Go Ask Alice

Alice Orne died too young, at only 30 in 1776, and her grave is marked with a impressive headstone. The cherub is distinctive, and I almost wonder if it was based on someone specific. (I say “almost,:” because as far as we know, such portraits were not a thing).

Her epitaph reads:

This stone has something great to teach,

And what you need to learn:
For graves, my friends, most loudly preach

Man's infinite concern.

What Don't Two Wrongs Make ...?

For a little while, I seemed to be having some variation on this conversation once a week –

ME: Locking up a cemetery and denying public access is against the law.

SOMEONE: But the Quaker Cemetery is locked!

ME: That would still be against the law ….

Put another way –

ME: Robbing banks is against the law.

SOMEONE: But Dillinger robbed banks!

ME: That would still be against the law ….

The Quaker Cemetery, also called the Friends' Cemetery, is located on Essex Street, right next to my dentist's office; last year I got a crown in the room that looks out over the cemetery. Quakers were NOT welcome in early Salem, and indeed Puritans outlawed the religion and punished Quaker missionaries who came to town to preach or protest.

The cemetery was open for a century, from 1718 to 1818, next to the long-gone meeting house. Findagrave tells us that “Many graves are unmarked and several stones are severely eroded,” and informs us that the cemetery also holds the remains of Quakers transported from other locations in Boston and Peabody.

Pointing out that one cemetery is locked in no way makes locking a second cemetery permissible. I really have no idea what the logic behind that argument is supposed to be. Two wrongs, we were all told as kids, don't make a right.

But it does set a troubling precedent.

One of my concerns, from the very beginning, has been that once the Charter Street Cemetery is locked, it will remain locked. Those in charge will decide that it is easy, it doesn't cost money, and it seems that most people who express an opinion on the matter are in favor of the closure (if only because those of us who opposed it are being ignored). And we already have one locked up cemetery, and no one is complaining about that, so why not a second?

And even if it does not remain locked year round, the city could decide to lock it back up next October. It went so well the first time, right?

When I have pointed out that locking a cemetery is against the law, I am sometimes met with vague assurances that it is allowable if the cemetery is deemed “at risk” or “endangered.” When I have asked, no one has cited a source for this supposed information.* The Quaker Cemetery can in no way be described as at risk or endangered. It is under no imminent threat. But it's locked. And it shouldn't be either.

*people “know” that an endangered cemetery can be locked in the same way people “knew” a witch couldn't recite the Lord's Prayer. It's something they just kinda think has to be true, right? Because it just makes sense. Even it it's not actually documented anywhere. FFS, let's not go making decisions on things we just think must be true; we got into a lot of trouble in town for that last time.

Making Headlines

The Charter Street Cemetery was on the front page of the Salem News today, along with my friend Giovanni, owner of Haunted Footsteps.  

https://www.salemnews.com/news/local_news/no-issues-in-closed-cemetery-except-for-some-tour-groups/article_9da13223-8df8-533d-b132-91be306d9e20.html

It's a bad headline, but that is the fault of the headline-writer, not the reporter filing the story.  Reading the headline alone, you might think that the only "issues" in the (illegally) closed cemetery were being caused by tour groups, which is certainly not the case. 


The article states that "The move was made to protect the cemetery from damage caused by tourists unaware of the centuries-old gravestones’ fragility."  And that's incorrect.  I attended the meetings where closing the cemetery was discussed and, as noted in another post, historic preservation and protecting the cemetery never came up, and was clearly not ever the point (see the post entitled "Those People.").  

Those People

I went to both meetings where the Cemetery Commission discussed closing the Charter Street Cemetery. I submitted a letter against the closure.  I seem to have been the only one.  The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness.

The discussion at those meetings was ... interesting.   

"I hate what Salem has become," said one member of the commission (I did not catch her name).  "Everyone comes here and everything is about witches.  You can't go downtown without seeing a bunch of people in black talking about horror."

She went on a bit from there, and that's when I started to see a big piece of the puzzle.

This seems to be less about historic preservation, and more about Those People, the ones in black talking about horror.  The people "we" don't like, the ones who aren't "like us," the ones who come here for the "wrong reasons."  Dammit, why aren't they coming to hear about the spice trade?  Or Hawthorne?  And why cant I go to Almy's on a Sunday afternoon anymore? 

We're all in favor of historic preservation.  Nobody wants to see the Charter Street Cemetery trashed.  It's irreplaceable.

But ...

Nobody was saying that at those meetings. 

There was finger-wagging at Those People.  The ones who come here for the wrong reasons, the reasons we don't like.  They're messing it all up for Us because they don't Get It ... like We do.   

I could be wrong, but I just feel that when it comes to sorting out the arguments in favor of closing the cemetery, historic preservation seems to have been the last thing on anybody's mind.   

 

                     

Simon Bradstreet (or, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle)

Let's get back to talking about notable graves in the Charter Street Cemetery.

On the western side of the cemetery (over on the right-hand side, as you enter through the main gate) you will find the impressive box tomb of Governor Simon Bradstreet, one of the most active figures in colonial politics.  He was a magistrate, a businessman, a diplomat, and of course Governor.  Cotton Mather called him "the Nestor of New England," referring to the wise king from Homer's Odyssey.  (But then again, Mather referred to my home state of Rhode Island as "the sewer of New England," and "the fag end of Creation," so I am not sure how much I trust his judgment here).

Regardless, Bradstreet does seem to have been an impressive character with a long list of credits to his name.  He arrived in America aboard the Arbella in 1630, along with other Puritans as part of the "Winthrop Fleet,"dropping anchor at the end of my street(!).  The huge plaque, placed on the tomb in 1917, describes him (in both English and Latin) as "A man endowed with keen judgement whom neither threats nor honors could sway."

He was twice married, both times to a woman named Anne.  His first wife was the poet Anne Bradstreet, first American poet, or at least the first published American poet.  You English majors in the crowd (like me) will remember reading her work in your survey Am Lit class.  

"The Author To Her Book," is self-deprecating and pretty great --

Thou ill-formed offspring of my feeble brain,
Who after birth did'st by my side remain,
Till snatched from thence by friends, less wise than true,
Who thee abroad, exposed to public view,
Made thee in rags, halting to th' press to trudge,
Where errors were not lessened (all may judge).
At thy return my blushing was not small,
My rambling brat (in print) should mother call.
I cast thee by as one unfit for light,
Thy visage was so irksome in my sight;
Yet being mine own, at length affection would
Thy blemishes amend, if so I could:
I washed thy face, but more defects I saw,
And rubbing off a spot still made a flaw.
I stretched thy joints to make thee even feet,
Yet still thou run'st more hobbling than is meet;
In better dress to trim thee was my mind,
But nought save homespun cloth, i' th' house I find.
In this array 'mongst Vulgars may'st thou roam.
In critic's hands beware thou dost not come,
And take thy way where yet thou art not known;
If for thy Father asked, say thou hadst none;
And for thy Mother, she alas is poor,
Which caused her thus to send thee out of door.       

And "To My Dear and Loving Husband" is written to Simon --

If ever man were lov'd by wife, then thee;
If ever wife was happy in a man,
Compare with me ye women if you can.
I prize thy love more than whole Mines of Gold,
Or all the riches that the East doth hold.
My love is such that Rivers cannot quench,
Nor ought but love from thee, give recompence.
Thy love is such I can no way repay,
The heavens reward thee manifold I pray.
Then while we live, in love lets so persevere,
That when we live no more, we may live ever.


Anne and Simon had eight children together (one died in infancy).  She died in 1672 and is buried in North Andover.  Simon went on to marry another Anne (the niece of Governor Winthrop) in 1676.  He died in Salem at the ripe of age of 93, on March 27th, 1697.

But, you will say, you are spending a fair amount of time talking about the first Mrs. Bradstreet, who you admit isn't even buried in this tomb.  

Don't worry -- neither is Simon.

In the late 1700s ("sometime between 1789-1796," according to William Carlson's "Charter Street Burial Records, Salem, Massachusetts, Genealogical and Historical," 2009) the tomb changed hands and the new owner, Daniel Hathorne (Nathaniel's grandfather) cleaned it out(!), removing the remains of Simon and the second Anne.  

What did he do with them?  Where did they end up?

Nobody knows ...!

   

  

Books!

Yesterday, I visited the Higginson Book Company, tucked away in a neighborhood where you might not expect to find a bookstore.  Higginson reprints historic books and pamphlets (hardcover and softcover) at good prices.  I grabbed the three booklets above.  This will, I think, be the first of many visits.

Can you find most of the material somewhere online for free?  Probably.  But supporting your local, independent bookseller/publisher is good for the soul.

Check out their website below.  They are having a sale!

https://higginsonbooks.com/pages/frontpage

Higginson used to be located in the infamous Joshua Ward House, said to be The Most Haunted House In Salem(!).  But that, I think, deserves its own post at a later date.           

Doraty's Not In Charter Street Anymore(?)

The Charter Street Cemetery opened in 1637, though evidently the spot was already being used for burials almost a decade before that. 

So what is the oldest surviving stone in the cemetery?

One 19^th century guidebook mentions that the oldest legible stone is dated 1650.  I have looked for that stone, but haven’t been able to find it.  Perhaps I missed it, perhaps it is no longer legible. 

When the question comes up, most people will point to the stone of Doraty Cromwell, which is dated 1673.  Doraty was the third of Philip Cromwell’s five wives; she is buried next to him, and her stone shows classic death’s head and hourglass imagery common to early New England gravestones.

I have pointed this stone out to people on my tours, commenting that the stone is so old, and the workmanship so simple, almost primitive, that it somehow seems modern.  The simplicity of the designwork makes it look, at least to me, almost Art Deco.  So old, it looks new.

But then I discovered something odd. 

Frank Cousins was a noted Salem photographer, active in the early 20^th century.  He spent much of his time photographing older buildings and landmarks around town (for which we are forever grateful!).  He took a number of photographs in the Charter Street Cemetery, and Doraty’s stone is one of them.

The photo is available here:

https://www.digitalcommonwealth.org/search/commonwealth:2b88r256r

Don’t forget to enlarge the photo for a better look; the level of quality here is really great. 

It’s obvious at a glance that THAT stone is very different from the stone that is there now.  There is much more detail – check out the feathers on the wings, the graceful curlicue eyebrows on the skull.  Cousins’s photo shows crossbones on the left-hand side, but today we have a second hourglass instead.    

And the inscription is also noticeably different – the “memento mori” in Cousins’s photograph is completely gone, the E in “ye” is larger, and crossbar on the H in
”Philip” was straight and now is curved.  And on and on.

But there are similarities as well – they are the same shape, they both have a large chip along the top edge.  The H and the E in “Here” run together on both.    

What’s the story here?  Is it the same stone, just completely re-carved (which only raises further questions of Why and When)?  Is it a replacement stone that was carved to resemble the original (again, Why and When)?  What happened to the original stone, if this isn’t it?

If I find out anything, you will be the first to know.

(My thanks to Donovan Loucks, webmaster of the excellent and thorough  www.hplovecraft.com, for drawing my attention to the Cousins photo.  Thanks, dude!)

       

FAQ

The city has placed a laminated FAQ at intervals along the Charter Street Cemetery fence.  Laminated sheets held on with zip ties may not be aesthetically pleasing, but at least people can learn some information about the cemetery.  And, as you can see from the photo above, people *are* stopping to read. 

The text is a reprint of the FAQ that can be found here:

https://www.salem.com/home/news/charter-street-cemetery-frequently-asked-questions

Locked Out

The Charter Street Cemetery will be closed for the month of October.  This is bad news.  

As a public guide in Salem, I understand the many challenges the city faces every October (and beyond). Preserving invaluable historic sites, protecting them from tourists who seem to regard the city as little more than a theme park, is a major difficulty, and one for which there is no easy solution.

The Burying Point, also known as the Charter Street Cemetery, is the oldest cemetery in the city, and the final resting place of many Salem notables. The Burying Point’s historical significance makes it a stop on many, if not all, walking tours in town. Unfortunately, in October, the cemetery can become overrun with uninformed tourists not being careful around the irreplaceable headstones. The dangers this situation poses have led some to recommend closing the cemetery entirely for the month of October.
This is a flawed idea for several reasons.

First, it violates Massachusetts General Law, Part I, Title XVI, Chapter 114, Section 42a. That section states, “No cemetery … shall be closed for visitations between the hours of eight o'clock antemeridian and sunset …” This point has been brought up before, and the response has been that the Burying Point can be locked because the Quaker Burying Ground on Essex Street is closed and locked at all times. But citing another example of the law being broken does not seem to be a particularly forceful argument.

Secondly, the licensed public guides in Salem are not the problem. I am aware that many residents regard tour guides as little more than a nuisance, pedaling lies to tourists and taking their money, but that perception is simply incorrect. The majority of us got into the tour business because of our love of history, and our delight in sharing it with others. Locking the gate makes our jobs harder, and just ensures that there will be fewer knowledgeable, invested people to help keep an eye on the place.

Further, one of the problems mentioned at the previous commission meeting was that overnight, people are often seen jumping over the wall and into the cemetery. This is obviously trespassing, but locking the gate will not solve it. Locks keep out only the honest.

It has been proposed that access only be allowed to people on a licensed tour. While this seems like a possible solution, I feel it creates other problems. It could be seen as charging people admission for access to a public space. Many residents are perhaps understandably unhappy with the nonstop carnival that downtown can feel like in October, and allowing access to a historic cemetery on a cash basis only makes matters worse.

In previous years, monitors have been stationed at the cemetery gates, allowing in a limited number of visitors at one time, in addition to licensed tour guides. This seems to have worked well, and I see no reason why approach this can’t be continued

Protecting the cemetery, and encouraging visitors to more fully appreciate its significance and not just treat it like a movie set, is a major challenge. Simply locking the gate and waiting until November is the laziest solution.