Fairview Cemetery, Hyde Park (Boston)

[urbpan]

At the East end of our neighborhood, the streets dead end to a woody hill. We found paths up into the scrubby land and found this view. On the right you can see the ski slope at Blue Hills. Through the gap and straight down the hill is a large cemetery. A little google map research showed me it was Fairview Cemetery, in the Boston neighborhood of Hyde Park.




It's the last cemetery built that's managed by the Boston Parks Department, so it doesn't have quite the same impact as Mount Auburn or Forest Hills, but it's still very nice. It will be more impressive when the trees leaf out.


This Italian immigrant may have died in the influenza epidemic--or perhaps the war. The memorial stone is singular. So many Italian immigrants in Boston died from the flu epidemic that an orphanage called the "Italian home for children" was opened, and exists to this day, serving at-risk children.


I liked the artistry of this stone.


A Civil War monument is prominent on the grounds. I appreciate the name given to the conflict, here on the plaque. Hyde Park, by the way, was a separate town in its own right until annexed by Boston in 1912.


At the far edge of the cemetery is a body of water. It turns out that it's Mother Brook.


We circled around and went back up the hill.


At several points along the west edge, there are a number of these steps that go up into the scrubby woods. The paths back up to our neighborhood are clearly improvised, and in some cases treacherous.


Alexis and Maggie emerge at the top of the path!

Comments

[pagawne.livejournal.com]

Looking at the marker for the soul who died in 1918, it is possible he had been gassed during the war and then was hit with the "Spanish Influenza". That combination was just about 100% deadly. Those who has survived the gassing had lungs so badly damaged the influenza killed them just about first off.

In many cases in my part of the country, you could see it wipe out almost entire communities. Oddly, doctors and nurses were among the first to go. Here in Maryland you could see where it had swept through convents like wildfire.

Why, yes, I do like old graveyards. You can learn so very much.

[donnad.livejournal.com]

I have relatives buried at Fairview.
Up those steps into the scrubby woods are the unmarked pauper's graves. One of my great uncles is buried in a paupers grave at Fairview.

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

WOW Donna, I had no idea! That's really interesting and sad, but I'm so glad you told me that.

[donnad.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the pictures, I've actually never been there despite having lived in Hyde Park both as a child and as an adult. I just know about it from my geneology research.
It was one of my grandmother's brothers. His name was Hamilton(Min) Legrice. He was born in 1907 and he died in 1962, two days after I was born. I don't know how or why he ended up in an unmarked pauper's grave, I suspect the money just wasn't there.

[plantmom.livejournal.com]

Cool pictures, fascinating design on the memorials, and the stories are sad but interesting. Like much of life.

[bill_sheehan.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the pictures. I live a block from the local town cemetery - nothing anywhere near as ornate, but it helps guarantee a quite neighborhood.

fairview cemetery

[(Anonymous)]

beautiful area, check it out in the summer and fall.......