Tucked just ½ of a mile northeast of Concord’s center – a pleasant ten minute’s stroll on a nice day – lies the peaceful garden cemetery known as Sleepy Hollow. What it lacks in pattern it makes up for in lore; its winding paths are the final resting place for countless historical figures. After all, a town as historically significant as Concord, Massachusetts, needs people to make the history; and those people need a place to stay once their souls have moved on…
Sleepy Hollow Cemetery | Concord, Massachusetts
Sleepy Hollow CemeteryI stumbled upon Sleepy Hollow during my recent trip to Concord, Massachusetts. In doing my pre-trip research, I came across the Friends of Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, a non-profit organization that preserves the cemetery and its history. The Friends publish several booklets and brochures, one of which is a map. For anyone considering a trip, this map is an absolute must.
One of many winding paths in Sleepy Hollow CemeteryI started my walk at the oldest part of the cemetery. When Concord’s townspeople ran out of space in their already existing Hill Burying Ground and South Burying Place, they decided it was high time to find more land. In 1823, New Hill Burying Ground was opened, and Hill Burying ground became “Old” Hill Buying Ground.
One of many styles of graves you can find in the cemeterySleepy Hollow Cemetery is unique in the way it has grown over the years. Five more sections were added to New Hill, including one called “Sleepy Hollow” in 1855. Much of the landscaping is modeled after transcendentalist views about how humans should be in commune with nature. Visitors can learn how attitudes toward death evolved over the years by observing the differences between each of the sections.
Various styles of graves in the cemetery reflect the livings’ ideas about death.
More gravestones in the cemeteryBy far the most popular section of the cemetery is Author’s Ridge. This woody path is home to the bodies of Henry David Thoreau, Louisa May Alcott, Nathaniel and Sophia Hawthorne, Ralph Waldo Emerson (who spoke at the cemetery’s dedication ceremony) and their families. I was surprised to see that visitors left offerings of pens, pencils, and even library cards to commemorate the famed authors.
Sign directs visitors to Author’s Ridge
Louisa May Alcott, author of Little Women
Fans have left pens and pencils in honor of Alcott
Thoreau’s family plot on Author’s Ridge
Coins left by fans of Thoreau on his family’s grave
Pens, pencils, library cards, and even a pine cone decorate this famed transcendentalist author’s headstone
The grave of Nathaniel Hawthorne, adorned with pens and pencils by fans
Hawthorne now rests next to his wife, Sophia.
Ralph Waldo Emerson with his wife Lidian (left) and daughter Ellen (right)
“The passive master lent his hand to the vast soul that o’er him planned”
Members of the Emerson family in the family’s plot
Fans have left coins and rocks to commemorate Lidian Emerson.
Ellen Emerson lived to be 70.Other notable residents of this expansive burial ground include the first woman to be issued a driver’s license in the United States, the composer of the Christmas tune, “The Little Drummer Boy,” and the first man in America to manufacture pencils. Visitors can see the graves of Ephraim Wales Bull, the inventor of the Concord grape, Daniel Chester French, the sculptor behind the famous Minuteman statue and the Lincoln Memorial, and a woman to whom Henry Thoreau and his brother John both proposed marriage, only to be turned away by her father.
The Melvin Memorial, designed by Daniel Chester French
Sleepy Hollow Cemetery is full of interesting finds.Sleepy Hollow is certainly a must-see for anyone visiting the Concord area. If you’re going to visit the past homes of Concord’s famous history-makers, you might as well visit their current homes too, right? Stop by any of Concord’s visitor centers and pick up a map before you go, and enjoy your stroll through this famous final resting place.
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