There is a place in Concord hallowed and revered with everlasting history. It is a place where our ancestors walked and prayed and is home to many prominent people, brave soldiers, famous authors, poets and a former president of the United States. There are also many politicians, some governors and our beloved Nancy, formerly enslaved. There are Quakers, abolitionist, ministers and royalty too.
It is the Old North Cemetery, a place with history that deems every person equal in death regardless of their past. It is a solemn day as I visit many of the old stones of ordinary people that lived in some extraordinary times.
Our beloved Old North Cemetery was created with respect for those that died here in Concord. It is located just across the street from the former Old North Church, occupied by Walker School in later years and the media center today. It was common practice to locate churches and cemeteries very near to each other for the convenience of conducting church services and transporting the deceased to the burial location nearby.
It was around 1730 our ancestors in present day Concord formed a committee to organize and establish a location for a cemetery. People would bury their family members on their own property prior to the establishment of cemeteries, simply in pastures and fields near their homesteads. In time, the old homesteads were vacated and reclaimed by nature, hence why we encounter the occasional cemetery or gravestones in New Hampshire while hiking deep in the forest. The cemetery committee formed to establish the Old North Cemetery included local citizens Henry Rolfe, John Pecker and John Chandler. They selected this parcel of land on the west side of State Street for its convenient location. It was also located just outside of town to the north of the original main village and Main Street.
As our ancestors passed, the Old North Cemetery saw many burials. So many, in fact, the town felt the need to expand the cemetery grounds to accommodate the newly deceased just over a century later. It was in 1850 the town decided to expand the Old North Cemetery to include the “Minot Enclosure” to the north side. This additional space allowed burials to continue for about another decade until concerns once again arose about the need for additional gravesites.
It was on Nov. 29, 1859, when the city council approved the purchase of the land for a new Concord cemetery. The land is known today as the Blossom Hill Cemetery and was initially managed and planned meticulously by a cemetery committee consisting of George Chandler, Enos Blake and Joseph Walker. The committee hired civil engineer John C. Briggs to complete a detailed diagram and layout for the new Blossom Hill Cemetery. No detail was spared with the planning process and that attention to detail was of the utmost concern by the committee members, civil engineer Briggs and the people of Concord. After extensive work the Blossom Hill Cemetery was consecrated on July 30, 1860. The ceremony was well presented and attended by both dignitaries and the people living within the Concord community.
The new cemetery contained thirty acres of land and the city of Concord paid $4,500 for the purchase. There were hills and valleys included in the topography and the Rattlesnake Brook fed the beautiful duck pond in the southwest corner. Politicians spoke of Blossom Hill Cemetery resemblance to ancient Jerusalem as they elaborated on the many burial lots this new cemetery would provide for years into the future. It was Richard Bradley that made the motion during the ceremony to accept the suggested name: Blossom Hill Cemetery.
Though there were many speakers representing all denominations of the day it was the speech provided by William L. Foster that many seemed to recollect in the following years. Foster stated “Today we found this City of the Dead. Behold, even now, its broad avenues, its narrower streets and paths stretching along these hillsides, winding through these valleys. Behold already the lines and boundaries of its sacred homesteads marked out upon turf, household sanctuaries, wherein on by one, day after day, the broken families of yonder living city shall be gathered together. See here and there a humble dwelling already located, a lowly dormitory, already owning its pale inhabitant! And swiftly indeed the months and years are rolling on which shall present to the traveler upon ways, crowded streets and squares, gleaming with fronts of granite and marble.”
Yes, it was Foster that predicted the view we see today at the Blossom Hill Cemetery, so many burials and many fronts of marble and granite.
We have indeed become the yonder living city gathered together.