Old Burying Ground

Cambridge's oldest cemetery, opened in 1636 near the edge of Cambridge Common. Originally located along Brattle Street, it was moved because wolves were disturbing the graves. Now surrounded by Harvard University buildings.

The Old Burying Ground of Cambridge stands just steps from Harvard Square, a colonial cemetery opened in 1636 that has interred the settlement's dead for nearly 200 years. Here, Harvard presidents rest beside paupers, former slaves lie near Revolutionary War soldiers, and beneath the weathered headstones, underground tombs hold dozens of caskets in subterranean chambers. For those who venture here after dark, the spirits of Cambridge's founders may still walk among the graves.

Located at the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue and Garden Street, the Old Burying Ground received its first residents only five years after the establishment of Newtowne—renamed Cambridge in 1638. The cemetery served as the community's primary burial site until the early 19th century, accumulating centuries of the town's history within its stone walls. Seven presidents of Harvard College rest here: Urian Oakes, John Leverett, Benjamin Wadsworth, Joseph Willard, Edward Holyoke, Henry Dunster, and Charles Chauncy.

The democracy of death is evident throughout. The burial ground put paupers, former slaves, African American soldiers from the Revolutionary War, and Harvard's elite side by side from the earliest days. This mixing of souls—the powerful and the forgotten sharing eternal rest—may contribute to the unusual energy visitors report.

Paranormal author Sam Baltrusis spent hours researching in the Old Burying Ground and describes feeling "a strong magnetic pull to the dead man's dumping ground." His interest centered on the subterranean Vassall tomb, reportedly located beneath what was once known as God's Acre. One night, while setting up for a meeting at the adjacent First Parish Church, Baltrusis had a close encounter with something unseen. The back door, propped open by one of the cemetery's old gravestones, mysteriously closed on its own. He heard floorboards creaking, then a second door slammed shut—though he was completely alone in the building.

Ghost tours through Harvard Square make the Old Burying Ground a featured stop, and visitors have reported extraordinary phenomena. Orbs of light have been photographed drifting among the headstones. Full-bodied apparitions have been witnessed, figures in period clothing who vanish when approached. The atmosphere grows particularly heavy near the underground tombs, where more than 25 caskets rest in darkness beneath the surface.

An inscription on Harvard Yard's Meyer Gate, quoting Ralph Waldo Emerson (Class of 1821), acknowledges the area's supernatural reputation: "Cambridge at any time is full of ghosts... of the men that wore before us the college honors & the laurels of the state—the long winding train reaching back into eternity." Emerson understood what visitors to the Old Burying Ground often sense: the past is not past here.

The Harvard Square Ghost Tour ends at this cemetery, "an ideal spot to hear a scary story" according to tour organizers. But many visitors find they don't need stories—the Old Burying Ground provides experiences of its own, encounters with presences that have watched over Cambridge since the Puritans first broke ground on this sacred soil nearly four centuries ago.