Royalston's earliest burying ground with an 1858 hearse house
Athol Road, Royalston, MA
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Free; daylight visitation only
Access
Limited Access
Grass within a low stone wall enclosure
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1770 · Royalston Historic District · 1858 Hearse House · Colonial Massachusetts Burial Ground
The Old Royalston Center Cemetery, also called the Olde Centre Cemetery or Royalston Center Cemetery, is the town's earliest burying ground. The original burial ground proposed by Royalston's proprietors occupied the east side of the public square, but after several interments it was found unsuitable and the burying lot was exchanged for the present site southwest of the square, on the south side of the Athol Road near the Centre school house.
The town later added acreage to the lot and enclosed the whole with a stone wall. The cemetery contains a receiving tomb. The hearse house, built in 1858 to store the town's horse-drawn hearse, stands at the northwest corner of the burying ground and is documented as part of the Royalston Historic District. Royalston's dead have been conveyed here for more than a century and a half.
Sources
Community-submitted accounts describe a sense of company on entering the stone-walled enclosure, with cold spots and light touching sensations reported by individual visitors. One recurring account describes a dark figure observed moving rapidly through the cemetery near a table-style gravestone, with a corresponding figure described as a woman in a long white dress with blonde hair seen near the back wall.
The submission also notes that several adjacent burials of women share an identical death date, with a nearby table-style stone dated only a few days later. Without archival confirmation of those dates and the relationships claimed, these specifics should be treated as folklore. The headstone inscriptions are described as worn beyond legibility. Visit during daylight and respect this as a working historic cemetery.
Walk the Old Royalston Center Cemetery, the town's earliest burying ground, on the Athol Road in north-central Massachusetts. The site sits behind a low stone wall and contains a documented receiving tomb and the 1858 hearse house at its northwest corner, all part of the Royalston Historic District.
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