The Old Granary Burying Ground in Boston located on Tremont Street is the city’s third oldest cemetery established in 1660.
It was originally called the South Burying Ground and later renamed in 1737, after a grain storage building or granary, that stood nearby where Park Street Church is now.
The site was established to alleviate overcrowding at the nearby Kings Chapel Burying Ground.
With over 2,345 gravestones, the cemetery is estimated to hold more than 5,000 bodies, including those of infants and children.
Notable individuals intered include signers of the Declaration of Independence John Hancock, Samuel Adams and Robert Treat Paine. You will also find the midnight rider Paul Revere, the revolutionary orator James Otis, the victims of the Boston massacre and Benjamin Franklin’s parents.
Mostly slate headstones carved with winged skulls and worn really smooth by three and a half centuries of New England weather beneath gleaming skyscrapers and glass steel.
The grave markers here are not just memorials to the past, but are symbolic of the birth of a nation. It serves as a reminder of the sacrifices made for independence.
The cemetery is a stop on the Freedom Trail, a 2.5 mile walking path that connects historical sites in Boston.
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