The Strange History Behind Portsmouth’s Oldest Cemetery

I've always thought there's something fascinating about an old cemetery.

Maybe it's the dates on the gravestones. Maybe it's trying to imagine what life was like hundreds of years ago. Or maybe it's just the fact that some of these places have been sitting quietly in the middle of our communities longer than just about anything else around them.

And then there's Point of Graves in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

Credit: Portsmouth Historical Society via Facebook

This little burial ground near Prescott Park has been around since 1671. And while it certainly looks like the kind of place that could inspire a good ghost story, some of its actual history is pretty strange all by itself.

Including a story about cows.

Yes. Cows.

More Than 350 Years of Portsmouth History

Point of Graves sits on Mechanic Street, overlooking the Piscataqua River.

It's the oldest burial ground in Portsmouth, established more than a century before America declared independence.

Just imagine what Portsmouth looked like back then.

No busy waterfront restaurants. No cars coming across the bridge. No streetlights.

Just a small colonial community trying to make a life along the river.

And when somebody died, this was one of the places where their family would lay them to rest.

Weathered and sun battered, the oldest surviving gravestone dates back to 1682.  Seriously... 1682.

According to the Portsmouth Historical Files, the oldest gravestone belongs to Anne Jaffrey, the wife of a Scottish merchant and shipowner. She died shortly after giving birth to her son.

I think that's what makes places like this so interesting. You can look at an old gravestone and see a date from hundreds of years ago. But behind that date was a real person with a family... and a story.

Credit: Gravestones of New England via Facebook

Why Are There Skulls on the Gravestones?

Here's something you might notice if you visit and tour the Point of Graves.

Some of the gravestones look pretty creepy.

We're talking skulls, wings, unusual faces, and elaborate carvings that aren't exactly what you'd expect to find in a modern cemetery.

But those symbols weren't necessarily intended to frighten anybody.

Many early New England gravestones featured something called a *death's head*, often a skull with wings.

It was a reminder of mortality, reflecting how people in colonial New England thought about death and the afterlife.

READ MORE: 8 Famous People Buried in New Hampshire You Won't Believe

The cemetery also contains remarkable examples of early stone carving by artisans from Massachusetts.

So those strange-looking markers are actually pieces of early American art.

Still, I don't know that I'd want to come face-to-face with one of those winged skulls on a foggy October evening.

Credit: Getty Images

The Cemetery Where Cows Were Apparently a Problem

Now, this is my favorite part of the whole story.

Point of Graves was established on land belonging to Captain John Pickering.

In 1671, Pickering allowed the town to use part of his property as a burial ground.

But there was a catch.

He kept the right to let his cattle graze on the property.

Think about that.

Families are burying their loved ones, putting up carefully carved gravestones, and there are cows just wandering around eating grass.

According to the City of Portsmouth, historians believe those cattle knocked down and damaged many of the earliest gravestones.

In fact, that's the reason the city gives for why no gravestones from before 1682 have survived.

Centuries of weather, storms, and harsh New England winters?

Apparently, the cows got there first.

Credit: Getty Images

There's a Meaning Behind the Direction of the Graves

Here's another detail I found interesting.

Many graves at Point of Graves were traditionally oriented toward the east.

According to Congressional Cemetery, that arrangement was connected to the Christian belief in the Resurrection, with the dead positioned to rise facing the eastern sky and the coming of a new day.

Even the direction someone was buried had a meaning.

And then there are those old ghost stories that seem to follow just about every historic New England cemetery.

Point of Graves has certainly attracted its share of haunted-history attention over the years.

Whether you believe any of that is up to you.

Personally, I think the actual history is more than interesting enough.

A Little Piece of History Hiding in Plain Sight

The next time you're walking around Portsmouth, you might want to take a few minutes to see Point of Graves.

It's located on Mechanic Street near Prescott Park, and the Portsmouth Historical Society has even offered guided tours explaining the carvings, the people buried there, and the history of the burial ground.

More than 350 years after it was established, it's still telling stories.

And sometimes, the strangest stories aren't about ghosts at all.

Sometimes they're about the people who lived here centuries ago.

And occasionally, the cows that wandered through their cemetery.

So I'm curious: Do you find old cemeteries peaceful and fascinating, or do they completely creep you out?