MassachusettsThe Story
Sandwich set aside this ground as the town's burial place in 1663, making it one of the oldest cemeteries on Cape Cod. Its earliest surviving gravestones date to the 1680s, and many of Sandwich's founding families are interred here.
Cemetery
Sandwich Old Town Cemetery
Walk among the Massachusettsns who came before.
About this site
Sandwich Old Town Cemetery is a cemetery in Sandwich, 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 41.7555, -70.5008 near Sandwich. The nearest cataloged historic site is Sandwich Powder House Marker (historical marker), about under a tenth of a mile away. Others within a short drive include House at 19 Grove St, Symonds, Jonathan House, and Sturgis House.
This record is drawn from public historical records. Use the map below for its exact position and turn-by-turn directions.
History
Sandwich Old Town Cemetery, on a peninsula in Shawme Lake off Grove Street, was set aside in July 1663 when the town agreed that a "little neck of land" be appropriated as a burial place; Sandwich is the oldest town on Cape Cod, and the cemetery holds some of the oldest surviving gravestones on the Cape. Among the earliest interments are Thomas and Dorothy Burgess, ancestors of the naturalist writer Thornton Burgess. It is a contributing property in a National Register historic district.
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