Amy E Herman

Forest Hills Cemetery, located in Boston's Jamaica Plain neighborhood, is a significant historical site established in 1848. Initially a municipal cemetery for Roxbury, Massachusetts, it became privatized when Roxbury was annexed by Boston in 1868. The cemetery spans 275 acres and functions as a rural cemetery, greenspace, arboretum, and sculpture garden, augmenting the city's parkland.

Designed with a park-like aesthetic, it features notable sculptures by artists like Daniel Chester French and John Wilson. The site is still an active cemetery. Its history includes the addition of the first crematorium in Massachusetts in 1893, and it notably served as the cremation site for anarchists Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti after their execution, with their ashes later sent to Italy.

Established in 1848 by the Roxbury City Council, Forest Hills Cemetery was conceived as a public municipal park cemetery, inspired by the model of Mount Auburn Cemetery. Its design aimed to provide a serene, park-like environment for burials and remembrance. The initial purchase of land from the Seaverns family was later expanded, with additional acreage acquired from John Parkinson. The cemetery initially served Roxbury for seven years before its privatization in 1868, coinciding with Roxbury's annexation into Boston. This transition marked a shift in its operational status from municipal to private ownership.

Forest Hills Cemetery is recognized for its significant collection of monuments and sculptures, many created by notable artists. The grounds feature works such as Daniel Chester French's "Death Staying the Hand of the Sculptor" and John Wilson's "Firemen's Memorial." Beyond its sculptural elements, the cemetery introduced the first crematorium in Massachusetts in 1893. This facility was accompanied by features like a scattering garden and columbaria (both indoor and outdoor), reflecting evolving funerary practices and memorialization at the time.

The cemetery serves as the final resting place for a diverse array of notable individuals. Among those interred are figures from various fields including missionary and author Rufus Anderson, composer Amy Beach, poet E. E. Cummings, abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison, playwright Eugene O'Neill, and suffragist Lucy Stone. The list also includes political figures such as governors and congressmen, artists, scientists, and activists, underscoring the cemetery's role as a repository of significant historical and cultural figures.