Notable burials · Arts and entertainment
Writers and poets buried in Massachusetts
Wikidata records 657 writers as buried in 139 of the cemeteries we list in Massachusetts. Mount Auburn Cemetery in North Brighton holds the most, with 219. Massachusetts has the 3rd highest count of any state, out of 6,032 nationally.
People recorded as writers, novelists, poets, playwrights or screenwriters.
657
writers
139
cemeteries
13%
of notable burials in Massachusetts
1900s
the decade with the most deaths (69)
Map of cemeteries
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Each point is a cemetery; open it for everyone recorded there.
Best documented
Writers and poets buried in Massachusetts
- Ralph Waldo Emerson1803-1882American philosopherSleepy Hollow Cemetery, Concord, MA
- Emily Dickinson1830-1886American poetWest Cemetery, Amherst Center, MA
- Henry David Thoreau1817-1862American essayist, poet, and philosopherSleepy Hollow Cemetery, Concord, MA
- William James1842-1910American philosopher, psychologist, and pragmatistCambridge Cemetery, North Brighton, MA
- Harriet Beecher Stowe1811-1896American abolitionist and authorPhillips Academy Cemetery, Andover, MA
- Nathaniel Hawthorne1804-1864American authorSleepy Hollow Cemetery, Concord, MA
- Louisa May Alcott1832-1888American novelistSleepy Hollow Cemetery, Concord, MA
- Eugene O'Neill1888-1953American playwrightForest Hills Cemetery, Roslindale, MA
- Henry James1843-1916American and British writerCambridge Cemetery, North Brighton, MA
- Jack Kerouac1922-1969American writerEdson Cemetery, Lowell, MA
- B.F. Skinner1904-1990American behavioristMount Auburn Cemetery, North Brighton, MA
- Norman Mailer1923-2007American writerProvincetown Cemetery, Provincetown, MA
- Emily Greene Balch1867-1961American economist and writerForest Hills Cemetery, Roslindale, MA
- Edward O. Wilson1929-2021American biologist, naturalist, and writerWestview Cemetery, Bedford, MA
- Wes Craven1939-2015American filmmakerLamberts Cove Cemetery, Vineyard Haven, MA
- Roman Jakobson1896-1982Russian linguistMount Auburn Cemetery, North Brighton, MA
- Oliver Wendell Holmes1809-1894American poet and physicianMount Auburn Cemetery, North Brighton, MA
- E. E. Cummings1894-1962American authorForest Hills Cemetery, Roslindale, MA
- Elizabeth Bishop1911-1979American poetHope Cemetery, Worcester, MA
- Margaret Fuller1810-1850American writer and women's activistMount Auburn Cemetery, North Brighton, MA
- Howard Zinn1922-2010American historian, playwright, and socialist thinkerNewton Cemetery, Newton, MA
- Henry Wilson1812-1875Vice president of the United States from 1873 to 1875Dell Park Cemetery, Natick, MA
- Maria Mitchell1818-1889American astronomerProspect Hill Cemetery, Nantucket, MA
- Ruth Gordon1896-1985American actress and writerHancock Cemetery, Quincy, MA
- William Styron1925-2006American novelist and essayistWest Chop Cemetery, Vineyard Haven, MA
- Phillis Wheatley1753-1784First African-American poetCopps Hill Burial Ground, VA Boston Healthcare System, Brockton Campus, MA
- Mary Baker Eddy1821-1910American founder of Christian ScienceMount Auburn Cemetery, North Brighton, MA
- Daniel Webster1782-185214th and 19th United States Secretary of StateWinslow Cemetery, Marshfield, MA
- Anne Sexton1928-1974American poetForest Hills Cemetery, Roslindale, MA
- James Russell Lowell1819-1891American poet, critic, editor, and diplomatMount Auburn Cemetery, North Brighton, MA
- John Cheever1912-1982American novelist and short story writerFirst Parish Cemetery, Norwell, MA
- Bernard Malamud1914-1986American authorMount Auburn Cemetery, North Brighton, MA
- Eleanor H. Porter1868-1920American novelistMount Auburn Cemetery, North Brighton, MA
- Amy Lawrence Lowell1874-1925US writerMount Auburn Cemetery, North Brighton, MA
- William Lloyd Garrison1805-1879American journalist and abolitionistForest Hills Cemetery, Roslindale, MA
- Mike Wallace1918-2012American journalist, game show host and actorWest Chop Cemetery, Vineyard Haven, MA
- Mary Daly1928-2010American feminist philosopher and theologianMount Auburn Cemetery, North Brighton, MA
- Lucy Stone1818-1893American abolitionist and suffragistForest Hills Cemetery, Roslindale, MA
- John Greenleaf Whittier1807-1892American Quaker poet and advocate of the abolition of slaveryUnion Cemetery, Amesbury, MA
- Art Buchwald1925-2007Journalist, humorist, United States MarineWest Chop Cemetery, Vineyard Haven, MA
- James Connolly1868-1957American triple jumperHolyhood Cemetery, Chestnut Hill, MA
- Thomas Burke1875-1929American sprinterHolyhood Cemetery, Chestnut Hill, MA
- Archibald MacLeish1892-1982American poet and Librarian of CongressPine Grove Cemetery, Conway, MA
- Asa Gray1810-1888American botanistMount Auburn Cemetery, North Brighton, MA
- Julia Ward Howe1819-1910American abolitionist, social activist, and poetMount Auburn Cemetery, North Brighton, MA
- Amos Bronson Alcott1799-1888American teacher, writer, philosopher, and reformerSleepy Hollow Cemetery, Concord, MA
- William F. Buckley Jr.1925-2008American public intellectual, conservative author and political commentatorSaint Bernards Cemetery, Fitchburg, MA
- Cotton Mather1663-1728American religious minister and scientific writerCopps Hill Burial Ground, VA Boston Healthcare System, Brockton Campus, MA
- Robert Benchley1889-1945American writer and actorProspect Hill Cemetery, Nantucket, MA
- Ellery Harding Clark1874-1949American track and field athleteForest Hills Cemetery, Roslindale, MA
- Peter Benchley1940-2006American authorProspect Hill Cemetery, Nantucket, MA
- Arthur M. Schlesinger1917-2007American historian, social critic, and public intellectualMount Auburn Cemetery, North Brighton, MA
- William Ellery Channing1780-1842American Unitarian clergymanMount Auburn Cemetery, North Brighton, MA
- John Winthrop1588-1649Governor of the Province of Massachusetts Bay and Author of "City upon a Hill"Kings Chapel Burying Ground, Boston, MA
- Lysander Spooner1808-1887American political philosopher, essayist, pamphlet writer, Unitarian, abolitionist, individualist anarchist, legal theorist, a member of the socialist First International and entrepreneur of the 19th centuryForest Hills Cemetery, Roslindale, MA
- William Dean Howells1837-1920American author, critic, and playwrightCambridge Cemetery, North Brighton, MA
- John Hersey1914-1993American journalist, novelist, professorWest Chop Cemetery, Vineyard Haven, MA
- Edward Everett1794-1865American politician, pastor, educator, diplomat and oratorMount Auburn Cemetery, North Brighton, MA
- Dorothea Dix1802-1887American author and social reformerMount Auburn Cemetery, North Brighton, MA
- Alexander Agassiz1835-1910Swiss-American zoologist and engineerForest Hills Cemetery, Roslindale, MA
- Washington Allston1779-1843American artistOld Burying Ground, West Cambridge/Harvard Square, MA
- Henry Cabot Lodge1850-1924American statesmanMount Auburn Cemetery, North Brighton, MA
- Harriet Jacobs1815-1897American slave, writer, and abolitionistMount Auburn Cemetery, North Brighton, MA
- Edmund Wilson1895-1972American writer, literary and social critic, and noted man of lettersPleasant Hill Cemetery, Wellfleet, MA
- Josiah Royce1855-1916American philosopherMount Auburn Cemetery, North Brighton, MA
- Fanny Bullock Workman1859-1925American geographer, cartographer, explorer, travel writer, and mountaineerRural Cemetery & Crematory, Worcester, MA
- Horatio Alger1832-1899American novelistGlenwood Cemetery, Maynard, MA
- Alice Stone Blackwell1857-1950American feminist, journalist and human rights advocateForest Hills Cemetery, Roslindale, MA
- Richard Wilbur1921-2017American poetDawes Cemetery, Chesterfield, MA
- William Hickling Prescott1796-1859American historian and HispanistMount Auburn Cemetery, North Brighton, MA
- Thomas Bailey Aldrich1836-1907American poet, novelist, editorMount Auburn Cemetery, North Brighton, MA
- Charles Sumner1811-1874American abolitionist and statesmanMount Auburn Cemetery, North Brighton, MA
- Wendell Phillips1811-1884American abolitionist, advocate for Native Americans, orator and lawyerGranary Burying Ground, Boston, MA
- Josiah Warren1798-1874American social reformer, philosopher, inventor, musician, and authorMount Auburn Cemetery, North Brighton, MA
- Susan Glaspell1876-1948American writerSnow Cemetery, Truro, MA
- Benjamin Apthorp Gould1824-1896American astronomerMount Auburn Cemetery, North Brighton, MA
- Robert W. Wood1868-1955American physicist and inventorSleepy Hollow Cemetery, Concord, MA
- Edward Everett Hale1822-1909American author, historian and Unitarian ministerForest Hills Cemetery, Roslindale, MA
- David Halberstam1934-2007American writer, journalist, historianProspect Hill Cemetery, Nantucket, MA
- Charles Francis Adams Sr.1807-1886American historical editor, politician and diplomat from MassachusettsMount Wollaston Cemetery, Quincy, MA
- Francis Parkman1823-1893American historianMount Auburn Cemetery, North Brighton, MA
- Sidney Howard1891-1939American playwrightTyringham Cemetery, Lee, MA
- William Bradford1590-1657English Separatist leader in Leiden, Holland and in Plymouth ColonyBurial Hill Cemetery, Plymouth, MA
- Stanley Cavell1926-2018American philosopherMount Auburn Cemetery, North Brighton, MA
- Katharine Lee Bates1859-1929American poet and songwriterOak Grove Cemetery, Falmouth, MA
- Francis James Child1825-1896American folkloristStockbridge Cemetery, Stockbridge, MA
- Charles Olson1910-1970American writerBeechbrook Cemetery, Gloucester, MA
- Katharine Cornell1893-1974American actress, theatre manager and producerTisbury Village Cemetery, Vineyard Haven, MA
- Mercy Otis Warren1728-1814American writerOld Burial Hill Cemetery, Marblehead, MA
- William Healey Dall1845-1927American malacologist, palaeontologist and explorerMount Auburn Cemetery, North Brighton, MA
- Robert Creeley1926-2005American poetMount Auburn Cemetery, North Brighton, MA
- Nathaniel Parker Willis1806-1867American magazine writer, editor, and publisherMount Auburn Cemetery, North Brighton, MA
- Joseph Grew1880-1965American diplomat, U.S. ambassador to JapanForest Hills Cemetery, Roslindale, MA
- Fisher Ames1758-1808American politicianVillage Cemetery, Dedham, MA
- Mary Livermore1820-1905American journalistWyoming Cemetery, Melrose, MA
- Caleb Cushing1800-1879American politicianHighland Cemetery, Newburyport, MA
- George S. Boutwell1818-1905United States politicianGroton Cemetery, Groton, MA
- James Otis1725-1783Lawyer in colonial MassachusettsGranary Burying Ground, Boston, MA
- Patricia Collinge1892-1974American actressSaint Marys Cemetery, Nantucket, MA
- Elizabeth Cabot Agassiz1822-1907American educator, naturalist, writerMount Auburn Cemetery, North Brighton, MA
- Joseph Story1779-1845American jurist (1779-1845); US Supreme Court justice from 1812 to 1845Mount Auburn Cemetery, North Brighton, MA
- Hannah Adams1755-1831American authorMount Auburn Cemetery, North Brighton, MA
- Increase Mather1639-1723Puritan minister, academic, activistCopps Hill Burial Ground, VA Boston Healthcare System, Brockton Campus, MA
- Bernard Bailyn1922-2020American historianMount Auburn Cemetery, North Brighton, MA
- Thomas Bulfinch1796-1867American writer and mythologistMount Auburn Cemetery, North Brighton, MA
- Jacob Abbott1803-1879American writer of children's booksMount Auburn Cemetery, North Brighton, MA
- Roscoe Pound1870-1964American legal scholar and educatorMount Auburn Cemetery, North Brighton, MA
- Charles William Eliot1834-1926American educatorMount Auburn Cemetery, North Brighton, MA
- Adoniram Judson1788-1850American missionaryBurial Hill Cemetery, Plymouth, MA
- Charles Sprague Sargent1841-1927American botanistWalnut Hills Cemetery, Bellevue, MA
- Elissa Landi1904-1948Italian born actress who was popular in Hollywood films of the 1920s and 1930sOak Hill Cemetery, Newburyport, MA
- Lon L. Fuller1902-1978American philosopher of lawMount Auburn Cemetery, North Brighton, MA
- Stanisław Barańczak1946-2014Polish poet, translator, essayist, and literary criticMount Auburn Cemetery, North Brighton, MA
- George B. Seitz1888-1944American film director, producer and screenwriterForest Hills Cemetery, Roslindale, MA
- James Freeman Clarke1810-1888American theologian and writerForest Hills Cemetery, Roslindale, MA
- Irving Babbitt1865-1933American academic and literary criticMount Auburn Cemetery, North Brighton, MA
- Frances Sargent Osgood1811-1850American poetMount Auburn Cemetery, North Brighton, MA
- Phillips Brooks1835-1893American clergyman and author, hymnwriterMount Auburn Cemetery, North Brighton, MA
- Jacob Bigelow1787-1879American botanist, physician, and educational reformerMount Auburn Cemetery, North Brighton, MA
- Thomas Wentworth Higginson1823-1911American soldier, Unitarian minister and authorCambridge Cemetery, North Brighton, MA
- William Wells Brown1814-1884American abolitionist lecturer, novelist, playwright, and historianCambridge Cemetery, North Brighton, MA
- Brooks Adams1848-1927American political writerMount Wollaston Cemetery, Quincy, MA
- Charles Eliot Norton1827-1908American art historianMount Auburn Cemetery, North Brighton, MA
- Bud Collins1929-2016US sports journalist and tennis playerMount Auburn Cemetery, North Brighton, MA
- Edward Hitchcock1793-1864United States geologist and Congregationalist clergymanWest Cemetery, Amherst Center, MA
- William Smith Clark1826-1886American chemist, soldier, botanist and university teacherWest Cemetery, Amherst Center, MA
- George Ticknor1791-1871American academician and Hispanist, 1791-1871Forest Hills Cemetery, Roslindale, MA
- Edward S. Morse1838-1925American zoologist and anthropologistHarmony Grove Cemetery, Peabody, MA
- George Frederick Root1820-1895American songwriterHarmony Vale Cemetery, North Reading, MA
- Samuel Sewall1652-1730Salem witch trial judge; early abolitionist; chief justice of MassachusettsGranary Burying Ground, Boston, MA
- Abbott Lawrence Lowell1856-1943American educator and legal scholarMount Auburn Cemetery, North Brighton, MA
- Fannie Farmer1857-1915American chefMount Auburn Cemetery, North Brighton, MA
- John Cotton1585-1652English minister, theologian, immigrant to MassachusettsKings Chapel Burying Ground, Boston, MA
- Shahan Natalie1884-1983Armenian writerMount Auburn Cemetery, North Brighton, MA
- Rufus Choate1799-1859American politicianMount Auburn Cemetery, North Brighton, MA
- Marc Daniels1912-1989American television directorSleepy Hollow Cemetery, Concord, MA
- Edward Winslow1595-1655Mayflower passengerWinslow Cemetery, Marshfield, MA
- Esther Forbes1891-1967NovelistPine Grove Cemetery, Westborough, MA
- Israel Horovitz1939-2020American writerBnai Brith Cemetery, Peabody, MA
- Charles Francis Adams Jr.1835-1915American author and historianMount Wollaston Cemetery, Quincy, MA
- John Ciardi1916-1986American poet, professor, translatorMount Auburn Cemetery, North Brighton, MA
- Margaret Deland1857-1945American writer and poetForest Hills Cemetery, Roslindale, MA
- Herbert Baxter Adams1850-1901American educator and historianWildwood Cemetery, Amherst Center, MA
- Elizabeth Stuart Phelps Ward1844-1911American author, intellectual and feministNewton Cemetery, Newton, MA
- Ezra Abbot1819-1884American librarian and biblical scholarMount Auburn Cemetery, North Brighton, MA
- Louise Chandler Moulton1835-1908American poet, story-writer and criticMount Auburn Cemetery, North Brighton, MA
- Elizabeth Peabody1804-1894American educator 1804-1894Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, Concord, MA
- Lucy Larcom1824-1893American teacher, poet, authorCentral Cemetery, Beverly, MA
- David Peck Todd1855-1939American astronomerWildwood Cemetery, Amherst Center, MA
- Henry Steele Commager1902-1998American historianWildwood Cemetery, Amherst Center, MA
Showing the 150 with the most Wikipedia language editions, of 657. Cemetery pages list everyone recorded there.
Over time
Deaths by decade
- 1630s1
- 1640s1
- 1650s3
- 1670s1
- 1700s2
- 1710s1
- 1720s2
- 1730s1
- 1760s1
- 1770s1
- 1780s3
- 1800s1
- 1810s4
- 1820s3
- 1830s6
- 1840s12
- 1850s13
- 1860s25
- 1870s34
- 1880s46
- 1890s68
- 1900s69
- 1910s61
- 1920s64
- 1930s49
- 1940s44
- 1950s26
- 1960s26
- 1970s23
- 1980s18
- 1990s11
- 2000s16
- 2010s16
- 2020s3
By recorded year of death, for the 655 people with one.
Cemeteries
Where they are buried
- Mount Auburn Cemetery · North Brighton, MA219
- Forest Hills Cemetery · Roslindale, MA52
- Sleepy Hollow Cemetery · Concord, MA19
- Newton Cemetery · Newton, MA17
- Harmony Grove Cemetery · Peabody, MA13
- Cambridge Cemetery · North Brighton, MA13
- Mount Wollaston Cemetery · Quincy, MA11
- Wildwood Cemetery · Amherst Center, MA11
- Springfield Cemetery · Springfield, MA10
- Stockbridge Cemetery · Stockbridge, MA9
- Granary Burying Ground · Boston, MA8
- Woodlawn Cemetery · Everett, MA8
- Phillips Academy Cemetery · Andover, MA7
- Holyhood Cemetery · Chestnut Hill, MA7
- Milton Cemetery · Milton, MA7
- Oak Hill Cemetery · Newburyport, MA7
- Rural Cemetery & Crematory · Worcester, MA7
- Prospect Hill Cemetery · Nantucket, MA7
- College Cemetery · Williamstown, MA6
- West Cemetery · Amherst Center, MA5
- West Chop Cemetery · Vineyard Haven, MA5
- Bridge Street Cemetery · Northampton, MA5
- Copps Hill Burial Ground · VA Boston Healthcare System, Brockton Campus, MA4
- Oak Grove Cemetery · Fall River, MA4
- Kings Chapel Burying Ground · Boston, MA4
Top 25 of 139 cemeteries. The map shows all of them.
More lists
Other notable burials in Massachusetts
United States representatives259Scientists217Painters, sculptors and photographers189Business leaders188Architects158Physicians154Journalists140American Civil War veterans124Actors112Inventors and engineers90Baseball players86Musicians and singers84Medal of Honor recipients72Governors57World War II veterans57American football players50United States senators40World War I veterans38Pulitzer Prize winners22Spanish-American War veterans18American Revolutionary War veterans15
Method
How this list is made
A person is on this list when their Wikidata entry gives a cemetery we list as their place of burial and also carries the statement this list is built on. We do not add anyone by judgment, so the list reflects how complete Wikidata is: some people are missing, and burial places can be disputed.
Names, years and descriptions are shown as Wikidata records them. Names link to Wikipedia where an English article exists.