david devine's profile

Cemetery for the Tewksbury Hospital (MA)

Keener eyes might find more, but I counted six grave markers in this photo.
Tewksbury Hospital (originally established as Almshouse) 1852

For the history buff, read the Wikipedia article for the background.

Tewksbury is in northeast area of Massachusetts. I lived in the community next door, Andover, and I would travel past a pine oak forest area adjacent to the Tewksbury Hospital for years in my commute to work in Lowell. I notice a sign next to the road that I commuted on, indicating that this overgrown pine forest was the cemetery for the Tewksbury Hospital (link to article about hospital and cemetery: http://www.oddthingsiveseen.com/2014/04/a-hospital-with-history-tewksbury.html

I was curious because it looked like no cemetery I had ever seen. I photographed the forest floor / grounds a little (not extensively), and found markers that were numbered and a grave stone. This seems to be the resting places for the residents when they died. If records were kept, they must be in some state archive. These grave makers look so derelict and forgotten. Time is swallowing any memory of these individuals.
Cemetery for the Tewksbury Hospital (MA)
Published:

Cemetery for the Tewksbury Hospital (MA)

Published:

Creative Fields