We Won!

Spirits Alive recieves the coveted Oakley award from the AGS

Periodically at their annual conference, the Association for Gravestone Studies (AGS) awards the Fred and Rosalee Oakley Certificate of Merit to individuals and groups that have helped to advance their mission. AGS, founded in 1977, promotes the study of gravestones from historic and artistic perspectives, expands public awareness of the significance of historic grave markers, and encourages individuals and groups to record and preserve gravestones. Spirits Alive is honored to receive this coveted award.

It's Tour Season!

Wednesdays, Saturdays & Sundays: 11:00am
Thursdays: 5:30pm

Regularly-scheduled tours begin in June, so plan to join an intrepid Spirits Alive tour guide who will take you on a fun walk of the Eastern Cemetery and explain everything you ever wanted to know about colonial American burying grounds. Well, okay... just this one burial ground. Learn about gravestone art, types of stones, carvers, the history of the Eastern Cemetery itself, conservation of our stones, and a few of its residents.

You can find out more on our Spirits Alive tours page.

Pre-pay and register for your tour on Eventbrite!

Conservation: Applying What We Learn

Cemetery Conservation Near and Less Near

Conservation continues in Eastern Cemetery. Check out our conservation day schedule for the season if you'd like to help!

We were lucky to have conservator Joe Ferrannini in Eastern Cemetery to do some specialized training on conserving gravestones. If you want to see the stones that were reset, reconstructed, and cleaned, check our Conservation with Joe Ferrannini album on Flickr.

We extended our conservation work into our sister cemetery, Stroudwater, where were lucky to find an original slate stone for Daniel Dole that was used as a base for his father's marble stone. We also reset other stones that were in peril. Our Stroudwater Flickr album shows our work.

Our workdays in Eastern Cemetery consist of simple stone resets (setting them up, raising them from their sunken state), cleaning stable stones with D2 (a non-toxic biocide) and water, and minor repair of smaller fallen and broken stones. Volunteers of all ages are welcome, even with no experience. We will train you on cleaning and on simple stone repairs such as resetting and mortaring.

Check out our conservation day schedule for the season.
We are keeping an album of photos in our 2018 Conservation album on Flickr.

350th Anniversary Events in Eastern Cemetery

Saturday July 21, 2018
1:00pm to 5:00pm

Eastern Cemetery is 350 years old this year, and we are celebrating!

We also have some special events this season to help celebrate: Historian Herb Adams will lead a walk at 2:00pm celebrating our own poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, stopping at the graves of Longfellow’s remarkable relatives and giving insight into famous events and significant sites in Portland’s history. Our stone conservation team will be on hand if you're interested in taking a gander at their work and tour guides will stand at the ready to offer you a free stroll on the grounds.

We also have a a special 350th birthday event in the months of August and September! Our Sprits Alive home page has more information.

Eastern Cemetery Book!

Ron Romano has published a follow up to his first book, Early Gravestones in Southern Maine — The Genius of Bartlett Adams and it focuses on the Eastern Cemetery itself: Portland's Historic Eastern Cemetery—A Field of Ancient Graves. This book:

• Describes the history of the cemetery's evolution
• Includes information on special cemetery sections: African American, Quaker, Catholic, and "Strangers"
• Discusses the history of Portland, Maine, in relation to this historic landscape
• Provides vignettes of the men and women memorialized in this special place

A must-read for any cemetery aficionado, the book is filled with photographs and sketches to illustrate the text. Our website has more about how to purchase this new publication.

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!

Help the Eastern Cemetery

Support the work of Spirits Alive with your giving

You can help Spirits Alive keep the Eastern Cemetery alive for generations to come. 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