Welcome to the Griffin Street Cemetery-New Bedford’s oldest surviving graveyard, and the last stop on our ghostly... uh, I mean, historic tour! Take a look around you: 1.7 acres of peaceful resting place, squeezed between South 2nd and Griffin Streets, with the hum of the JFK Memorial Highway close by. This place goes all the way back to 1804, when the city was just starting to bustle. Imagine the clip-clop of horse hooves rather than car engines! This cemetery was created just a stone’s throw from a Quaker burial ground-those early Quaker remains got moved to Rural Cemetery later on, but here, about 230 grave stones remain. Many more souls rest here, though-their sites are unmarked, so it’s a bit of a local mystery. The oldest headstone is from 1804, the most recent just before the Civil War in 1855. So as you wander, you’re time traveling across half a century, brushing shoulders with the city’s earliest settlers. In 2014, Griffin Street Cemetery finally got its spot on the National Register of Historic Places-just a little late, but better late than never! Who knows, maybe if you listen closely, you’ll hear a whisper or two from the past... or maybe that’s just me, drumming up a little cemetery suspense for the finale!
Stop 13 of 14
