Porter's Burial Ground, Danvers, Massachusetts
On another one of my weekend walks I stopped into Danver's town center, did some exploring and took a break for a drink. While wandering around I came upon Porter's Burial Ground, which is also known as High Street Cemetery. This cemetery is the resting spot for veterans of several wars including the French & Indian War, Revolutionary War, War of 1812, Civil War, and the Spanish-American War.
Information on some of these older cemeteries is actually quite extraordinary. People have taken time to catalogue graves, photograph them, and occasionally write some details about the individuals. Sites such as Findagrave, and Gravematter provide links to these.
Next time I am in a cemetery with history such as this, I really should take time to do research while I'm there. In a google search to find discussion points for this posting I came across one interesting story about a lost Revolutionary War Grave of Army Private Jonathan Waitt, which was only rediscovered and rededicated recently in 2017. The original grave stone being broken and too worn out to read, a new headstone was added adjacent to the original to mark the site, when a descendent, fueled by an Ancestory.com search went on the quest to do so.
This grave is one of the few that was easy to distinguish. On "Find A Grave," it is noted to be for Curtis Munsey. I don't know if this was for someone's beloved pet, or perhaps a person who really loved dogs. Interestingly only a "death date" is listed, so perhaps a pet? Regardless, it's beautiful.
| Noteworthy on this sign, Danvers was the original Salem, not the Salem of today which gets the fame associated with the dark history of the Witch Trials. |
Danver's town website notes that this field gun was installed/dedicated in 1938 as a memorial to Spanish American War veterans.
Text and photographs by George Parks
Sources are embedded in links
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