For information about projects in the privately owned Newton Cemetery, including the restoration of the City-owned Civil War Monument, visit the Newton Cemetery project page.

Historic Burying Grounds
Owned by the City of Newton

• East Parish Burying Ground (Cotton & Centre Streets, Newton Centre)
• West Parish Burying Ground (River & Cherry Streets, West Newton)
• South Parish Burying Ground (Winchester Street, Newton Highlands/Newton Upper Falls)

Goals:

Preserve, restore, rehabilitate and improve public safety and access to three historic City-owned burial grounds through:

• Pruning and removal of trees that are diseased or threaten the integrity of gravestones or tombs
• Cleaning, stabilization, and repair of over 130 historic headstones, footstones, and monuments (in phase 1), and approximately 30 historic tombs (in phases 2 and 3)
• Historically appropriate new fencing and interpretive signage

Funding:

Contact:

Lisa Dady, Executive Director
Historic Newton
527 Washington Street
Newton Corner, MA 02458
ldady@newtonma.gov
617-796-1451

Historic Newton is a public-private partnership between the Jackson Homestead (a City of Newton department) and the private Newton Historical Society.

Bob DeRubeis, Commissioner
City of Newton Parks & Recreation Dept.
bderubeis@newtonma.gov
617-796-1500

Proposal Review & Appropriations:

Master Plan for all phases below, last updated November 2004 (originally supported entirely with non-CPA funding)

Historic Burying Grounds 2002-03, Phase 1

• October 2002- Phase 1 proposal (gravestones)
  • Full project letters of support, incl. letters from Parks & Recreation Dept. and Newton Historical Commission.
• 1 November 2002 - Phase 1 schedule & budget, updated (gravestones)
• 3 January 2003 - Letter addressing maintenance concerns
• 7 April 2003 - Phase 1 CPC funding recommendation
• 22 April 2003 - Phase 1 Board order (appropriation): $188,277
• November 2004 - Updated Master Plan, (all phases) with updated recommendations for fencing
• November 2004 -January 2005 - Updated full project budget (all phases)

Historic Burying Grounds 2004-2011, Phases 2A and 2B

• October 2004 - Phase 2a proposal (tombs) and budget, also showing future phases
• 12 January 2005 - Phase 2a CPC funding recommendation
• 19 April 2005 - Phase 2a Board order (appropriation): $257,395
• 12 October 2010 - Phase 2b proposal (tombs & fencing), $624,461.13 requested
  • Phase 2b maps & photos
  • Phase 2b analysis of historic significance
• 6 March 2011 - Newton Historical Society annual financial statements
• 15 December 2010 - Phase 2b public hearing presentation, with photos (long file, may be slow to load)
• 4 January 2011 - City of Newton Law Dept. confirmation of eligibility for line items in project budget
• 6 March 2011 - Phase 2b proposal revisions & updates and presentation, with photos (large file, may load slowly)
• April 2011 - The CPC declined to recommend further funding for the Burying Grounds until Historic Newton completed bid restructuring, rebidding, and all site work that could be done with remaining already appropriated funds.

Historic Burying Grounds 2013, Phase 3

• 3 June 2013 - Phase 3 pre-proposal (tree work & tombs), $410,987 anticipated request
• 15 November 2013 - Phase 3 full proposal, $290,207 request
  • Phase 3 proposal maps & photographs and letters of support
• 9 January 2014 - Phase 3 proposal presentation, (including photographs and budget)
• 11 April 2014 - Phase 3 proposal - updates, including revised funding request for $208,007 and updated project manager information
• 15 May 2014 - Phase 3 CPC funding recommendation
• 14 July 2014 - Phase 3 Board order (appropriation)

Project News

• 2000 - Dept. of Conservation & Recreation historic cemeteries handbook, recommendations for Newton
• Ongoing - Historic Burying Grounds page on the Historic Newton website

2008-2011

• April-May 2008 - Process for workplan & budget revisions
• December 2009 - Project work update
• December 2009-January 2010 - Preservation consultants' recommendations (from Building & Monument Conservation and Structures North, who helped to develop the May 2010 invitation for bids)
• 26 May 2010 - Revised workplan & budget, with CPC approval
• 16 December 2009 - Project work update, with photos (as part of overall update on all Historic Newton projects)
• July-August 2010 - Invitation for bids and plans (large documents, will load slowly), and bids received
• March 2011 - Ground-penetrating Radar (GPR) Survey of East Parish Burying Ground & adjacent Loring Park; GPR is used by archaeologists to identify potential archaeological resources without excavation. This survey was conducted using CPA funds appropriated for Newton's Archaeology Survey.
• 21 April 2011 - Phase 2a/2b revised invitation for bids and plans (long documents, will load slowly)
• December 2011 - Phase 2a/2b all contracted work completed, $60,652 unspent balance of previously appropriated funds retained for future work at these sites

2015-2019

• June 2016 - Request for Proposals for Tomb Restoration
• August 2015 - $50,000 Massachusetts Preservation Projects Fund grant awarded
• 27 June 2017 - State-held preservation restriction on East Parish Burying Ground (South Middlesex Registry of Deeds, book 69504, page 213)
• 25 August 2017 - Request to spend $3,000 of already appropriated CPA funds on additional gravestone conservation at East Parish Burying Ground (Cotton Street, Newton Centre) - approved by CPC
• 22 February 2019 - Request to spend $8,690 of already appropriated CPA funds to repair damage caused by fallen tree at South Burying Ground (Winchester Street, Newton Highlands) - approved by CPC

2020-2021

August 2020 - Historic Newton submits new proposal to use leftover Burying Grounds funds to replace fencing and make perimeter repairs at South Burying Ground. No new funding is requested for this project. Materials include:

• Revised Project Proposal Form
• South Burying Ground Fence and Gate Bid information

October 13, 2020 - CPC reviews and approves request to use funding at South Burying Ground. A summary of the change in scope is available here.

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