1930 - 1992
The sign affixed to the tree reads that 350 souls are resting here. Only one of the
markers has a name on it, the others are marked with either a "P" for protistant
or a "C" for catholic.
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March 2006 -- State
workers have trampled a pauper's graveyard next to two area state
hospitals in what one heartbroken local man says
is an insult to those who died in the wards. The graves, all simple stones half-buried in the grass, mark the final resting place for 350
patients who lived at Fernald or Metropolitan State Hospital 30 years ago and more. Now some of those markers have been plowed
under by heavy equipment. "Apparently they just made part of the cemetery a road," Paul Vincuilla of Waltham said yesterday.
"It breaks my heart to see that."
Heavy treads of construction equipment ran over the rows of graves. In the treads' path, headstones were cracked or pushed
into the earth and coffin-size depressions gaped, where graves had apparently collapsed under the weight of the machines.
State contractors hauling debris from a nearby dumping site caused the damage inadvertently, not realizing the site is a
graveyard, said Vanessa Gulati, a spokeswoman for the Department of Conservation and Recreation.
"They didn't even notice they were there until it was brought to DCR's attention," which happened this January, Gulati said.
Most of the grave markers are concrete block. They come about six inches above the ground, simply bearing a number and
a letter -- "C" for Catholic, or "P" for Protestant. A low wall of field stones marks the graveyard on three sides. The Caterpillar
treads come into the graveyard where the gravel road narrows to a dirt track, smashing a corner of the stone wall and
apparently using the site as a turnaround.
The DCR, which is redeveloping that portion of the 336-acre former hospital grounds as an addition to the Beaver Brook Reservation,
plans to fix the damage, once the ground thaws. Eventually, they will install a decorative fence and a plaque bearing names of the
deceased, retrieved from state records. Vincuilla first came to this isolated graveyard about 10 years ago, driving a "haunted
hay ride" through the grounds to raise money for handicap-accessible playgrounds at Waltham schools. He later came back
occasionally, on foot, to pray for the souls of 350 former residents of two state hospitals, now resting there.
This is not the first time graveyard maintenance has come up, said Marie Daly, clerk of the Waltham Land Trust. Members
of the trust have pushed state agencies to trim grass and keep the site better, before, she said. In a public meeting Tuesday,
DCR Director Dan Driscoll said the agency is committed to preserving the site. "They say they are," Daly said. "Whether or
not they will have the resources to be able to carry it out, remains. But that's not for their lack of trying."
is an insult to those who died in the wards. The graves, all simple stones half-buried in the grass, mark the final resting place for 350
patients who lived at Fernald or Metropolitan State Hospital 30 years ago and more. Now some of those markers have been plowed
under by heavy equipment. "Apparently they just made part of the cemetery a road," Paul Vincuilla of Waltham said yesterday.
"It breaks my heart to see that."
Heavy treads of construction equipment ran over the rows of graves. In the treads' path, headstones were cracked or pushed
into the earth and coffin-size depressions gaped, where graves had apparently collapsed under the weight of the machines.
State contractors hauling debris from a nearby dumping site caused the damage inadvertently, not realizing the site is a
graveyard, said Vanessa Gulati, a spokeswoman for the Department of Conservation and Recreation.
"They didn't even notice they were there until it was brought to DCR's attention," which happened this January, Gulati said.
Most of the grave markers are concrete block. They come about six inches above the ground, simply bearing a number and
a letter -- "C" for Catholic, or "P" for Protestant. A low wall of field stones marks the graveyard on three sides. The Caterpillar
treads come into the graveyard where the gravel road narrows to a dirt track, smashing a corner of the stone wall and
apparently using the site as a turnaround.
The DCR, which is redeveloping that portion of the 336-acre former hospital grounds as an addition to the Beaver Brook Reservation,
plans to fix the damage, once the ground thaws. Eventually, they will install a decorative fence and a plaque bearing names of the
deceased, retrieved from state records. Vincuilla first came to this isolated graveyard about 10 years ago, driving a "haunted
hay ride" through the grounds to raise money for handicap-accessible playgrounds at Waltham schools. He later came back
occasionally, on foot, to pray for the souls of 350 former residents of two state hospitals, now resting there.
This is not the first time graveyard maintenance has come up, said Marie Daly, clerk of the Waltham Land Trust. Members
of the trust have pushed state agencies to trim grass and keep the site better, before, she said. In a public meeting Tuesday,
DCR Director Dan Driscoll said the agency is committed to preserving the site. "They say they are," Daly said. "Whether or
not they will have the resources to be able to carry it out, remains. But that's not for their lack of trying."
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