Burial-grounds. ""1 



FORT HILL CEMETERY. 



The Fort Hill Cemetery, as it was used for more than a cen- 

 tury, consisted of less than a half-acre of ground lying on the 

 southeasterly side of the road leading from the westerly part of 

 Hingham to Weymouth. This small piece of land was probably 

 one of the many pieces not granted by the original proprietors, 

 and like many of these pieces was taken possession of and occu- 

 pied without the formality of a grant. 



When the Proprietors gave their remaining undivided lands 

 to the town, in 1788, this burial-place passed to the town and 

 thus became one of the two public burial-places in the town. It 

 seems to have been used by a few families residing in the vicinity, 

 namely: Ward, Waterman, French, Beal, Lincoln, and a few 

 others. Most of these family names have now ceased to have 

 representatives in this locality. 



The part of the highway now Fort Hill Street, bordering upon 

 this burial-place was discontinued and enclosed and became a 

 part of it, but from its rocky character it is of little benefit. On 

 this portion, and near the southeasterly line of the old road, three 

 tombs were erected about the year 1825, and since that time 

 others have been built. These now occupy nearly the whole 

 extent of the older portion of the road. 



For many years few interments had been made in the old 

 ground and the few memorial stones had become displaced and 

 broken, as well as moss-grown ; and the stray cattle disputed 

 possession of such scanty herbage as struggled for growth amid 

 thorns and briers, while the old neglected ground was waiting 

 the advent of the spirit of some " Old Mortality " to redeem it 

 from waste and desecration. 



This came at last, as so many excellent things do come, from 

 the devotion and labor of woman. The women of this vicinity, 

 who by organized effort and well-directed labor, had obtained 

 sufficient funds to warrant the beginning of a work of improve- 

 ment, caused a meeting of those interested in the burying-ground 

 to be called in November, 1851. 



This meeting was well attended, and out of it came the organ- 

 ization of the Fort Hill Cemetery Corporation the same year. 

 This was immediately followed by the purchase of about three 

 acres of land in the rear and to the west of the old ground, the 

 laying out of the land into lots, the grading and sale of a portion 

 of the same, the fencing of the land, the planting of trees and 

 hedges and the general work pertaining to a well ordered ceme- 

 tery, and this has been continued to the present time. 



In the meantime the ladies continued their well-directed efforts, 

 holding a fair each year for the sale of the products of their 

 labor, the results from which have been sufficient to meet the 



