Visiting a Hidden Gem

When the town of Swampscott separated from Lynn and became its own municipality in 1852 it established the Swampscott Cemetery.

The cemetery serves as a visual reminder of those who lived here before us, and contains within its grounds a literal history of the town.

In honor of this role, the Swampscott Cemetery will soon join other town locations—the Town Hall, the Fish House, Humphrey House, the Train Depot and the Olmstead Subdivision Historic District—in recognition as an area significant in American history, architecture, engineering and culture, and will be placed on the National Register of Historic Places, according to Historical Commission member Louis Gallo.

The designation, which will apply only to the pre-1960 sections, is due to become official sometime later this year, says Gallo.

Once a site is on the Registry, it becomes eligible for preservation grants—money sorely needed to continue restoration of Andrews Chapel, located in the cemetery and included in the designation.

The designation will also, in the words of Gallo, “make people aware of what they have.”

A recent visit to Swampscott Cemetery proved Gallo’s point. Not only was it peaceful and green, with a soft breeze rustling the leaves of the mature trees, the hundreds of small American flags fluttering over the graves of veterans were a reminder that each marker contains an individual story, as well as the story of a community.

The centerpiece is Andrews Chapel, constructed in 1923 by bequest of Mrs. Ellen T. Andrews in memory of her husband Isaac H. Andrews, who served as selectman and assessor. This building, done in what is called Norman Gothic, has been made watertight by the town, and awaits funding to repair the inside, so that it can eventually be used by residents as an ecumenical chapel.

Ten years later, in the midst of the Depression of the 1930’s, the stone perimeter wall was built by the WPA.

On a shady hill, two large white marble lions rest near a small triangle pyramid, which reads, As Above So Below. According to Gallo, the lions, carved in Italy, once graced the entrance of the O’Brien estate on Atlantic and were moved to the cemetery upon O’Brien’s death.

A larger than life marble statue of a woman in classical dress from the Victorian era was built by the Stimpson family in 1877. She looks down, to evoke sorrow, a typical pose from that time.

The Row of Hillside Tombs, constructed in the 1860’s, are eight connected tombs with granite block faces and marble doors. One of the tombs, eerily slightly ajar, contains the remains of a brother and a sister, one dead at 15, and the other one dead at 18 years, 7 months.

The Tedesco Memorial, an 8 foot tall marble obelisk commemorates the officers and crew of the Tedesco, lost at sea in 1857.

The Veterans Lot, which honors veterans from World War II onward, was in its Memorial Day glory, with flags and bright red geraniums.

A pyramid of cannon balls on a granite base surrounded by artillery mortar and small marble headstones remembers veterans from the War of 1812 and the Civil War in the Grand Army of the Republic Lot.

And an old cannon atop a small hill surrounded by small stones commemorated those lost in WWI.

A long search for the Pauper’s Lot turned up grass, literally, for that’s what it is—a plot filled with people too poor to memorialize themselves for future generations.

The words of Russian poet Yevgeny Yevtushenko came to mind. “Not people die but worlds die in them,” he wrote. Each marker, each veteran’s flag represents a life that’s gone, a thought that should give us all pause, at Memorial Day, and for the rest of the year as well.