Hidden Spaces: The tiny cemetery
Hidden Spaces is part of a series about lesser-known spaces at Harvard. Each July 4, as night falls, the Roslindale neighbors who live near Peters Hill in Harvard’s Arnold Arboretum walk to the top. Someone brings a radio, and they listen to the Boston Pops Orchestra play the “1812 Overture” while they watch the fireworks burst brilliantly over the Charles River. Near the base of the hill, among tall trees and along narrow dirt paths, lies a little-known cemetery containing the remains of veterans of the American Revolution and early settlers — an ideal place for pondering the meaning of the nation’s birthday. The little cemetery, hidden at the far end of the 265-acre Arboretum, holds several headstones and a crypt and was once part of the Walter Street “Berrying” Ground. The “Jamaica End” settlers of the early 1700s belonged to the distant Roxbury town church on Meeting House Hill. The...