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After years of watching Old Burial Hill’s fragile gravestones take a beating, town committees have explored all kinds of solutions — from the practical to the downright pastoral. At one point, they even looked into renting goats and sheep.
Pam Peterson, who’s spent the past decade on the Old Burial Hill Oversight Committee, recalled the day a vendor from “Goats for Hire” rumbled up in an ancient truck to scout the cemetery.
“The Goat Man came in this ancient truck that was totally falling apart,” said Peterson with a chuckle. The animals, she said, were more suited to clearing poison ivy than trimming grass around the fragile markers — and the cost was prohibitive.
The story illustrates how seriously the committee takes preservation of the 17th- and 18th-century headstones, which are often damaged by routine mowing and trimming.
Old Burial Hill, established in 1648, contains roughly 1,000 markers. About 120 predate 1740. The hilltop site also holds the remains of 60 Revolutionary War veterans and overlooks Marblehead Harbor, where the town once raised its first meeting house.
The cemetery draws tourists year-round and sees surges each October, when fans visit the filming location of the 1993 movie “Hocus Pocus.” The hill appears in the film’s opening scene.
Ongoing damage
Maintenance work intended to keep the grounds presentable has instead emerged as a key threat to the gravestones. Recreation and Parks Department crews handle landscaping at the site, and footstones and headstones continue to be struck, chipped or toppled.
During a recent meeting, the oversight committee’s chair, Alex Finigan, said he found two footstones smashed. Peterson, who also just published a book on the town’s cemeteries and graveyards, said damage from lawn equipment has been “always an issue.”
Large riding mowers are used in open areas, while string trimmers are deployed around stones. Even careful use, Finigan said, can nick the brittle slate and marble markers.
“With the current equipment and practices, stones inevitably get struck,” he said during a recent meeting, adding that the committee is actively exploring alternatives.
Committee member Standley Goodwin said footstones are especially vulnerable.
“If you let the grass get long, the guy never sees them,” Goodwin said. “The first time he knows the footstone is there is when the mower goes right up over the edge of it.”
Seeking preservation solutions
Chris Kennedy, a Recreation and Parks Commission member, said he began tracking the issue last year after noticing overgrown grass at the site. He said he wanted the cemetery looking its best ahead of the Halloween tourism surge.
“I see hundreds of tourists come through there,” he said. “It’s the opening scene of ‘Hocus Pocus.’”
Kennedy said equipment, training and visitor behavior — including leaning on stones or backing into them while taking photos — may all contribute to the problem. But training and tools are within the town’s control.
During a visit to Rockport, Kennedy spotted a contractor advertising public “memento mori” workshops that teach proper stone cleaning using just a spray bottle, sponge and cleaning solution.
“It looked like anyone was able to do it,” he said. Kennedy said he has begun conversations with Finigan and Parks and Recreation Superintendent Peter James about solutions, including using plastic trimmer guards, restricting riding mowers to open areas and offering preservation training.
“I think it comes down to education and figuring out a long-term plan,” Kennedy said.
Balancing budgets and history
Kennedy acknowledged the department faces budget constraints but said the town must prioritize the site’s protection.
“We have a limited budget,” he said. “We need to try to be a little more cognizant of the times of year that people are going to frequent certain areas.”
The town and private donors have invested heavily in recent years to repair and reset damaged markers at Old Burial Hill. Finigan said the committee wants to ensure those efforts are not undone by routine maintenance.“These are ancient stones that have weathered for hundreds of years,” Finigan said. “We just have to stay on top of it.”
Donations may be sent to support preservation efforts. Make checks payable to the town of Marblehead, with “Old Burial Hill Preservation Fund” in the memo line. Mail to Abbot Hall, 188 Washington St., Marblehead, MA 01945.
Preservation over routine: maintaining historic cemetery lawns
How a town mows its cemetery can determine whether gravestones last centuries or crack within seasons. Federal and state preservation agencies offer guidance — and several Massachusetts towns are applying it.
Raymond Jodoin, Salem’s Department of Public Services director and former cemetery director, told the Independent the city has adjusted equipment use across four of its five historic cemeteries, including Charter Street Burial Ground (the second oldest public burial grounds in the United States). Salem now restricts mower sizes and mandates plastic trimmer guards.
“We actually use … battery operated weed whackers that have a little metal guard,” Jodoin said.
The city also regulates trimmer line thickness and requires contractors to list the city as additionally insured, creating accountability.
“So not only are we looking to try to get protection for those stones, we can actually then go after their insurance if they damage something,” he said.
The National Park Service advises that riding mowers should never be used near gravestones. For narrow areas, it recommends walk-behind mowers or hand tools. The Chicora Foundation’s cemetery maintenance guide suggests leaving a 12-inch buffer around stones and finishing by hand.
Chicora also urges trimming no more than one-third of the grass height per cut — a practice that reduces turf stress and helps space out mowing cycles.
Training remains central. “Mowing in a historic cemetery is not routine yardwork,” Virginia’s Department of Historic Resources notes. “It is preservation.”
