Schedule a Pre-Season Tour

SPECIAL TOURS AVAILABLE IN JUNE

Get your (tour) party started early! Our normal season doesn't start until July, but if you can't wait to walk around the cemetery and learning about the those who rest here, their stories, and the art of their markers with a guide, take an pre-season tour. If you Email us dates, times and how many are in your party, and we'll try to match you up with an available trained guide. Tours are 1 hour or less and meet at the Congress Street gates. If you don't want a private tour, you may be able to tag along with another group.

• $10 adults, $5 students, $5 seniors over 65, and children under 12 free.
• Please allow 48 hours notice.
• Private tours are available now through July 4.

Stone Conservation Workdays

JUNE TO SEPTEMBER 2015 SCHEDULE SET

We will conduct 2 large team efforts each month. All are welcome, even with no experience. We will train you on cleaning and on simple stone repairs such as resetting and mortaring. Mark your calendar for these Saturdays (Sundays in case of rain) from 8:30am to 12:30pm.

• June 6 & 20
• July 11 & 18
• August 1 & 15
• September 12 & 19

Find more information on stone conservation workdays as well as a step-by-step process of working on stones complete with photos.

Subterranean Celebrity: Jedediah Jewett

DIED OCTOBER 10, 1863

Jedediah Jewett was one of several former Portland mayors interred in the Eastern Cemetery. He was the Collector of Customs during the 1863 confederate raid and seizure of the revenue cutter Caleb Cushing from Portland Harbor, and he was also the founding member of the Maine Camp Hospital Association (read the records of the MCHA on Maine Memory Network) which sent nurses and supplies to Washington, DC (see the . Jewett was only 56 when he died at of diphtheria.

He was interred in a family tomb with his wife, sister-in-law, and 2 sons. A granite box marks the area of the tomb (no one is laid to rest inside the granite box, all are underground). Part of the marble slab on top of the box is missing, so only the names of he and wife Elizabeth remain.

You can suggest a subterranean celebrity! Just send an email—it doesn't take much to make a nice little story. An index of all of our Subterranean Celebrities is available.

Ask Amazon to Donate to Spirits Alive

If you're an Amazon shopper, here's an easy way to support your favorite historic Maine cemetery:

• Go to smile.amazon.com
• Enter "Spirits Alive" in the box
• Choose the non-profit in Portland, Maine from the list

Voila! A portion of all of your purchases through smile.amazon.com will go to our efforts to support, conserve and promote this historic outdoor museum. Thank you!

$5 Friendships Help the Eastern Cemetery

Support the work of Spirits Alive with your giving

For only $5, you can help Spirits Alive keep the Eastern Cemetery alive for generations to come and join as a Friend. Through your support, you can help us, an ALL-VOLUNTEER organization, to continue to:

• Keep the gates open – encouraging the community to explore its open and safe green space
• Offer education about the cemetery and its residents to the public – through tours, lectures, and events
• Encourage and support the city in keeping the site clean and safe for visitors of all ages
• Preserve this incredible outdoor museum and sacred historic landscape