Bristol community cemetery: ‘A place of convergence’

North Burial Ground chapel to be rededicated, available to community for first time in nearly 40 years

By Patrick Luce
Posted 9/22/16

During the blizzard of ’78, dozens of people died across the state, including several in Bristol. With more than two feet of snow and ice covering the town, and lacking modern heavy equipment, …

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

Log in

Register to post events


If you'd like to post an event to our calendar, you can create a free account by clicking here.

Note that free accounts do not have access to our subscriber-only content.

Day pass subscribers

Are you a day pass subscriber who needs to log in? Click here to continue.


Bristol community cemetery: ‘A place of convergence’

North Burial Ground chapel to be rededicated, available to community for first time in nearly 40 years

Posted

During the blizzard of ’78, dozens of people died across the state, including several in Bristol. With more than two feet of snow and ice covering the town, and lacking modern heavy equipment, workers at North Burial Ground were unable to dig graves, leaving them with a quandary: Where to put the bodies.

The solution cemetery supervisors came up with made the community cemetery just a bit more communal — the bodies of those who died during and immediately after the storm were placed in a group tomb. Many Bristol residents don’t realize that tomb is in plain sight, and they likely drive right by it almost every day.

Directly on Hope Street, behind a small, red brick building, is an earthen mound fronted by stone blocks surrounding a locked steel door. Behind the old, rusty door is an arched brick chamber buried within the mound. That is where as many as 25 bodies were stored in 1978 until the ground thawed enough to dig their final resting places, the last time the tomb was used for its original purpose.

It was also the last time that small, red brick building was used for families to mourn the loss of their loved ones, according to Charles Cavalconte, chairman of the Bristol Cemeteries Commission. On Saturday, the cemetery Chapel built in 1908 will come back to life, once again becoming a gathering place for mourning friends and families to pay their final respects.

“Most people have never been in the building. Why not use it for families who want a memorial service for their loved ones,” Mr. Cavalconte said. “It makes things more convenient for families. Some people have certain attitudes toward a church, but still want something spiritual. This is another service the town can provide.”

The building that has been mostly abandoned for almost 40 years has gotten a facelift with a power washing and a new paint job, much of the work conducted by cemetery Superintendent Enzly Ramsay at no cost to taxpayers. It’s part of several recent improvements to the public cemetery, which include new road paving throughout. That work was also done at no cost to the town, instead paid by the cemetery’s own budget, funded by the families of its approximately 9,000 residents.

On Saturday, Sept. 24, at 10:30 a.m., Mr. Cavalconte will lead a rededication of the chapel, once again giving families a spiritual space to hold a small funeral or simply mourn and remember a loved one who has passed on. Providing such a service is part of the goal of the community cemetery built in 1822, which Mr. Cavalconte describes as a kind of gathering place — in many cases, a permanent one — of the many different people who make up the community.

“This is a place of convergence,” he said. “These were all lives, and somehow all of these lives impacted this town and created the fabric of the town — rich people, poor people, statesmen, ship captains (even a Medal of Honor winner). That’s the neat thing about a community cemetery. It’s sad, but beautiful. Grief is allowed and people can take their grieving and love to those who are gone.”

The North Burial Ground, which will soon include a memorial spreading garden for those who are cremated, is available for all residents to join generations of fellow Bristolians who carry on the sense of community as they rest together.

“It’s the beauty of a community cemetery,” Mr. Cavalconte said. “It’s an element of a community most people don’t want to think of, but it’s here when they need it.”

North Burial Ground, Bristol Cemeteries Commission, historic cometeries

2024 by East Bay Media Group

Barrington · Bristol · East Providence · Little Compton · Portsmouth · Tiverton · Warren · Westport
Meet our staff
Jim McGaw

A lifelong Portsmouth resident, Jim graduated from Portsmouth High School in 1982 and earned a journalism degree from the University of Rhode Island in 1986. He's worked two different stints at East Bay Newspapers, for a total of 18 years with the company so far. When not running all over town bringing you the news from Portsmouth, Jim listens to lots and lots and lots of music, watches obscure silent films from the '20s and usually has three books going at once. He also loves to cook crazy New Orleans dishes for his wife of 25 years, Michelle, and their two sons, Jake and Max.