Library and Archives

Inscriptions from the Old Burial Grounds
From Collections of the Worcester Society of Antiquity, Volume I.

• First Burial Ground
• Common Burial Ground
• Mechanic Street Burial Ground

Defunct Cemeteries

• First Burying Ground (est. 1717): located at corner of present Thomas and Summer Streets; graves were moved to the Common Burying Ground
• Common Burying Ground (est. 1728; last burial 1824): southeast part of the Common on the corner of Salem and Franklin Streets; A portion of the Common was for a century used as a burying ground, until interments there were forbidden in 1824. In 1853 many of the bodies were removed, and the gravestones of those remaining turned down and sunk below the surface. Some burials have been removed to Hope Cemetery and other places. It wasn’t until 1968, during the attempted construction of a reflecting pool, when the old burial ground was rediscovered along with 111 remains. Only 47 of the bodies were identified but all of them were soon reburied at the nearby Hope Cemetery.
• Mechanic Street Burying Ground (est. 1786, last burial 1859): Mechanic Street; also known as New Cemetery; graves were moved in 1878 to Hope Cemetery and Rural Cemetery.
• Pine Meadow Burial Ground (est. 1828): graves were moved to make way for Boston & Albany Railroad
• First Catholic Cemetery – (est. 1835, sold 1905): Pleasant Street, bodies removed
• Quinsigamond Cemetery (est. 1826): Quinsigamond Village, bodies removed

Current Cemeteries

• Common Burying Ground behind City hall are remains of those who could not be exhumed in 1968. The graves are marked by a number of headstones surrounding a tall gothic memorial to Revolutionary War Col. Timothy Bigelow. 
• B’nai B’rith Cemetery (est. 1922): St. Johns Road
• Chevra Kadisha Cemetery (est. 1925): 78 Havana Road, also known as Holy Society Cemetery; contains the Sons of Jacob Cemetery
• Worcester Hebrew Cemetery Cemetery Road Auburn, MA
• Rural Cemetery (est. 1838): Grove Street
• Hope Cemetery (est. 1852): 119 Webster Street is owned by the City, and was consecrated May 22, 1852. It originally comprised fifty acres, purchased in 1851 for $1,855. Additions have increased its size.
• St. John’s Cemetery (est. 1848): 260 Cambridge Street
• Notre Dame Cemetery (est. 1885): Webster Street; also known as Notre Dame des Canadiens for French Catholics.
• Hillside Cemetery (est. 1918): Lake Street, Shrewsbury. This is one of two cemeteries associated with Worcester State Hospital. The other is Hillside West Cemetery. This cemetery is the larger of the two cemeteries. The people here were all buried between 1925 and the mid 1980s. Transcriptions and maps available at Hillside Cemetery.
• Old Swedish Cemetery (est. 1885): Webster Street
• All Faiths Cemetery (est. 1923): Island Road, originally known as “New Swedish Cemetery”
• Quaker Cemetery Also known as “Spider Gates Cemetery” in Leicester. This small cemetery is privately owned and maintained by the Worcester Friends Meeting. It dates back to the 1740s.

Finding Aids

• Daniel Farber Photograph Collection (gravestones)
• Forbes Gravestone Photograph Collection
• New England Cemetery Collection
• Worcester Cemetery Collection (1830-20th century)

Online Resources

• Worcester Cemeteries on FindAGrave
• Worcester County Cemetery Directory (US Geological Survey)
• Worcester, Massachusetts, Burial Index, 1727-1859 (Ancestry.com)
• The Spirits Beneath Worcester City Common

Books

• Barton, W. S. (1864). Epitaphs from the Cemetery of Worcester Common. Worcester, Mass.: Printed by Henry J. Howland.
• Barton, William Sumner (1878). Inscriptions from the Old Burial Grounds in Worcester, Massachusetts: From 1727 to 1859: With Biographical and Historical Notes. Charleston, Mass.: Acme Bookbinding.
• Campbell, Sarah L. (2019). Beneath the Cross: Historical Tour of the Jesuit Cemetery at the College of the Holy Cross. Worcester, Mass.: College of the Holy Cross.
• Lincoln, Levi (1838). An Address Delivered on the Consecration of the Worcester Rural Cemetery, September 8, 1838. Boston: Dutton & Wentworth, Printers.
• Tymeson, Mildred McClary (1956). Rural Retrospect: A Parallel History of Worcester and Its Rural Cemetery. Worcester, Mass.: [s.n.].
• Washburn, Zachary T. and Linda N. Hixon (2018). Hope Cemetery. Charleston, SC: Arcadia.