Historic Newton manages the preservation of the graves and tombs of Newton’s three City-owned historic burying grounds. The burying grounds are important civic and cultural resources.  They are open to the public from dawn until dusk.  Please proceed carefully and avoid touching the gravestones. Gravestone rubbings are not permitted. 

These sites stand on land of this country’s Native people, who have lived in this region for more than 12,000 years. Buried here are many of Newton’s earliest European settlers, as well as veterans of the Revolutionary War—families now commemorated in the names of the city’s streets, schools, public buildings, and parks.  The burying grounds also contain some of the finest examples of early American gravestone art—slate and marble monuments embellished with skulls, cherubs, urns, willows, and other motifs of mourning in an irreplaceable outdoor “gallery.”   

Historic Newton is managing a long-term preservation plan to restore several monuments and tombs. Historic Newton also offers educational programming, such as walking tours or school field trips, and hosts volunteer cleanups at the burying grounds.  

East Parish Burying Ground (1660)

• Centre and Cotton Streets, Newton Centre, MA

South Burying Ground (1802)

• Winchester Street, Newton Highlands, MA

West Parish Burying Ground (1781)

• River and Cherry Streets, West Newton, MA

Learn More:

Restoring Newton’s Historic Burying Grounds

Graves at East Parish Burying Ground

Graves at West Parish Burying Ground

Graves at South Burying Ground

East Parish Burying Grounds Interactive Map

Where Newton Began: A Guide to the East Parish Burying Grounds by Thelma Fleishman provides a thorough background on the people and families buried in one of the oldest burying grounds in the state of Massachusetts, with dates going back to 1660.