Cemetery receives up to 50,000 Visitors
So, we are exactly one week from Halloween. I noticed this article from Boston.com that you can read here about the Charter Street Cemetery in Salem, Massachusetts receiving thousands of visitors and had to find out why.
Turns out that the Charter Street Cemetery was formerly known as The Old Burying Point Cemetery and is the second oldest cemetery in the nation, dating back to 1637. It receives thousands of visitors a year.
What makes it interesting – and especially around Halloween – is that it is the cemetery where Judge John Hathorne is buried. He was one of the judges in the famous Salem Witch Trials of 1692 and 1693. According to the article there is also the tomb of another judge, Bartholomew Gadney and at least the grave site of one of the women executed after being convicted of purported witchcraft, Ms. Mary Corey.
According to the article, the City of Salem has used staff to help control how many people are in the cemetery during peak times. According to one Salem tourist executive quoted in the article, “A lot of people don’t realize it is a cemetery. They think it’s been constructed as a tourism destination.”
Salem Police Captain Conrad Prosniewski is quoted in the article, as saying, “Police haven’t had any unwanted activity in the cemetery yet.”
Again, according to the article, Captain Posniewski estimated that the city had 50,000 cemetery visitors this past weekend.
More Cemetery News:
- We’ve followed the South Dakota Department of Veterans Affairs as they have worked with their state legislature and the federal government in finding funding to establish a state operated veteran’s cemetery near Sioux Falls. Here is an update on how they are moving forward.
- Here is an article and television news story about the Stockton Rural Cemetery in Stockton, California. The cemetery has been advertising a “Spooky Festival” on the cemetery grounds for this weekend. Many people have taken exception to the idea as one that does not respect those that are laid to rest there.
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