Old Oak Street Burial Ground in Grafton, Massachusetts

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Get directions Oak Street
Grafton, Massachusetts, USA

Coordinates: 42.21095, -71.69169
Cemetery ID:

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The Old Oak Street Burial Ground is the oldest documented historical site in Grafton. It is located near the south east corner of Lake Ripple right across from Grafton Senior High School on Route 122. The Community Preservation Committee for Grafton holds the responsibility of overseeing the cemetery. Contact information for this committee may be obtained through Grafton Town Hall, 508-839-5335. The earliest records indicate that on November 26, 1734 a committee of 40 proprietors began the process of selecting this burial ground. The one discrepancy to this date is the tombstone of Benjamin Rand, which indicates a death date of 1731. Interred here are the remains of many influential founding settlers of Grafton. Many of their graves are marked with ornately carved stones that express the Puritan mindset and reverence of death. The slates used for the gravestone vary in quality and color. Red, blue, and gray slates can be found within the cemetery. Good quality slate was used on some of the stones, and the inscriptions have not fallen victim to erosion from the elements. Others stones of poorer quality have long passed the point of being legible. Information obtained from Rita Martin's booklet entitled, "The Old Oak Street Burial Ground" and from Dick Bolt and Steve Clark's Rootsweb freepages, "Grafton, Massachusetts History, Photos, and Info."

The Massachusetts Historical Commission refers to this cemetery in MACRIS as GRF800.

This cemetery is referred to in the book "Vital Records of Grafton, Massachusetts to 1850", Published by the New England Historic Genealogical Society, as G.S.