Eastern Cemetery - Portland, Maine

Location:  Eastern Cemetery

City:         Portland, Maine

Here's a little something involving our last unofficial investigation-visit to the Eastern Cemetery.  It's sometimes good to go to a place we want to investigate, just to check things out first so we can really get our plan of action laid out when presenting it to the team as a group.   TonyL and I (KatM) went to the Eastern Cemetery on an overcast day in mid-August to scope out the area and see what we're up against when we do our actual investigation in the near future.  We want the planning of this investigation date to take the general public, the weather, and the overall environment into consideration.   The location isn't exactly secluded.  As a matter of fact, if I had to categorize it, I'd place it as being in one of the worst investigation locations possible.  The area is very public, very visible from all outer edges.  By daytime standards it appears as though there are many streetlights surrounding every side of the cemetery.  I'm not sure how we'll be able to debunk based on the environmental factors associated with the area so, if nothing else, this will be a super learning experience.  I'm really looking forward to it and I think the the guys are totally down with it, too.

The cemetery itself was opened in 1666 and it set on Portland's East Side.  There is also a cemetery on the West Side of Portland, which I'll get to in a little while.  I put together a great little video spiff with TonyL offering a brief documentary on the cemetery which I hope to post on our youtube channel pretty soon.  Just by walking through the East Side cemetery you can soak in a certain appreciation for the history of the people and the places they came from and lived in.  Most lived in Portland, which is, of course, why they're buried at the "ESC" but there are many who have been involved in critical moments of America's history.  There are Revolutionary War veterans buried here, soldiers involved in the War of 1812 (America's Second Revolutionary War, a pivotal point in the careers of James Madison and Andrew Jackson, and probably the most critically important battles ever fought to secure the independence of the United State of America.) and many seamen and their widowed wives.  The children of the East Side Cemetery may well bear the most intimately discouraging stories of "life and times" in Portland during this chapter in "Maine's" history.

One of the more interesting aspects of the old Eastern Cemetery would be the folks who lived into their 70's and 80's, who are buried here. The headstones of mothers, fathers, brothers, religious leaders, lawyers, and sea captains. People of these times seemed to take pride, not only in their community, but also in the roles they played occupationally speaking. A woman who passed on from this life was not just known as "Jane", she was remembered and revered for what she offered as a wife, mother, and sister; and how her presence in the community affected those around her presently, as well as those future generations not yet born.  By reading some of these headstones a person can really get the sense that people appreciated people back then. Tombstones aren't nearly as poetic these days as they were back then, and a short walk through a place like the Eastern Cemetery can be a great reminder that we're all of the same place; in life and in death.

 

Before we entered the grounds of the Eastern Cemetery we took a brief outdoor walking tour of the perimeter of the Historic North School. I'm still collecting historical information about this location, particularly regarding its role in the community during times of Portland's prospering seaport days, the "great fire of 1866", and the height of immigration influx and transition.  All are key factors in the constant changing of Portland's identity, and can be seen in some small form, or other, in the writings on the various tombstones as well as the size, location, and original intentions for the building of certain public establishments, such as the North School.

The North School has a reputation of being haunted, intimate knowledge to those residents of the North School Apartments that now grace its interior.   Although I've been told the North School was involved in the Great Portland Fire of 1866, I cannot substantiate the claim due to the building's establishment date of 1867.  The Great Fire swept through the city of Portland at a destructive rate but, by official counts, had a very insignificant death toll of less than 10 Mainers.  Most of the city saw some type of fire-related destruction, and the entire city was involved in the reconstruction that followed.  

The architecture of the old North School vaguely resembles the beautiful Kirkbride Architecture that came to grace many of the larger (and later considered "haunted") medical institutions such as sanatoriums, mental institutes, and tuberculosis hospitals.  The clock tower that graces the upper portion of the front of the North School is a particularly stunning apex in Portland's historical setting.  The fact of whether or not the clock tower is actually still functional, escapes me.  The building itself is such a prominent presence near the Eastern Cemetery that a person can almost not consider one without the other.

Now, back to the Eastern Cemetery. Since our visit to the cemetery, at this time, was geared more toward gathering information about the location, and less about data and evidence collection, we found we had more time to peruse on a deeper level. We enjoyed spending more time reading headstones and learning about people and their relation to others buried nearby. We had time to explore the various headstone shapes, sizes, and grades of stone, which were all very fascinating. The sheer size of some of the stones was incredible. TonyL stands over 6 feet tall and some of these headstones reached the height of his chest! The black slate beauty of these stone slabs, and the care put into the design of the art engraved and the scripts etched within each exhibited a clear adoration of the dead by those they left behind.Portland was a special, and dare I say "intimate" community back in those good 'ole days.

Check out some of these headstone art pieces. Most of the headstones seem to be graced with art that denotes their religious beliefs are of a more Puritan nature, but that's a clearly superficial speculation on my part.  It would make sense that the initial residents of the region would have been of a more rigid and traditional religious sect such as Puritans and Puritanism, as the Puritans were a pretty dominant force in the more clearly established regions of Massachusetts, such as Boston. In fact, if I'm not mistaken the Puritans were not only very well established within the more metropolitan areas of Massachusetts, they were also of the "ruling class", dare I speak that aloud. America is a democracy, indeed, but in the late 1600's the colonies were still under the rule of the King of England. Being righteous, pius, loyal to God and King meant reaping benefits the working class rarely experienced. Needless to say, if Puritanism was the dominant religion of the day, it was a long time in the coming before the social, religious, and political elite would let go of that power and control; regardless of how far they were from Boston. And, historically speaking, Maine wasn't released from Massachusetts for, at least, another 150+ years.  So, long story-short, a lot of the beautiful graveyard art seen on some of these slate headstones are indicative of Puritan-istic religious principles and beliefs.