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"Copps Hill Burying Ground was the second burying ground established in Boston, in 1660. It is near the
Old North Church, and is about three acres in dimension. It was originally called the North Burying Place.
The oldest part of the cemetery is on the northeast side of the Hull Street entrance.
There are many quaint epitaphs, some of which are illegible from age. Several famous people are buried at Copps Hill. Edmund Hartt, builder of
the frigate U.S.S. Constitution, is buried here.
The Reverend Doctors
Increase and
Cotton Mather (Salem Witch Trial fame), are buried here in the
Mather Tomb. There was also a small section that was reserved for African-American slaves and free Black persons near Snowhill Street [sadly, most markers are missing
today, having been plundered for construction materials in the 1860's].
During the Revolution, British soldiers occupied Copps Hill as a military station. They found sport in firing bullets at the gravestones, the marks of which
can still be seen on some of them. Their favorite target was said to be the stone of Daniel Malcom, a merchant, which bares the inscription,
'a true Son of Liberty, a
friend to the publick, an enemy to oppression, and one of the foremost in opposing the Revenue Acts on America.'
He died in 1769.
When Copps Hill was cut down, the burying ground was left untouched, and a high stone wall was built to support the embankment. The British batteries of 1775, which fired on
Bunker Hill, were on the western slope of the hill between Hull and Snowhill Streets.
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Contact Information
Phone Number: 617.635.4505
Web Address: www.cityofboston.gov/freedomtrail
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