The Old North Burying Ground in Ipswich

Early gravestones at the Old North Burying Ground

The Old North Burying Ground in Ipswich, Massachusetts was established in 1634 upon the founding of the town of the town, and is one of the oldest cemeteries in North America, located at the intersection of High Street and Rt 133/1A. View location at Google maps. Most of these gravestones were restored by Epoch Preservation.

The unique northern Essex County “soul effigy” style of John Hartshorne and the Leighton family of Rowley feature primitive round faces, whorls, rosettes, and wavelike patterns, while death’s heads and three-dimensional ornamentation were more common with carvers from the Boston area.

This page features almost 300 of the oldest gravestones in alphabetical order, including the mysterious E.L stone dated 1647, and the gravestones of the Hart family beginning in the 1670s.

The oldest gravestones are in Section C &D and in the immediate vicinity in Sections A, B, E and F

The numbers before the names in the photos below indicate the locations on the maps of the Burying Ground: map_key; a-b-map; c-d-map; e_map; f-g_map.

Click on any image to make it larger and start the slideshow. Click on the X in the upper right corner of any photo to return to this gallery.

10 thoughts on “Early gravestones at the Old North Burying Ground”

  1. Like getting a copy of National Geographic. Have learned a great deal about my early families in Ipswich

  2. Gordon et all..this represents an extraordinary amount of work. Those of us without superior eyesight commend you and the folks who worked with you . It is a treasure for generations to come..THANK YOU

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