Photographer Frank C. Grace captures the eerie beauty of four of the South Coast’s historic cemeteries.
Acushnet Cemetery
An old colonial burying ground established in the reign of Queen Anne in 1711, this cemetery was incorporated and renamed in approximately 1881. Comprised of 23 acres, it is overseen by a Board of Trustees, and has no affiliation with the town.
Oak Grove Cemetery, Fall River
The holding crypt at Oak Grove was used to store bodies when it was too cold to dig. The autopsies of Lizzie Borden’s father and step-mom were supposedly done here. Visitors leave many trinkets at Lizzie Borden’s grave; there is even a bare patch where people sit on the ground to commune with her. The cemetery has white arrows painted on the roads with “L.B.” on them to show people how to get to the grave.
Agawam Cemetery, Wareham
The cemetery is named after a small tribe of the Wampanoag, meaning “the place where fish are caught.” The cemetery was expanded in 2015 with a purchase from adjoining land which included Native American graves. It has graves dating back to the early 1700s.
Old Burial Grounds on The Commons, Little Compton
Legend has it that Simeon Palmer was in fact married to Elizabeth for 21 years. But because she left him with their daughter, he had “should have been the wife” added to her headstone when she died (above). Also to note: Benjamin Church, captain of the first Ranger force in America and a strategist in King Philip’s War, is buried here, but the oldest marker in the cemetery belongs to Mary Rouse Price, who died in 1698.
