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Years ago I went on vacation. I stopped at fort Dodge Iowa. When I left fort Dodge I was going down the road and something on my right caught the corner of my eye. I turned around and drove into a small drive way. I came upon an old church that was crumbling. To my left was an old cemetery that had a wall around it. I knew that the cemetery was old because the tombstones were tall and large, and there were many graves above the ground. I could read what was written on the tombstones because the markings were chiseled in. There were about 25 people buried in this cemetery and they all passed a way in the 1600's. The latest was 1689.
The oldest original tombstone with a readable death date in the US is at Palisado Cemetery in Windsor, Connecticut. It is the grave of Ephraim Huit who died in 1644. There are a couple of older tombstones in the US which are no longer legible. One is the grave of William Perry in the cemetery at Westover Plantation in Charles City, Virginia. He died in 1637. And inside the church at Fort James in Jamestown, Virginia is the tomb of George Yeardley who died in 1627.
There's also Old Grace Church, in Massapequa, NY, on Long Island. I grew up not far from there and I am fairly certain there are grave markers there that date back to the early 1600's as well. It's on the historical register but is not technically a maintained cemetary. But it's worth checking it out. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grace_Church_Complex_(Massapequa,_New_York)
I guess the catch phrase here is maintained Cemetery , not sure . I am from Northumberland County Va. and wrote a book on this subject , ( Rocks of Ages ). Many , many very old stones here .
Thanks for mentioningGovernor Sir George Yeardley . I’m 11th generation descendent of him and his wife Temperance. I make it a point to visit his grave every April and put flowers on his tombstone.
I love doing the same thing. The graves represent real people who lived and walked and talked just like we do today. They lived lives, had children, spouses and had to eek out a way of life in much harder times than we have today.
I have been fascinated with cemeteries since I was a child. I thought finding the oldest graves was the first thing you did in a cemetery? Was given an old slate gravestone for my birthday one year by the Superintendent of Cemeteries in a town I had lived in Central Mass. Story was that it had been found under leaf litter in the woods back in the sixties. But the name on the stone would indicate it was from the north Quabbin region and was probably from an old family cemetery that would have been removed when the valley was flooded for the reservoir. The coolest part of the gift that the giver did not know and neither did I when it was presented but, it was the gravestone of one of my ancestors.
I've always enjoyed going through old cemeteries. I'm now 75 and walk through our local cemetery where some of my descendants are buried and maybe I will be buried there also.
Thank you.. I am a Bacon.. There are 6 or 7 generations before me buried in Newton MA including my father.. Apparently my line landed in Jamestown in 1626.. Very exciting thank you again.
John and Pricilla Alden are my 11 times great grandparents. I really enjoyed this. Thank you. On my bucket list is to do a road trip and track down places like this where my ancestors walked before.
Hi DeAnna, I am also directly descended from John Alden and his wife Priscilla Mullins and her father William and mother Alice Mullins. Also six others on the Mayflower: Francis Cooke and his son John, Richard Warren, Stephen Hopkins and his daughter Constance and son Gyles Hopkins. The Alden house in Duxbury is still in possession of the Alden family and is now a museum, located at 105 Alden Street. There also is a John Alden school in his memory and several streets named after him and Priscilla.
They are my 8 x grandparents through their son David who married a Southworth. My grandmother Jenny's maiden name and our direct connection, lucky I have her genealogy.
@@shaynewheeler9249 since burial hill is a hill, it's technically a mound burial. Therefore, it does fit the definition of a grave - even without the headstone.
some of the oldest graves are the Effigy Indian mounds. Here in Rockford, Illinois we nearly destroyed them all until we discovered that they were thousands of years old and that the burials (cemeteries) were in shapes of animals. they are dated at around 300- 1100 CE. Being around them is a haunting feeling.
Jamestown, Va., and Saint Augustine, Fla., both have older graves. Everyone forgets about them. The oldest in Jamestown is 1607, while Saint Augustine dates to slightly after 1565.
In the summer of 1976 I was a waitress at Bacon Farm. It was beautiful, like being in a living time piece, and the food was excellent! And on a side note, for the fans of old tombstones, you may find this title of interest, "Epitaph and Icon," a field guide to the old burying grounds of Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket. Georg & Nelson.
I love to walk old cemeteries and see the graves but I have to say this video was more interesting than most. The first grave of the 3 year old Benjamin Childs struck something in my memory. I went through some records and sure enough, he's on my mother's side of the family. Amazing what connections pop up in the strangest of places. Thanks for a great video.
its really funny you say that because when i saw that headstone my first thought was "I wonder if anyone watching is related to this person"... life sure is a mystery
The oldest grave I ever found was hidden in a dark wooded area...all alone...with a little headstone. It was of a 3 year old little girl who died in 1802. The stone was of course very old and molded all over...but using your hand and a credit card you could get through the mold to read it. For someone way back then to have had a stone...meant the family had money...as most just had big rocks or piles of rocks
Let's build golf courses and amusement parks on them like we did on the graves of the first people. They were not important enough to honor their dead yet we waste land to bury their murderers and their descendants.
Very interesting video btw, a ship's barrel maker was called a "Cooper". People with that surname can often trace their lineage to the age of the tall ships, and beyond. Thanks!
@@Jockeylotforfun I don't understand your comment. How does his response translate into anger at the world? Not only does that not make sense, it's okay to be angry. Why does everybody have to be flatlined or down for a nap?
Thanks for featuring the John Alden and Priscilla Mullins Alden story. My understanding is that they are indeed believed to be buried in that cemetery, but the exact gravesites are not known. John Alden was, I believe, the oldest surviving Mayflower passenger when he died in 1687. His date of birth is not known, nor is there any confirmed record of where he came from in England (although there are several good theories). Like a lot of people in the U.S., I am an 11th generation descendant of John and Priscilla.
Hi. I have ten direct ancestors who came on the Mayflower: On my father's side were John Alden, Priscilla Mullins, her parents William and Alice Mullins, and on my mother's side were Francis Cooke and his son John, also Richard Warren, and Stephen Hopkins and his daughter Constance and son Gyles. My research found that John Alden was born in 1599, probably at Harwick, England. His parents are said to have been related to Christopher Jones, the Mayflower ship's master. He and Priscilla Mullins married two years after the Pilgrims founded Plymouth Colony and went on to found Duxbury Colony nearby where John built a house for his family. The Alden house is located at 105 Alden Street in Duxbury and has been in the Alden family ever since. It is now a museum. There is also a John Alden school in his memory and several streets named for John and Priscilla. They had eleven children. One died in infancy so they raised ten kids and at the time of their death had 69 grandchildren and nearly 500 great-grandchildren! There are at least one million Americans who are the Alden's descendants. We are in good company!
@@charity2275 Yep -- lots and lots of cousins. They call George Washington the "father of his country," but I think we have some ancestors who have better bragging rights! I have always had a soft spot in my heart for Priscilla, ever since I learned what she went through the first winter and spring. Can you imagine losing both parents and a sibling like that in the space of a few weeks? Plus, she was so young. Her strength and survival are the reason we are all here.
The oldest European settlers cemeteries. In the Midwest, the City of St. Louis and East St. Louis are built on ground that used to hold numerous large burial mounds…the largest, Monk’s mound. These were burial areas for the Mississippians, a group of Native Americans going back about a thousand years before the first European set foot in North America. Fascinating local history video though.
There is a native American burial ground near me as well, I visited once but there aren't any stones or dates, I will go back and make a video one day. Thanks for watching :)
I visit cemeteries (in the UK) and always stop to see what tales the tombstones can reveal to me. Many old and new of varying descriptions etc. Some are minimal. Still, I think about how they lived and it helps to remember that they were once as important as all of us. I visit some of the war memorials near where I live - the little white ones that look like the ones from Arlington Cemetary. I hope to visit the US one day (eventually) because my grandfather is/was (well, buried no doubt), also from there. His history is rooted in America's African history. Who knows, I might also belong to the Pilgrims. Time will tell.
I visited London once a few decades ago. I was walking on the grounds of an old church, looking at all sides of the building to enjoy its architecture. At one point I noticed that I was standing on a flat grave stone, and immediately stepped away from it, only to see that I was on another one, and was surrounded by them. I don't know if there are any such burials in the US, maybe they exist in the oldest settlements in New England and New York, but I'm only aware of dedicated cemeteries some distance from any church or other house of worship. I was taught not to stand on graves, so it was uncomfortable to be in that English churchyard cemetery, but I realized it's an old traditional practice in your homeland, so I tried to get used to it, at least until I was away from the church. I must say, though, that I did honor the dead by reading their names along the way.
Please come to the burial mounds in West Virginia, its like nobody knows they're here, they've been here since 250 BC, the Adena people built them. I've never seen any RU-vid videos about them, no historical RU-vidrs have ever mentioned them not even ghost hunting stuff. They are old, they are cultural heritage, they are North American. Why don't people ever acknowledge the original occupants. People already lived here when Europeans got here, they destroyed the culture that was already here in the first place.
Love your videos, Very informative and interesting. I've walked through several graveyards in Canada and found some really old ones in Quebec city. Every grave tells a story. Greetings from Mark in Canada 🇨🇦
Thanks for the hard work it takes to make a quality video. Just subscribed . Hartford's ancient burial ground has very old graves also . My family has probably 50 or so there .
I was traveling through Boston, Ma. a few years ago and came across a very old church and a gravestone facing the outside fence. I could read from a distance the inscription..."A Passenger on the Mayflower" ...I was in awe imaging what she had been through and how the area had changed since she was laid to rest... RIP
I had a classmate in college that lived in Orion Point Long Island. The very eastern end of the island. This classmate claimed to have had gravestones dating back to the early 1600’s in his family name on his families property. It was at one point a public cemetery there are up to 40 stones on the property.
My family came into this country in the 1600s. They migrated north and into Vermont. The oldest record I have found of one of my great great grandfather is 1700.
How in the world would these be older than a Cemetary in St. Augustine or Santa Fe de Nuevo México, which my own ancestor founded in 1598, many many years before the pilgrims even landed.
@@schatzsucher your welcome! You even get the gorgeous ocean nearby too! My ex boyfriend grew up in Ipswich Massachusetts in a house built in the late 1600s. He said when noone was upstairs he used to hear footsteps 👻but he loved the town. We spent a day there once with his mom and they showed me the sights. Have a good day or night😎
New subscriber. Great job. I did a walk through Myles Standish burial ground A couple months ago also. Please check it out. I have other cemetery walks on there too.
Thanks for the sub! I will check out your channel! Are you from MA? I grew up in Vermont but recently moved to the Cape. So far I love it here, lots of history to explore, I need to get out my metal detector one of these days. Thanks for watching!
@@schatzsucher Yes, I'm from Plymouth, Ma. I do hiking, fishing, cemetery walks, city walks, and visit monuments on my channel. I try to mix it up a bit. We have slightly different styles. You're a good talker, I like to add music, and let the information boards do the talking. Lol. Thank you so much for the sub. Have a nice day.
I'm from Erie PA, our cemetery opened in 1851. Lots of stones are inside trees now, that made me realize that the largest of these trees were eating the dead.
Really interesting how you figure that no one died at Jamestown between 1607, when the first deaths are recorded, and 1620 when the Pilgrims landed. Jamestown already had its first millionaire planter and had elected its first governing assembly before the Pilgrims got on the boat!
St Augustine, Florida was 42 years old when Jamestown was established and the story of the real "First Thanksgiving Celebration in America", also with pilgrims and native Americans, took place at St Johns Bluff, Florida in 1564.
Plymouth, Mass has a large cemetary with a number of graves from the 1600's. Boston has the Freedom Trail and there are numerous graves from the same time periods into the 1700's. Actually you can find these old graves here and there in many towns in Massachusetts and other New England states. It's a beautiful area of the USA, so different than the rest of the country and in a good way. This was an excellent and informative video. I enjoyed watching it.
Ipswich is a treasure trove. Boston, of course. But Deerfield, on the Connecticut River about 80 miles inland, is a treasure. A wealthy guy moved and re created a batch of early homes. Go in early October…but it is peak foliage season…you will not be alone…
Love that drone footage. You have a wonderful channel. Your really putting some hard work in this and it shows . Hope your channel really takes off for you.
I went to a small graveyard in the middle of the woods near Ocilla, GA when I was a teen and they were all from the 1600’s. It was a family cemetery surrounded by a fence. The biggest tombstone was at the end of the site and was probably the father or grandfather of the family. There were a couple of infant graves too. I’ve seen a couple like that in South GA. Incredible site to see and I’m hindered to have seen it.
I could check that for verification but it doesn't sound very accurate. The only area of Georgia that could have European settlers graves that old would have to be in the southeastern coast (likely Spanish colonists) but I know of no actual gravestones there dating back that far. There are colonial-era gravestones in towns along the southeast coast that date back to the early 1700s but that's about it. Colonial burials dating back to 1565 are in St Augustine, Florida. If we are talking about indigenous burial sites, like mounds, however, you can find those at may sites and they date back hundreds to thousands of years.
I'm new to you channel, I love old cemeteries and headstone. Both my Grandpa Maschke, my dad, and an uncle all worked at Oakwood Cemetery in Allegan, Michigan
i spent my first ten years in rowley mass, which was first settled in 1638. there are other similar small towns along the seacoast up and down massachusetts, settled after 1620 and forward in time. my parents are buried in rowley's well maintained little cemetery and some of my ashes will be also. but i wanted to point out that i recall seeing headstones there from shortly after 1640 and there are probably headstones there from 1638.
I just love those ancient burial grounds in Mass. I always loved to look at them when we used to travel. Thank you for a great look at some of these very very old graves.
It might be the oldest cemetery for recent immigrants to America in the 1600s, but I know of many burial areas that go back thousands of years. These are the burial sites of the first nations. 😺
Aug 31, 2022, I was just there visiting our relatives John and Priscilla Alden. Wish I had seen this sooner and I would have gone to Cobb Hill as my name is Roger Bacon. Great video. Wish I could have been traveling with you then. Thank you.
I wish you had looked for other Pilgrims. I’m a descendant of several Pilgrim families, including the Bradfords, and I really hoped someone I’m related to would perhaps be there. Don’t think viewers want a quick look and run - we want to SEE the history you’re relating, and if it takes some time, then do so. I know I’d stick around for the whole tour. You’re a good storyteller.
@ Time: I am descended from ten Mayflower passengers including John Alden, Priscilla Mullins, her parents William and Alice Mullins, also Francis Cooke and his son John, Richard Warren, Stephen Hopkins and his daughter Constance and son Gyles Hopkins. I have done a lot of research on them and it is fascinating.
I live in Western Massachusetts and there are at least 10 small cemeteries that aren’t accepting new burials. I almost bought a house that had a well known family’s “compound “ cemetery. My friends joked that at least my neighbors would be quiet, lol! My husband and I are very interested in history and found 1738 to be the oldest grave site we found so far.
In eastern mass it is not that hard to find 17th century graves. I lived in Chelmsford for over a decade. There are at least 3 structures (one is now a lawyer's office, the other a residence, and another is an apartment building) that date to the 1600s in the town.
@@patwilson2546 Massachusetts is a treasure trove when it comes to beautiful old structures. We have been looking for a house that still has its original charm and architectural details. Preferably a Colonial (either center hall or Greek Revival) or Victorian that needs some TLC, but isn’t a money pit😳 My father’s best friend has a high end antique shop. I bought a sideboard that was built in the late 1700’s and a beautiful 3 leg Victorian corner chair that has ornate carved designs. The sideboard was put together with dovetail joins at every corner. It has a beautiful simplistic design which was typical of the time. There are some scratches and worn down areas. It’s been kept in superb condition! Both pieces were found at an estate sale of prominent family. When the owner passed away the adult children just wanted to get rid of everything! I would have loved to see the rest of the furniture😯
@@lisaanderson135 Sounds like we have similar tastes. We found an odd neighborhood in North Carolina called Williamsburg Commons. It's about 40 houses built in the style of Old Williamsburg colonial homes, right down to cedar roofs and working shutters. When money allows we either buy an actual antique or we order something from Dutch Crafters (Amish hand made). I know in Chelmsford the first sign of an actual old home was working shutters. If you saw that it was probably from the 1800s or earlier. The other sign was that the structure was usually right on the street. Built in the days when the horse and wagon traffic wasn't that big of a deal. Finding a Victorian that doesn't cost a mint and is not a money pit is a challenge. Even if you can afford the house the heating bill can be astronomical. Good luck. Hope you find what you're looking for.
Darby Friends Cemetery in Darby borough Pennsylvania was established in 1687 by Quakers and there are several stones with that year on them . I grew up in Darby. God bless ❤️✝️🇺🇸
All seems a bit recent. My last house in England was built in 1725. My grandfather (mother's father) was born in 1862........My local church was built in the 600s by the Anglo-Saxons
Exactly what I was thinking. I live in a small town in Somerset, England, and there are gravestones in my local churchyard that are older than the ones this video points out.
If you want to play the "oldest burial site" game, many indigenous burial sites in the Americas are thousands of years old. The America's are only "young" in terms of European settlement.
Oldest dated cemetery in the UK is dated at around 10,000 BC. It was found in a cave by two boys chasing a rabbit in 1797, who found it full of skeletons neatly laid out in rows. It was discontinued, and sealed 6,000 years before the first stone was laid at the pyramids.
@@PortmanRd I just find it funny that the British are always trying to look as if their country is so old, yet it was the Stone Age and the actual British people weren’t even there yet at that time, just one group of ancient ancestors.
@mdc3148 Well I love all ancient history, regardless of what part of the world it originates from. What really annoys me though is Young earth creationists telling us that the planet is only 6,000 years old.
@@PortmanRd I do not count that against you at all, I’m also passionate about history. As for creationists, no one was there so no one can say for sure. That’s left to faith or the absence of it.
In Ohio and Indiana, the oldest ones I found were around 1720 - 1760. Looking at the tomb dates is my favorite thing to do whenever I am in a cemetery.
Actually there is a cemetery older than the one you showed with John Alden. I know because I visited Massachusetts last June after I discovered I was related to John Adams and John Quincey Adams and George Washington. My ancestors were John and Elizabeth Cogswell from England and are buried in the Old Burying Ground in Ipswich, Mass. Dated 1634. Check that one out.
Little known fact....by Massachusetts General Law, chapter 125, it is illegal to film inside a cemetery for this purpose. You have broken state laws making this video. Well done!! Don't worry, no one in Mass really knows or cares. I was a Municipal Cemetery Superintendent 20 years ago in Central Mass. Best job I ever had. Have you ever wondered what happened to the cemeteries of the Quabbin region?
"Hey isn’t it time we stopped wasting valuable land on cemeteries? Talk about an idea who’s time has passed. Let’s put all the dead people in boxes and keep them in one part of town. What kind of medieval nonsense is that? I say plow these people up and throw em away. Or melt them down. We need that phosphorus for farming. If we’re going to recycle, lets get serious.” - George Carlin
Now find the oldest grave that isn't a replica. History is a lie agreed upon. - Napoleon. Some sort of reset in the early 1800s. Plenty of graves after 1820s though. even the 1700 giant coffin lid carving is dated 1899.. replica
This is the oldest European grave in the US. If you are looking for the oldest grave site of a human being in the US, you will have to search Indigenous burial mounds and other sites. Typical.
Considering that Jamestown VA predates anything in Massachusetts I'm pretty sure you are in the wrong area for oldest Anglo graves. And if you are looking for oldest European period pretty sure some of the Spanish settled areas predate the Pilgrims by a century.
I think you and some of the people commenting need to travel to the oldest city in the U.S. Saint Augustine FL, theres a very old graveyard there with dates from the late 1500s.
If you’re talking about Western cemeteries, yeah, but the oldest cemeteries are Indian burial ground cemeteries. Haven’t some of those been there for like 1000 years?
You need to visit the John Stevens shop, Rhode Island they are one of the oldest businesses in America and still make beautiful memorials the traditional way. Hand carved lettering. 👍
My many times great-grandfather, and first ancestor in America came over on the Mayflower and helped found Duxbury. He is buried in the Myles Standish Burying Ground, and his name is George Soule.
The oldest graveyards in America, of course, are Native American graveyards that are more than 30,000 years old. The graveyards in this video are all quite recent. Interesting, but recent.
Yes it is, and beyond that every state has the same names of cities and towns, very unoriginal. I've always wondered why it was so difficult to think up new names for places. I mean I get that some are for historical reasons but every town! I grew up in Brattleboro VT (I believe Brattleboro is an original name)
I think the oldest grave in the United States is not a European. I can tell you where some graves are that are much older than this if you are interested. Though my tribe does not disclose the location of our Chiefs’ burials there are many regular sites available to visit. I take the kids all over the country to visit old cemeteries. A fun one is baby head cemetery in Texas.
I was recently in London visiting from Australia. On a visit to Westminster Abby, I found a grave maker in the floor there that was dated 1082. I find that quite amazing, consider any grave older than about 1850 in Australia is fairly rare.
these stones are incredbily well maintained. i live in mass and walk a cemetery each morning with my dog. gravestones fall apart quicker than you might expect. you can see the different materials and building techniques used during the different eras, and how well they do or do not hold up.
