Copp's Hill
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Copp's Hill is the second oldest burial ground of the city of Boston, Massachusetts, founded in 1659 (the oldest is the burial ground at King's Chapel). Copp's Hill is bordered by Hull Street, Charter Street and Snow Hill Street in Boston's historic North End neighborhood. It was named after William Copp, a shoemaker who was the former landowner.
Among the thousands of Bostonians buried here are William Copp's children, Increase Mather, Cotton Mather, Robert Newman, the patriot who placed the signal lanterns in the steeple of Old North Church for Paul Revere's midnight ride to Lexington and Concord, and Prince Hall, the father of Black Freemasonry. On the Snow Hill Street side are the many unmarked graves of the blacks who lived in the New Guinea community at the foot of the hill. In addition to the graves there are 272 tombs, most of which bear inscriptions that are still legible.
When the first settlers arrived in the 1630s they built a windmill atop the hill to grind grain. Governor Winthrop recorded a mill built there in 1636, and three others were put up by 1650. The hill was, therefore, first called 'Windmill Hill' or 'Windmill Point' and later, when mills were built elsewhere in the town, became known as 'Snow Hill' (possibly after Snow Hill, London). The town bought the site from Copp in 1659 and called it the 'North Burying Ground'. Three further adjacent sections were acquired subsequently but it is no longer possible to discern the original boundaries.
The land for the North Burying Ground was purchased from John Baker and Daniel Turell on February 20, 1659. The first extension was made on January 7, 1708. It was sold to the town by Judge Samuel Sewall and his wife Hannah, being part of the pasture which Mrs. Sewall had inherited from her father, John Hull, master of the mint.
Copp's Hill is the highest point in the North End of Boston but it is lower than Beacon Hill and Fort Hill. During the Revolutionary War, the British used it to train artillery onto Charlestown. For several years starting in 1806 soil was taken from the top of Copp's Hill to increase the available building land by filling the Mill Pond. This removal reduced the height of the hill by about 7 feet (about 2 metres).
Benjamin Weld and his wife Nabby sold the second extension to the town for $10,000 on December 18, 1809 soon after they had bought it from Jonathan Merry, who had used it as pasture. Ten years later, Charles Wells, later mayor of Boston, bought a small parcel of land from John Bishop of Medford and used this as a cemetery that was later merged with the adjacent North Burying Ground.
By 1840 the cemetery had fallen into near disuse but the town continued to maintain the site intermittently. By 1878 it was badly neglected but it came to be recognised as a public amenity and is now an important part of the Freedom Trail.
Notes
- John Norton, Historical Sketch of Copp's Hill Burying Ground, (Boston: 1919)