We drive by them everyday, out in the open or nestled behind a copse of trees – the Boothbay Region cemeteries. Even before the town of Boothbay was incorporated in 1765, there were burials in both the Pear Street and Kenniston cemeteries.

According to Maine Encyclopedia, "during the 17th and early 18th centuries, in most towns, “graveyards” were located in church yards and usually near the center of town. However, overcrowding of graves and new sanitation laws mandated the closing of most by the 1850s. New cemeteries were located on the edge of towns – distinct and separate from the focus of activity among the living. By the mid-19th Century, a new type of formal cemetery was being established in America.

"The “new” cemeteries (replacing earlier terms such as “graveyards”) were not simply a place to bury the dead but represented a new type of institution. They were now formally designed to resemble gardens. The dead were not simply interred but memorialized. New rules defined such things as the proper care of the grounds and the appropriate attire and demeanor while visiting the cemetery.

"The boundaries of most 19th Century rural cemeteries are marked, for instance, by fences or shrubbery. Planing may mark sections, plots or individual graves, setting off the individual graves as well as the entire cemetery, both physically and visually, from the surrounding area."

Our cemeteries have a long and storied history. Not just a place to bury our recently deceased family and friends, but our ancestors and the town founding fathers. They are outdoor museums. You will find the names of Beath, Reed, Townsend, Kenniston, Wylie, Pinkham, Fullerton, Adams, Brewer, Montgomery, Auld, Abbott and Alley – and many more. There are over 8,000 people buried on this hallowed ground and nearly 800 graves of fallen heroes (and many who were blessed to come home) from the Revolutionary to Vietnam war.

The Boothbay-Boothbay Harbor Cemetery District was incorporated by a Maine State charter in 1939 to provide perpetual care for lots in cemeteries, to purchase real estate for cemetery purposes, to sell lots, to accept bequests, trusts and gifts and invest them to care for the cemeteries.

The board of trustees is composed for six members – three each from Boothbay and Boothbay Harbor. Trustees are voted to serve by residents at the town meetings for a term of three years. Each town elects one trustee per year. Trustees must be a resident of the town for which they serve.

There are 11 cemeteries in the Boothbay-Boothbay Harbor Cemetery District:

Holbrook – off Route 96, East Boothbay

Green Landing – Green Landing Road, East Boothbay (off School Street)

Oaklawn – off Route 96, Boothbay Harbor

Pear Street – Pear Street, Boothbay Harbor

Wylie and Hillside – directly across from each other on Route 27, Boothbay as you near the roundabout

Lewis – on Barters Island

Evergreen – off Barters Island Road, Boothbay, the newest of the cemeteries and the only one where lots are still available for purchase

Clam Avenue – off Knickerbocker Road, Boothbay

Kenniston – off Back River Road, Boothbay, across from the Civil War monument

Oceanview – on Country Club Road, Boothbay, across from the golf course

The peninsula is dotted with many private burial grounds located in back yards, roadsides and deep in the woods. They are not part of the Cemetery District and are maintained by the property owners.

Future columns will discuss perpetual care, cleaning graves, veteran graves, ancient burial grounds, Maine cemetery law, gravestone art and inscriptions.

Questions, comments and suggestions are welcome via email at bbcemeteries@proton.me