Holyhood Cemetery

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Holyhood Cemetery
BrooklineMA HolyhoodCemeteryChapel.jpg
Holyhood Cemetery is located in Massachusetts
Holyhood Cemetery
LocationHeath Street, Brookline, Massachusetts
Coordinates42°19′12″N 71°10′1″W / 42.32000°N 71.16694°W / 42.32000; -71.16694Coordinates: 42°19′12″N 71°10′1″W / 42.32000°N 71.16694°W / 42.32000; -71.16694
Area35 acres (14 ha)
Built1857
ArchitectPatrick Keely
Architectural styleGothic Revival
MPSBrookline MRA
NRHP reference No.85003275[1]
Added to NRHPOctober 17, 1985

Holyhood Cemetery is a cemetery located in Brookline, Massachusetts.

Description[]

Laid out in 1857, the cemetery was designed to reflect the rural cemetery movement begun at Cambridge's Mount Auburn Cemetery. It was the first such cemetery in Brookline.[2] The cemetery was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.[1] Most of the cemetery has the layout typical of rural cemeteries, with winding lanes and attractive landscaping. One section, known as the "German Acre" and located near the entrance, has a more traditional rectilinear form; it was laid out for a congregation of predominantly German Catholics. The cemetery chapel, built 1859–62, is set on a hill near its center, and was designed by Patrick Keely, an architect of Catholic churches. It is a Gothic Revival structure, built out of puddingstone.[3]

Notable burials[]

Kennedy family[]

Holyhood Cemetery is best known for being the final resting place of Joseph and Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy (parents of U.S. President John, U.S. Attorney General Robert, and U.S. Senator Edward). Their daughter, Rosemary Kennedy, is also buried here.

The last child born to President Kennedy and First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, Patrick Bouvier Kennedy, as well as the body of a stillborn sister, Arabella, were also buried at Holyhood Cemetery, until being removed to Arlington National Cemetery, following their father's assassination and burial there in 1963.

Others[]

Holyhood is also the final resting place of former Boston Mayor and U.S. Representative Patrick Collins (mayor) with a memorial sculpted by Cyrus Edwin Dallin,[4] Cardinal John Wright, golfer Francis Ouimet; baseball player George Wright;[5] Irish poet and journalist John Boyle O'Reilly;[6] author, poet, journalist and diplomat James Jeffrey Roche and John Geoghan, an American Roman Catholic priest and serial child rapist [7]


  • John Boyle O'Reilly Tombstone Holyhood Cemetery Brookline, Massachusetts

  • John Boyle O'Reilly Tombstone Plaque Close-up Holyhood Cemetery Brookline, Massachusetts

  • Patrick A Collins Memorial- designed and executed by Cyrus Dallin

  • James Jeffrey Roche Tombstone

Commonwealth War Grave[]

The cemetery contains one Commonwealth war burial, of an American-born Royal Air Force Cadet of World War I William Becker Hagan.[8]

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ a b "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
  2. ^ Holyhood Cemetery History
  3. ^ "NRHP nomination for Holyhood Cemetery". Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Retrieved September 6, 2015.
  4. ^ Modern Cemetery. google books. 1909. p. 490.
  5. ^ Prominent People in Holyhood Cemetery
  6. ^ Keneally, Thomas. The Great Shame: A Story of the Irish in the Old World and the New.
  7. ^ http://archive.boston.com/globe/spotlight/abuse/stories5/082903_funeral.htm.
  8. ^ [1] CWGC Casualty record.

External links[]

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