Historic Newton manages the preservation of the graves and tombs of Newton’s three City-owned historic burying grounds.

These sites stand on land of this country’s Native people, who have lived in this region for more than 12,000 years. One of the descendant tribes is the Massachusett (Massachuseuk).  

East Parish Burying Ground (1660)

• Centre and Cotton Streets, Newton Centre, MA
• Open to the public. Entrance gate is located at the corner of Centre and Cotton Streets  
• Please proceed carefully and avoid touching the gravestones. Gravestone rubbings are not permitted 

South Burying Ground (1802)

• Winchester Street, Newton Highlands, MA
• Open to the public. Enter via the parking lot at the rear
• Please proceed carefully and avoid touching the gravestones. Gravestone rubbings are not permitted

West Parish Burying Ground (1781)

• River and Cherry Streets, West Newton, MA
• Open to the public by appointment. Please call 617-796-1450.

About Newton's Historic Burying Grounds

The burying grounds are important as civic and cultural resources.  Buried here are many of Newton’s earliest European settlers, as well as veterans of the Revolutionary War—families now commemorated in the names of the City’s streets, schools, public buildings, and parks.   

The burying grounds also contain some of the finest examples of early American gravestone art—slate and marble monuments embellished with skulls, cherubs, urns, willows, and other motifs of mourning in an irreplaceable outdoor “gallery.”   

Historic Newton has worked to restore a number of monuments and tombs. Each spring and fall, Historic Newton hosts volunteer cleanup initiatives at the burying grounds.  

Restoring Newton’s Historic Burying Grounds

Graves at East Parish Burying Ground

Graves at West Parish Burying Ground

Graves at South Burying Ground

East Parish Burying Grounds Interactive Map

Where Newton Began: A Guide to the East Parish Burying Grounds by Thelma Fleishman provides a thorough background on the people and families buried in one of the oldest burying grounds in the state of Massachusetts, with dates going back to 1660.