Brookline Historical Society
Upcoming Event: The Annual Fall Program
Enslaved Individuals Buried in Brookline’s Old Burying Ground
A presentation by historian Katherine Hendrick about her research into the enslaved individuals buried in Brookline’s Old Burying Ground
Sunday, November 17, 2024, 2:00 PM
Lyon Chapel at the First Parish in Brookline
382 Walnut Street, Brookline
Hendrick is a 2023 graduate of Boston University’s bachelor and masters degree program in archaeology. Her thesis centered on burial grounds used by enslaved and free individuals and highlighted the threats these sites face both legally and physically. Her recent research was funded by The Friends of the Old Burying Ground. Hendrick brings passion and commitment to her scholarship.

The Old Burying Ground, at the corner of Walnut and Chestnut Streets, was founded in 1717. It contains hundreds of grave-stones as well as several tombs - many bearing the names of the white landowners of early Brookline. But there are burials also known to have taken place of enslaved, free Black, and Indigenous individuals that lack any current markers.

This omission was noted in 2009 when, mainly through the efforts of the Hidden Brookline Committee, an engraved stone marker was prominently embedded in the exterior wall of the Old Burying Ground. It reads in part: "Buried within the walls of this cemetery lie the remains of Adam..., Kate, Hagar, Venus, Seco, Felix, Boston, Dinah, Charles, and Ben Boston and other slaves of African descent who lived in Brookline and whose names are not known to us."

The Friends of the Old Burying Ground is a nonprofit organization of volunteers dedicated to the preservation and restoration of Brookline’s Old Burying Ground. The FOBG partners with Brookline’s Parks and Open Space Division.
Old Burying Ground
The Old Burying Ground
President Ken Liss Blogs on Brookline Past & Present
Amateur Photography in 19th Century Brookline

The May 6, 1882 edition of the Brookline Chronicle included a list of 33 books recently added to the collection at the Brookline Library. There were books of history, fiction, science, and travel. 


There were some how-to books, including two guides for would-be painters: A Course of Lessons in Landscape Painting in Oils and Easy Studies in Water-Color Painting.


There was also a how-to book on a relatively new and increasingly popular art form: photography.

How to Make Pictures: Easy Lessons for the Amateur Photographer by Henry Clay Price

"A Sensible Craze"

"Anyone who has undertaken to be his own photographer will...

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Moses Williams Jr., 1884
Moses Williams Jr., 1884