Granary Burying Ground

Adjacent to Park St Church, this ancient cemetery dates to 1660. As the name implies, the location of the church was once the site of the town granary: as the burying ground predates the church, it is named after the grain storage facility instead. While it is sometimes called the Old Granary Burying Ground, it’s not the oldest; King’s Chapel and Copp’s Hill date back even further. Nonetheless, this atmospheric atoll is crammed with historic headstones, many with evocative (and creepy) carvings. It is the final resting place of all your favorite revolutionary heroes including Paul Revere, Samuel Adams, John Hancock and James Otis. Benjamin Franklin is missing, as he is buried in Philadelphia, but the Franklin family plot contains his parents. The five victims of the Boston Massacre share a common grave, though the only name you are likely to recognize is that of Crispus Attucks, the freed slave who is considered the first person to lose his life in the struggle for American independence. Other noteworthy permanent residents include Peter Faneuil, of Faneuil Hall fame, and Judge Sewall, the only magistrate to denounce the hanging of the so-called Salem witches.