First Cemetery in Bridgewater, Massachusetts

About

Get directions Summer Street at Plymouth Street (Route 104)
Bridgewater, Massachusetts, USA

Coordinates: 41.98887, -70.97286
Cemetery ID:

Members have Contributed

About these numbers These percentages indicate the number of Find a Grave memorials that have a grave photo or GPS coordinates. We don't know the total number of burials in a cemetery, so we cannot calculate a percentage of those with memorials, photos or GPS coordinates.

Photos

See 9 more

12 open photo requests.

This cemetery is referred to in the book "Vital Records of Bridgewater, Massachusetts to 1850", Published by the New England Historic Genealogical Society, as G.R.7.

This cemetery is referred to in the book "Old Cemeteries of Southeastern Massachusetts", by Charles Thatcher.

This cemetery is referred to in the book "Epitaphs in Old Bridgewater, Massachusetts", by Williams Latham, as "Old Grave-Yard in Bridgewater".

Located near the original Unitarian Church, the land for this cemetery was deeded to the community by John Washburn in 1719. His wife, Rebecca Washburn, was the first person buried in it. The last known burial in the cemetery was in 1867, Lucinda Carver. This cemetery is also the burial location for Cuff Ashport, former slave and Revolutionary War soldier.

When these towns were established, there were three separate and distinct towns in the area known as "Old Bridgewater". Each one has a cemetery titled "Old Graveyard", but, were established in different years - Bridgewater's in 1716, East Bridgewater's in 1685 and West Bridgewater's in 1683.

Sources for this information include: History of Bridgewater by Nahum Mitchell, (pub. 1840, 1897, 1970, 1975); Williams Latham, Epitaphs in Old Bridgewater, Massachusetts. Illustrated with Plans and Views (Bridgewater: Henry T. Pratt, printer, 1882; repr. Bowie, MD: Heritage Books, 1976; Middleborough, MA, 1986). This book was later transcribed by Arthur Richardson and Dale H. Cook. Also, from the Vital records of Bridgewater, MA (to the end of 1850), Volume II, page 6, abbreviations, C.R.1 represents information for this book gleaned from church records of the Unitarian Church.