Eastern Cemetery is a historic cemetery at the intersection of Washington Avenue and Congress Street in the East Bayside neighborhood of Portland, Maine. Established in 1668, it is the city's oldest historic site, and has more than 4,000 marked graves. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973. The cemetery has been maintained since 2006 by the non-profit group Spirits Alive, who offer tours four days a week: Saturday, Sunday, Wednesday and Thursday.
Description and history
Eastern Cemetery is located on the northeastern part of the Portland's peninsula, at the base of Munjoy Hill, occupying a roughly triangular lot bounded on the north by Congress Street, the east by Mountfort Street, and the south by Federal Street. The sloping lot is only at street level along Congress and part of Mountfort Street, the rest supported by a stone retaining wall. Its street-facing sides are ringed by iron fencing, with the main entrance on Congress Street, marked by pairs of granite posts. Chain-link fencing runs along the southwestern boundary with abutting properties. The cemetery, which has twelve sections, is mostly grass, with occasional trees that are generally volunteer growth. It is the oldest historic site in Portland. Established as a public burial ground in 1668, 36 years after European settlers first arrived in the area, it now has more than 4,000 graves, with an estimated further 3,000 people in unmarked plots. The cemetery, which is about in size, was active until about 1860. There are 95 underground tombs, which were built to house about thirty coffins each. The Dead House, which was constructed in 1871, is located inside the front gate. It houses a tomb, built in 1849, to store bodies over the winter when the ground was too frozen to dig. Gallows, from which at least one hanging occurred, and stocks are no longer in place. The retaining walls along Mountfort and Federal Streets date from 1854 and 1868, respectively. The iron and granite fence along Congress Street was erected in 1916, having been moved from Portland High School.
Mary Green
Mary Green's head and foot stone mark the oldest known burial of May 23, 1717. Green is believed to be one of the settlers driven from the area by the American Indians between 1689 and 1690. She returned twenty years later.
