I was planning a visit to Boston recently to walk the Freedom Trail, so I included a stop at Copp's Hill Burial Ground. According to family research, my ancestor Joseph Grammer was buried there in 1832. The cemetery is in a beautiful spot, with views of the harbor and the Zachim Bridge and the old brick townhouses nearby. Because the trees were all leafed out, some of the view was obscured, but the spring or late fall would be a great time to visit. The British used this cemetery as a staging ground for their canons to shoot at Charlestown during the Revolutionary War. Unfortunately, the stones are badly deteriorated and most were unreadable. It looked like the city tried to preserve as many as possible, even using the fallen stones as part of the stone walls around the grounds. It is not a very big area, but I had some impatient people with me, so I couldn't read every stone and I did not find Joseph Grammer. However, I saw on Amazon.com that there is a book called Boston's Copp's Hill Burial Ground by Charles Chauncey Wells. Here is the description of the book:
"This work chronicles Boston's 2nd oldest Cemetery on the North End and tells about the famous and interesting personages buried here. It includes a section on The Boston Tea Party of 1773, Revolutionary war soldiers buried here, finding missing North End residents, Boston's North End churches, the development of the modern funeral, 1985 gravestone inventory and detailed maps. It reprints a 1878 work by Wm. Whitemore on Copp's Hill epitaphs and is indexed. "
I am saving my pennies to order this to see if Joseph Grammer is mentioned and also to read about the interesting history of that place and time. Meanwhile, I will also be checking libraries to see if any of them have this book available.
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