Forest Hills Cemetery: National Register of Historic Places Materials

Gateway of Forest Hills Cemetery, image courtesy of the Digital Commonwealth

Forest Hills Cemetery was established in 1848 as a municipal cemetery for the City of Roxbury. When Roxbury was annexed to Boston in 1868, Forest Hills became a private non-denominational cemetery, which it remains today. The cemetery was laid out in the rural cemetery tradition, inspired by Mount Auburn Cemetery (National Register 04/21/1975, NHL 2003) which was established in 1831. Henry A.S. Dearborn, who had been instrumental in creating Mount Auburn, was the Mayor of Roxbury in 1847. He was responsible for laying the political groundwork for Forest Hills Cemetery and also for its initial design.

Forest Hills was one of the first municipally-owned rural cemeteries, it is the site of the first crematory in New England. It is an outstanding work of landscape and cemetery design that is also recognized for its architecturally significant buildings and structures and for its outstanding collection of 19th and 20th century sculptural monuments. It is the burial place of a remarkable cross-section of people that reflect almost every aspect of American life — from statesmen to soldiers to industrialists to abolitionists to artists to poets. Those interred at Forest Hills also represent cultures from around the world.

Since its creation in 1848, Forest Hills has grown from its original 72 acres to a total of approximately 250 acres. As the burial place of more than 100,000 people over 155 years, the cemetery has developed in response to evolving funerary tastes and the changing demographics of the Boston metropolitan region. As an active cemetery it continues to reflect new cultural and artistic influences.

Follow this link to read the entire National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form