CONTINUATION SHEET Community Property

Marlborough Spring Hill Cemetery

Massachusetts Historical Commission

80 Boylston Street Area(s) Form No.
Boston, Massachusetts 02116 I 800

VISUAL/DESIGN ASSESSMENT, cont.

The cemetery's other grave markers are all located across the northern section, most arranged in
rough rows, all facing southwest. Most of the gravestones are slate, a few very early ones are of
granite or other stone, and there are also many marble markers, dating from the late-eighteenth-
century on. There are several marble monuments, including some small-scale obelisks, and two
rectangular monuments. Two large horizontal stone tablets to Marlborough's first two ministers
stand on granite legs at the western end of the cemetery.

Many slate markers are still in good to excellent condition. Some, however are broken (a few
repaired with deteriorating iron strapping), a few are spalled, and many have fallen over or are
standing at an angle. Probably in an attempt to brace the larger headstones and family markers,
many small head- and foot-stones have been repositioned against the rear faces of larger stones.
Most of the marble markers are effaced to some degree, and a few, as well as one of the raised
tablets which appears to be made of sandstone, have become illegible.

The designs and motifs here span the full range commonly found in New England puritan and
protestant graveyards from the late-seventeenth to the mid-nineteenth centuries. The simplest early
markers are two roughly-shaped granite stones carved only with initials and a date--one reads "ST,
1698," the other "WF, 1706." Three small pre-I715 Ward family stones, which, like the 1675 Edward
Hutchinson stone, (acknowledged to be the earliest marker here), are devoid of any decoration, and
have been encased in granite or concrete slabs.

There is a wealth of the exuberant geometric carving characteristic of the 1690's to 1750's in this
cemetery. Several stones from that era are embellished with wheels, whorls, schematic faces, and,
toward 1750, floral and foliate borders. (Cr. e.g, the Thomas Barrit stone of 1750.) From the latter
part of the eighteenth century are several effigy markers, and many with winged skulls or cherubs.
Double-effigy stones here date from before 1775; the earliest may be that of William and Aaron
Barns, who were "awfully drowned in the River, June 18, 1773'1 at the ages of 20 and 28.

Early nineteenth-century slate markers here include many excellent examples of the typical urn, urn
and willow, and palm of victory motifs that were popular at that time. One um-and-willow marker,
that of Silas Jewell, 1808, bears the initials of the carver, "G.S." at the lower edge.

This cemetery contains only one raised family burial plot, the Goodale plot (see photo). It contains
largely marble markers, with two modern granite slabs listing all the family burials there, ending with
1909. It is ringed with simple granite-block curbing.

This cemetery has no formal plantings. A few deciduous trees (maples and oaks) have grown up
near the borders, and a few are spaced widely apart in the southern section.

HISTORICAL NARRATIVE, cont.

The town's first minister, William Brinsmead, is interred here, his grave marked with a 1912 raised
stone tablet donated by the Gen. Joseph Badger Chapter of the DAR. The oldest citizen buried
in this cemetery, who died in 1771 at the age of 101, is apparently Elizabeth Harrington, who was
the only woman proprietor of the town of Grafton. Prominent nineteenth-century citizens buried
here include John Cotting, Solomon Weeks, Dr. Benjamin Hildreth, and William Stetson.
INVENTORY FORM CONTINUATION SHEET Community Property

Marlborough Spring Hill Cemetery

Massach usetts Historical Commission

80 Boylston Street Arears) Form No.
Boston, Massachusetts 02116 I 800
INVENTORY FORM CONTINUATION SHEET Community Property

Marlborough Spring Hill Cemetery

Massachusetts Historical Commission

80 Boylst.on Street Area(s) Form No.
Boston, Massachusetts 02116 I 800

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INVENTORY FORM CONTINUATION SHEET Community Property

Marlborough Spring Hill Cemetery

Massachusetts Historical Commission

80 Boylston Street Area(s) Form No.
Boston, Massachusetts 02116 I 800

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INVENTORY FORM CONTINUATION SHEET Community Property

Marlborough Spring Hill Cemetery

Massachusetts Historical Commission

80 Boylston Street Area(s) Form No.
Boston, Massachusetts 02116 I 800
Massachusetts Historical Commission Community Property Address
80 Boylston Street
Boston, Massachusetts 02116 Marlborough Brown Street

Area(s) Form No(s).

I 800

National Register of Historic Places Criteria Statement Form

Check all that apply:

[x] Individually eligible [ ] Eligible only in a historic district

[xl Contributing to a potential historic district [] Potential historic district

Criteria: [x] A [] B [x] C [] D

Criteria Considerations: [] A [] B [] C [x] D [] E [] F [] G

Statement of Significance by F_o_r_b_e_s

~/_S_c~h_ul~e_r _
The criteria that are checked in the above sections must be justified here.

The Spring Hill Cemetery is eligible for the National Register for meeting Criteria A and C. It
is the oldest burying ground in Marlborough and is representative of a continuum of community
development with burials ranging from 1675 to 1909. The Cemetery evolved over two centuries
and its physical qualities of location, materials, and design of grave markers represents that
historical evolution. The Spring Hill Cemetery retains integrity of location, setting, materials,
workmanship, feeling, and association.