Rowley Burial Ground - Rowley, MA
The Rowley Burial Ground began in 1634, only four years after the town’s founding. It served as the primary cemetery for the early settlement and contains some of the oldest marked graves in Essex County. The site reflects continuous use from the seventeenth century into the nineteenth century, which gives the yard a wide range of stone types, inscriptions, and carving styles.
The earliest stones are slate and follow the standard New England motifs of the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. Winged skulls, plain death’s heads, and simple lettering dominate the older section. Gravestones from known regional carvers appear throughout the yard, including styles associated with the Lamson family workshops and other documented stonecutters active in the area. These stones help date changes in carving practices across the region.
During the nineteenth century new rows filled in with marble and granite markers. These stones show the shift toward more standardized forms and machine-assisted carving that became common after 1820. The contrast between the older hand-carved slate and the later commercial stones shows how funerary materials and tools changed over time.
Town records, gravestone surveys, and preservation studies document the yard’s long history. The burial ground remains an intact record of Rowley’s earliest settlers, later families, and evolving funerary art. Its layout and surviving stones give a clear view of three centuries of local history in one place.
If you want, I can now stitch all three finished posts together into a Route 1 Rowley mini-series set, ready for Patreon or your site.
Matt Lambros MA Rowley Dec 03, 2025 Cemeteries Memorials
Dec 03, 2025
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