The Codman Burial Ground, a historic gem in the heart of Dorchester, is getting a good cleaning up as part of a new mission to serve the community with a social space that complements the sacred resting places of Dorchester’s early residents.
The Burial Ground is located in the 80th block of Norfolk Street and has been buried in weeds and undergrowth for decades, largely putting it out of mind to those in the neighborhood. But Second Church’s Rev. Victor Price and Rev. Cliff Hersey never lost sight of the property that the church owns, and for whom Codman Square is named. The Rev. Dr. John Codman left the 3.5 acres to the church for a burying ground upon his death in 1847. He is buried in a vault at the center of the grounds.
“We can’t have wasted space, and we can’t leave this space unused and not useful,” said Price. “We want the community to see that it’s an attractive and not a wasted space. I think it’s going to really enhance our community. People can walk in, relax, and rest, and learn of the history that’s here.
“We have put in small fences around the burial grounds, and they are to separate the sacred from the social,” he added. “We don’t want to dismiss the sacred or forget about it, but we want to keep it separate from the social aspects we are creating here.”
The project is a result of the Community Preservation Act funding program and a recipient of part of the allotment set for the larger historic restoration of the Second Church steeple and the Great Hall in Codman Square.
Some of the large stones unearthed from the front of the burial ground will be used in the amphitheater and other purposes in the new park.
Seth Daniel photos
The $350,000 first phase of the cemetery project will involve utilizing a vast space at the front of the lot that was never used for burials to create a children’s playground, an amphitheater with a pergola for outdoor classrooms and performances, rain gardens, walking paths, and a recreational/open space area where food trucks can park. The work also includes electrical work and water piping.
The project ran into delays early on, causing an escalation in estimated costs of more than $100,000. Last summer, the work went out to re-bid, and to everyone’s delight, a new contractor – JMV-Morais – came in with a price lower than anticipated. Last fall, they went right to work cleaning up the area and leveling out the front space and starting on the new walking paths.
“We’ve finished the design, and this is Phase 1 and very soon the playground will come and be installed, and the pergola will be delivered soon, which will be for the stage,” said DuNaiss Pires, operations manager at Second Church. “We just finished the water and electricity and soon all the pieces will be very obviously coming together, and it will be a new day for the Burial Ground.”
Pires and Price both envision community festivals, historical presentations, outdoor classes by Codman Academy and other schools, community walking groups, and non-programmed times of respite and quiet reflection.
Price noted that that was the hope of the community as well, as early on they had meetings with Boston Project Ministries and the Talbot Norfolk Triangle neighborhood association about their vision.
“This design we’re building are the ideas that came from the community and so it was community oriented,” he noted.
The design was completed by local architect Courtney Goode of Goode Landscape Studio and the new space will be named ‘The Angel Wings Park.’ That’s due in part to the fact that the burial ground area was originally laid out in the shape of angel’s wings, with the Codman vault at the center of the wings. No burials were made outside of the wing shape, and that is why the front area was left open, a note that gives Price and Pires pause.
That reality can help mitigate any hesitancy in the community about coming into a cemetery or graveyard for social occasions, an activity seen in many cultures as somewhat taboo – particularly for West Indian cultures.
Price, who is West Indian, said that “once you make it attractive, most people will see the usefulness of the space and not see what it represents as a cemetery. Then maybe it’s the history they see…The issue of it being a graveyard doesn’t stand out because it becomes educational and historical and an asset in the community to enjoy. We will contribute and invest in it by changing the concept and its usefulness.”
But bringing people into the new space won’t be the end of the effort, both Pires and Price said. The history the Burial Ground represents is substantial and mostly untapped in terms of research and presentation. Price envisions a Phase 2 where they can fully clean up the graves, re-set them all, and do extensive research with local high school students about individuals who were buried there.
They students would be given a head start because many of those early residents have been memorialized across the community with street names, and place names as well. like Millett, Gleason, and Codman.
Burials were ended there in the 1990s, but the remains of more than 1,000 people lay at rest in the cemetery – many with important stories to tell that have been silenced with the passage of time.
“The education process is important to me,” said Price. “There’s too much history in here that no one knows about. We have to reclaim that as part of this process. This is the property of the Second Church and most of the church members were the founding members of the community. Things were done by them. Things were named for them and houses here were owned by them.”
Added Pires, “I always say this is a gem in the community and people don’t know about it.”
If all goes according to plan, that is about to change. The Second Church and its partners plan to officially inaugurate the park toward the end of the summer.
