The Old Burying Ground

The Old Burying Ground is Lexington's oldest cemetery; the earliest graves date from 1690.

The entrance of the Old Burying Ground is on the corner of Harrington Road and Massachusetts Avenue, just across the street from the Battle Green. A house shares the driveway, which is marked with a small sign and the large stone shown below.

The cemetery contains the graves of many prominent early Lexington settlers, as well as soldiers from the Revolutionary War and the Civil War — even a British soldier who was injured in the fighting on the Battle Green and died a few days later in Buckman Tavern.

The Minutemen who fell on the Battle Green were originally buried here, but were disinterred and reburied on the Battle Green. A monument just off Massachusetts Avenue marks their graves.

Captain John Parker was suffering from tuberculosis when he led the Minutemen on April 19, 1775, and he died on September 17, 1775. Many believe he is buried in the Old Burying Ground, but no gravestone has been found for him. There are, however, two memorials to him in the graveyard.

One of the oldest graves in the cemetery is that of Isaac Ston, pictured above. The grave reads "Here Lyes Ye Body of Isaac Ston Aged 31 Years Deceased 10 of December 1690".

Information about the Old Burying Ground

• Google map of cemetery location
• View the Old Burying Ground Brochure with Annotated Map (PDF) (prints on 11"x17" paper)
• Documents related to Lexington's cemeteries, including old maps and deeds can be found on the Lexington Heritage website.
• Visit the Find a Grave website to get information on the Old Burying Ground, including photographs of many of the gravestones
• Lexington epitaphs, a copy of epitaphs of the Old Burying-Grounds of Lexington, Massachusetts, by Francis H. Brown, M.D., published by the Lexington Historical Society in 1903 is viewable on the Archive website.
• View images of the Old Burying Ground in the photo gallery.