Hunting for Graves in Outdoor Museums
Visits to Attleboro's early cemeteries reveals morbid history.
Let worms devour my flesh, And crumble it to dust, My God shall raise my frame, To live among the just. From Sarah Newell's grave marker, October 4, 1779, Newell Cemetery. Exploring cemeteries in Attleboro is a mesmerizing way to spend a fall afternoon. Who could disagree with Lynette Strangstad when she says in her book A Graveyard Preservation Primer, "Early graveyards are outdoor museums?" They are "some of the earliest art and written history of the United States today." Although Attleboro was incorporated as a town in 1694, people have lived in this area thousands of years before that. So it is not surprising that the oldest known cemetery in the city is the Indian Burial Ground. Their traditions during this time period did not …
