It is with the heat of summer that I walk the Old North Cemetery this day. I find it especially comforting as I walk the unpaved roads and paths leading me to each historic gravestone. The Old North Cemetery is indeed a very hallowed place, a place where much of our most heroic and intriguing ancestors rest eternally. It was with a growing population that our town fathers gathered and established a committee to find good land for a cemetery back in 1730. So, it was the land across the street from the Old North Church in Concord that was chosen for the convenient location near the church as well as the outlying location north of the town proper. Prior to the opening of the Old North Cemetery in 1730 many of our deceased were buried on family farms or shipped back to the original towns they came from, towns such as Haverhill or Salem Massachusetts where long established cemeteries existed.
Today, I contemplate some of the earliest burials in the Old North Cemetery as well as some of the uniquely New England traditions that were carried into our town as new residents arrived. Our town was claimed by the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1725 and named Pennycook Plantation. It was just a short time later our town was renamed Rumford in the year 1733 and then again Concord in the year 1765. Our historic and very unique Old North Cemetery contains some very interesting individuals from Revolutionary War heroes to Governors to abolitionist, to the enslaved and the only President New Hampshire produced.
Our ancestors respected death and treated those that passed with reverence and respect.
Traditions were observed here as well as all of the New England area. To be asked to fulfill the role of a pallbearer was an honor. With some of the cemetery being slightly uphill a casket would sometimes be carried from the Old North Church and the pallbearers would have to shoulder the weight of the deceased as well as the casket. When some wealthy people passed away the casket might be a little more ornate built with hardwoods adding to the weight. The average person would be buried in a casket known as a pine box. Plain and simple and respected it was affordable and common. Pallbearers would wear dark suits and if the pallbearers were military veterans or active duty they would wear their full military uniforms as pallbearers.
It was common to drape a large white cloth atop the casket while leaving the church after services and removing the cloth once the casket was set for burial. If the ceremony regarded a person of means the ceremony would be somewhat enhanced. The traditional number of pallbearers would be increased to three sets of two from the church to the grave.
During the colonial period and well into the 1800’s there was a tradition regarding the presentation of gold rings. A gift from the family of the deceased to each pallbearer it was a form of thanking the pallbearers for their service to the deceased and the deceased members of the family. When the Reverend Timothy Walker passed away there was a celebration of life in 1785 with additional pallbearers included. Eight gold rings were manufactured and presented to each of the pallbearers with very lavish provisions provided to the guest attending the service. The funeral party was also provided a liberal serving of rum and spirits.
As I walk the distinct sections of the Old North Cemetery I stroll through the original common burials, the Minot Enclosure and the Shaker Burials. The common section dating back to 1730 includes many of our earliest citizens. Ordinary people that lived in extraordinary times. Some of the epitaphs are truly thought provoking while other gravestones read like a history book. Individuals that fought at Bunker Hill and wintered at Valley Forge with General George Washington. Gifted writers and poets are included and now neighbors to prominent and accomplished individuals. Paupers next to a president and war heroes next to domestic servants. I have always felt peace and comfort in this cemetery; this hallowed place where death is in fact the greatest equalizer. Regardless of your standing in life you will certainly share the same standing in death as your heavenly neighbors.
I leave you this day with an old Irish proverb. “Death leaves a heartache no one can heal; love leaves a memory no one can steal.”