Walk among the Massachusettsns who came before.
Established in 1846 next to Chatham Light, this small cemetery holds the graves of more than forty unidentified sailors whose bodies washed ashore from shipwrecks along Chatham's treacherous shoals. The surrounding waters, part of a stretch mariners called an 'ocean graveyard,' claimed thousands of vessels, and the town buried the unknown dead here.
Chatham Light Park - Sailors Cemetery is a cemetery in Chatham, Barnstable County. It is one of 67 cemeteries documented in Barnstable County, among 6,897 historic sites cataloged across the county on MassRoam.
The site sits at 41.6721, -69.9496 near Chatham. The nearest cataloged historic site is Mack Park - Chatham Light Park (landmark), about under a tenth of a mile away. Others within a short drive include Mack Park - Nickerson, William L. Monument, Mack Park - Mack, William Henry Monument, and Hardy, Josiah House.
This record is drawn from public historical records. Use the map below for its exact position and turn-by-turn directions.
The Sailors' Cemetery at Chatham Light Park was established in 1846 and is a contributing property in a National Register historic district near the Chatham Light on the town's outer shore. As a mariners' burying ground in a town whose economy turned on fishing and coastal shipping, it holds the graves of sailors from a community repeatedly touched by loss at sea. Its setting beside the lighthouse ties it directly to Chatham's maritime history.
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