Damaged Elm Street Cemetery Grave Stones to be Restored

Braintree's historic Elm Street Cemetery – the resting place of early residents from the town's settling age and the Revolutionary War – is set to undergo a long-term restoration process that will begin with the preservation of 15 grave stones.

The grave stones were selected as the starting point of a larger-scale restoration of 240 markers because of their particularly poor condition, Elizabeth Mees, chair of the Braintree Historical Commission, told members of the Town Council last week.

Last Tuesday the council approved $14,000 for the initial phase of the grave stone project and for a motion-activated security camera to ward off vandalism.

"It's one of our most important cultural resources in the town," Mees said. "As time has marched on, the condition has steadily worsened."

The Community Preservation Act, funded by a 1 percent slice of property taxes, will likely be tapped again in an effort to restore the entire cemetery, a project that will also include improved landscaping, fencing, lighting, security and maintenance.

The Elm Street Cemetery, across from the First Congregational Church, dates back to the early 1700s and is one of the oldest cemeteries in Massachusetts. It is filled with well-known Braintree family names like Thayer, Hollis, Storrs and French.

In a report initiated by the Braintree Historical Commission, consultant Barbara Donohue laid out a variety of recommendations with a price tag of approximately $250,000. The full report, in three sections, can be found by clicking here.

The cemetery buried its first person a decade after the church was established in 1707 – Mrs. Elizabeth Niles, wife of Rev. Samuel Niles. She was followed by eight more burials that year, according to Donohue's report. Later, Rev. Niles was buried there, and then throughout the 19th century various changes to the land and its oversight were made until the Braintree First Parish Cemetery Association was incorporated to fund maintenance in 1898.

Donohue stresses throughout the report that maintenance has remained inconsistent for decades, even after the association was dissolved and the cemetery was placed under the care of the town. 

In 2008, the Cemetery Commission was replaced by the Department of Public Works, which oversees four town cemeteries. Most of the attention paid to the cemeteries focuses on the still-active Plain Street cemetery, according to the report.

The Elm Street Cemetery, previously known as the Braintree Cemetery, was deemed eligible in 2000 for the National Register of Historic Places, but has yet to receive placement on the federal list.