A little about the Cemeteries of Longmeadow and Springfield. What happened to the old settler’s graves…

The Burial of the Old Pioneers of Longmeadow and Springfield

Where are Benjamin Cooley and Sarah buried and for that matter their children?  Sadly, their graves have been lost. The early settlers of Longmeadow and Springfield graves were lost when the railroad came to Springfield, according to Linda Abrams curator of the Longmeadow Historical Society in 2011 (Massachusetts Meanderings).

This led to a series of actions on my part.

• First, I visited the Longmeadow Cemetery in Longmeadow and took pictures. I was not really targeting anyone in particular.  See the information and pictures presented below for this cemetery. Studying the interments and their dates. 
• Second, when I was in Springfield, I did some walking around the downtown area in search of a plaque or anything that might say where the Old Burying Ground had been. 
• Last, I visited the Springfield Cemetery and found the old section where many bodies had been reburied and a strange stone commemorating the old settlers. 

I revisit my post on my Massachusetts Meanderings Blog in which I present my visit to Longmeadow and Springfield back in 2011:

Tuesday April 5, 2011: Enfield to Longmeadow to Springfield, published April 11, 2011,

(Massachusetts Meanderings will be made into a PDF sometime in 2022 and removed from the web after it is incorporated into this blog. Here is the link for more information: 

https://sgossfamily.wordpress.com/massachusetts-meanderings-trip-april-2011-overview/ ).

I wrote: Ms. Abrams told me about the cemetery in Springfield where a lot of the old pioneers of Springfield and Longmeadow had been buried but the railroad came and the bodies were moved to the Springfield Cemetery about 1845-1848.  As many bodies as could be found for time had pretty much turned them to dust.  The cemetery that is right there next to the Longmeadow Museum – Storrs house is not the real older pioneers.  According to my calculations the old pioneer cemetery was at the end of Elm Street by the Connecticut River.  It is long gone now for there is freeway (Hwy 91) and the train tracks.

I studied the Court Park area and could find no memorial plaque or anything stating that the cemetery had been there. Most of the monuments were for veterans of past wars in this century or the last. There is no sign for the street called Elm in this area but there is evidence that a street might have been there? 

Springfield City Hall 2011

Elm Street, maybe? where the old burials were once.

On my way out of Springfield I took the time to visit the Springfield Cemetery. Below is the memorial plaque found in the old section of the Springfield Cemetery in Springfield, MA. I visited that cemetery and here is a PDF of the post I wrote about that visit.

It is not easy to find the main entrance to this cemetery, it looks like an alleyway, but the old section is over along the Pine Street side of the cemetery. Be careful, the gate was locked on Pine Street when I visited.  My PDF gives more detail about this cemetery.

Map of Springfield Cemetery, Bon’s visit 2011 – On the right you will see the Pine St. Gate. The old graves are right along the fence.

The Memorial Plaque to the Old Settlers in the Springfield Cemetery

PDF: Sunday, April 10, 2011: Springfield Cemetery, Springfield, Massachusetts, Posted April 11, 2011.

Click on the link below to open the Word.doc.

PostofVisittoSpringfieldCemetery2011

I also have a YouTube Video of my visit to this cemetery. Just Google it and you should be able to find it among the other films.

Longmeadow Cemetery 2011 Overview

When I was in Longmeadow in 2011, I wanted to take a look at the cemetery there. Now, do not get this cemetery confused with the Old Burying Ground where really old settlers were buried. That cemetery was destroyed and as many graves as possible were moved to the Springfield Cemetery. 

Old Burying Ground in Springfield per the History of Early Springfield and Longmeadow page 53:

In 1849, to make room for the tracks, the remains of 204 bodies and 517 markers were removed to the Springfield Cemetery on the hill that had been opened in 1841. Dr. Joseph C. Pynchon wrote about this in more detail and that the there were few bones and mostly dust even the coffins and nails. They removed what they could find and even the ground around the pieces. 

This is the Longmeadow Cemetery and it does have an older section. The historical society has a link to a database for this cemetery if you are interested.

http://www.longmeadowcemetery.org/zoho/index.html

My goal in visiting this cemetery was not to record the burials but to just show this cemetery and its many well-preserved tombstones. I did find a few Cooley gravestones. There are Cooley’s, Bliss and many others buried here.

Find A Grave has about 4176 photos to their database for this Longmeadow Cemetery and states that it is about 77% photographed. There are 144 Cooley’s listed

The cemetery has a Facebook Page which has some very lovely photos of the cemetery. The Longmeadow Historical Society has an occasional post with interesting documents regarding the cemetery. 

In the next post, I will take a look at Bliss-Stebbins connection.