Old Cemetery

Old Cemetery
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
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Location	Somerville, Massachusetts
Coordinates	42°22′54″N 71°06′07″W / 42.38167°N 71.10194°W / 42.38167; -71.10194Coordinates: 42°22′54″N 71°06′07″W / 42.38167°N 71.10194°W / 42.38167; -71.10194
Built	1804
MPS	Somerville MPS
NRHP reference No.	89001301[1]
Added to NRHP	September 18, 1989

Elm tree at Milk Row Cemetery (August 2019)

The Old Cemetery, also known as the Milk Row Cemetery, is a historic cemetery on Somerville Avenue and School Street in Somerville, Massachusetts. Established in 1804 on land donated by Samuel Tufts, it is the city's oldest cemetery. The cemetery was established when Somerville was still a part of Charlestown, and many Somerville residents used that city's Phipps Street Burying Ground, and later the Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge instead of this one. As a result, this cemetery remained small, and was the only one established within the city limits in the 19th century.

The cemetery was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1989.^[1]

Civil War monument[]

The American Civil War monument, erected in 1863, is reputed to be one of the first in the nation.^[2] The monument was built under the supervision of a committee of the Somerville Light Infantry, and funded by donations. The lot in the cemetery was a gift of Enoch Robinson, and the monument was manufactured by Power & Hall, manufacturers of marble goods of Boston. That firm's junior partner, Charles E. Hall, was a Somerville resident.^[3] That same firm created a Civil War monument for Hampden, Maine the following year.^[4]

See also[]

• National Register of Historic Places listings in Somerville, Massachusetts

References[]

External links[]

• Somerville Civil War Monuments from "Massachusetts Civil War Monuments Project"