|
 |
 |
Spring is going to spring! Cherry blossoms in Eastern Cemetery |
Gardening and Clean-Up Day |
Saturday, April 27
9am to 12pm
Eastern Cemetery |
It’s a new season at the cemetery. Spirits Alive is hosting a clean-up day to get ready and we need your help! Trash pick up, cleaning and adding compost to the shrubbery beds, pruning shrubs and small trees damaged in our recent storms, taking out invasive bittersweet, weed whacking tall grasses left between headstones and within fenced family plots there's lots to do. We'll meet at the Dead House—the shed near the Congress Street gate. |
If you have favorite work or gardening gloves and pruners, clippers, rakes, or other tools that seem to fit your hands just perfectly, do bring them. We'll have some tools, a collection of gloves if you lack them, and folks to help and offer advice if you're uncertain where in the cemetery to work or what needs doing. |
See you inside the gates! Send questions to easterncemetery@gmail.com |
|
Saturday, May 25
4pm daily until October
$10 adults, $5 seniors (62 and older), $0 children (0-12 years) |
We are once again offering daily tours of Eastern Cemetery this season. This is one of Yankee Magazine's top five cemetery tours in New England! Visit the cemetery's unique field of underground tombs, the oldest gravemarker from 1717, the final resting place of the famed captains of the 1813 battle between the Boxer and the Enterprise, and the interesting carvings of Portland's first stone-cutter, Bartlett Adams. Tours include early gravestone art, important local historic figures, Portland's historic events, and the landscape of this National Historic Landmark, including segregated sections for Black people, Catholics, Quakers, and strangers. We look forward to escorting you through this incredible outdoor museum. |
Reserve your spot in advance if you like: Buy tickets on Eventbrite or bring cash to the gate. |
|
 |
Sandstone grave marker for John Austin. Photo courtesy of Ron Romano |
|
|
The gravestone for Mr. John Austin is in great peril. It’s one of the few remaining markers at Eastern Cemetery made of sandstone, which over time crumbles and fails. John died at age 31 in 1802, and his stone was carved in the Bartlett Adams shop. The design is an urn with a unique 4-petal flower bud and the epitaph on his marker is fitting for this young man: |
In memory of
Mr. John Austin
who died
July 18, 1802
AEt. 31 Sudden was his flight & short the road He clos’d his eyes & saw his God |
His stone can be found in section J, plot 44. With luck, it will survive for a while longer.… |
Many thanks to Ron Romano who put together this information. Suggest your own subterranean celebrity! Just send an email—it doesn't take much (basic vitals, plot location, and photo) to make a nice little story. An index of all of our Subterranean Celebrities is available. |
|
 |
Abyssinian Meeting House photo by and courtesy of Dugan Murphy |
|
Saturday, May 11
3pm to 8pm
Abyssinian Meeting House |
Join Spirits Alive in supporting the Portland Ovations event, “Daniel Bernard Roumain, E C H O E S, Stories and songs across time.” Our own superguide, Jeff Lyons, will be there to explain to visitors the relationship between the Eastern Cemetery and the Abyssinian Meeting House community during the afternoon. Other community organizations will participate including The Prince Project. All events are free. More information is available at Portland Ovations. Watch composter Roumain play violin inside the historic church in this 3-minute Portland Press Herald video. |
|
|
|
Guess what cemetery fan group has its own shirts, caps, playing cards, and tote bags? Spirits Alive does, that’s who! Visit us on Zazzle to view all of our products. Please know that proceeds go directly back to Spirits Alive to help us fund our work to keep the Eastern Cemetery cared for and to teach others about its wonders. |
|
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
|
|
Spirits Alive is a non-profit, all-volunteer organization dedicated to the protection and preservation of Portland, Maine’s historic Eastern Cemetery through a range of activities including promotion and education. |
|
| | Copyright (C) 2024 Spirits Alive All rights reserved. |
|
|
|
|
