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[This feature was contributed jointly by the Sudbury Historical Commission and the Sudbury Historical Society]
The Revolutionary War Cemetery in town center recently received a new cemetery kiosk and entrance sign. The new kiosk is located to the right of the cemetery’s main entrance. The kiosk is updated to reflect additional names of people buried there with an observable headstone or marker. For any persons without an observable headstone, their names can be found through the kiosk’s Sudbury Historical Society’s QR code.
Members of the Sudbury Historical Commission and the Sudbury Historical Society worked jointly to develop this new kiosk and cemetery entrance sign. Both the Sudbury Historical Commission and the Sudbury District Commission reviewed and approved the new signage. Much assistance was provided by Sudbury’s Planning and Community Development and Sudbury’s Department of Public Works.
Community Preservation Act funds were utilized in the kiosk and entrance signage development. The Revolutionary War Cemetery is under the jurisdiction of the Sudbury Historical Commission.
The cemetery shares a wall with the Sudbury Town Pound (c 1797) which is adjacent to the Hearse House (c 1800). The Town Pound was initially used to contain wayward livestock. Animal owners were charged a fee to cover the feed cost for their animals until retrieval. The Hearse House originally stored the town’s funeral carriage.
Through the use of town records, the Sudbury Historical Commission determined the earliest name of the cemetery as the “Burying Place.” Other historic names include the “Burying Ground,” “Old Burying Ground,” “Old Cemetery,” “Old Town Cemetery” and “Revolutionary Cemetery.”
There are approximately 456 observable cemetery headstones, some with footstones, dating from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Over the years, some of the graves have become unmarked due to erosion or loss of headstones. The inscriptions remain legible on many stones.
The Revolutionary War Cemetery served as the final resting place for many of the early inhabitants of western Sudbury and continued in active use through the 19th century. The earliest burials are concentrated near the center of the yard, with some of the oldest inscriptions dating to c 1727.
Today, the Revolutionary War Cemetery remains an important site of local history and memory, with connections to the town’s founding, its role in the American Revolution, and the lives of early residents on the west side of Sudbury. The property was designated as part of the local Old Sudbury Center Historic District in 1963 and was listed on the State and National Register of Historic Places in 1976 as a contributing property in the Sudbury Center Historic District.
For Sudbury’s 250th celebration on May 16, please stop by the Revolutionary War Cemetery and see the new kiosk and signage.