INTRODUCTION
A large cement cross, standing tall at over 7 feet atop its stone pedestal along Route 2 in Concord, Massachusetts, marks the Concord Prison Reformatory Cemetery. This land has been owned by the Department of Correction since 1878 and has been relatively out of sight to the public until the renovation of the Bruce Freeman Rail Trail in 2022.
From 1878 to 1996, this plot of land became the final resting place for 218 individuals who served time and died in the Massachusetts correctional system with no family or friends to claim their bodies. Small cement markers sit flush to the ground atop each grave. Labeled only with a legend indicating a correctional institution and a sequential number, these grave markers are all that represent those individuals’ former existences.
By naming these forgotten men, we recognize them as people, not numbers. We turn the markers into monuments and memorialize those who died while in custody. Naming the Unnamed.
CEMETERY AND MARKERS
The cemetery area is cleared, mowed, and reasonably maintained. It’s about 100 yards wide, sloped down to the front, highway in the distance, and centered around the cement cross. Previously hidden behind trees cleared as part of the project, the cross is now clearly visible from Route 2. We have also restored the cross, sand-blasting away the peeling lead paint and applying sealer to the natural cement.
The 10 rows of graves start at the bottom of the hill, 20 to 25 per row. As they continue up the hill, they adapt to the contours of nature, becoming uneven as they dodge tree roots. Our project included creating a physical site map and surveying of the markers, resolving alignment issues between the site and ledger.
Each cement marker is 8x11 inches and nameless, with only a sequential number and abbreviation of a correctional institution to hint at who lies below. The design keeps the identity anonymous, and protects family members, and simplifies the process. The writing on the graves is irregular and clearly done by hand; varying degrees of erosion only complicates deciphering the messages. There’s an abbreviated code before the number, reflecting the prison at which the individual was incarcerated: MR (Mass Reformatory, Concord), MSP (Mass State Penitentiary, Charlestown), PCH (Prison Camp Hospital, Rutland) NPC (Norfolk), CHC (Cambridge) MC (MCI-Concord).
Little information was known about these men, save for the Department of Correction’s historical, handwritten ledger matching names to graves, until now, through the Naming the Unnamed project sponsored by Concord Prison Outreach.
WHO IS BURIED HERE?
The Concord Reformatory opened in 1878, and seven men were buried in the cemetery in that first year. By 1920, the cemetery was already 78% full, its boundaries constrained by surrounding trees and roots. The last 47 men were buried over the remaining 76 years, with only four men buried between 1948 and 1981, and the last seven men buried in the 1980s and 1990s.
72% of the individuals died while incarcerated at the Charlestown Prison (MSP), 17% at Concord Reformatory (MR), 11% at the Rutland Prison Hospital (PCH), and a handful at NPC (Norfolk), CHC (Cambridge) MC (MCI-Concord). The prison cemeteries at Gardner and Norfolk are still active today.
Many of the men (35%) were immigrants, mostly from Europe (Ireland and UK), and 18% were identified as Black or persons of color.
The first grave commemorates Thomas Ford, who died in 1878. Abraham William, #4, was a private in the Civil War serving in the 5th Coloured Cavalry of MA. There are 11 identified veterans, two of them Black men. The last grave, #218, marks Gerald Coleman, who died in 1996.
Cause of death varied widely, but 35% of the men died from tuberculosis between 1879 and 1912. TB, or ‘consumption,’ was wide-spread and deadly, especially in prison. The prison environment was a breeding ground for TB, spreading quickly among the men who were housed together in damp, unsanitary and overcrowded quarters. TB was such a wide-spread pandemic that in 1907 a tuberculosis ‘hospital’ was added to the prison farm in Rutland. The deceased Incarcerated individuals from Rutland were buried at their own cemetery, where 59 men were buried in the cemetery there. Starting in 1908, the ‘overflow’ men were taken to Concord to be buried.
Disease took another 20% of the men, and 13% died by suicide or execution.
Many of the men died young: 45% under the age of 30 and two-thirds before they turned 40. Others defied the odds: Mr. Samuel Webb Hildreth (born in 1811 in Westford), #56, died at age 76 in Charlestown.
PROJECT COMPONENTS
The project tells the story of the cemetery and the men buried there both by revitalizing the land and sharing biographical details uncovered during research.
Massachusetts College of Art and Design students researched the men and created illustrations to represent each man’s life. These illustrations are found in a published book about the project and can be accessed via the project website. Sponsored by the MassArt Foundation.
The William Munroe Special Collections at Concord Free Public Library hosts the Naming the Unnamed online exhibition. This exhibition showcases the biographies, art panels, and photographs of the grave markers as project artifacts on the town platform. The full scope of the project, including photos, press materials, and interactive site map, are available on Concord Prison Outreach’s Naming the Unnamed project page on their website.
The next phase of the project includes plans to construct a contemplative seating area overlooking the cemetery, an interpretive panel, and bench of reclaimed ship timbers.
With this project, Concord Prison Outreach is leading community curating through public awareness, education and outreach.
GRATEFUL ACKNOWLEDGMENT
We acknowledge with grateful appreciation all the parties who have helped bring the Naming the Unnamed project forward:
The Massachusetts Department of Correction for partnership at each and every stage of the project and for all the care and attention residents and staff have spent over the decades to maintain the property; Concord Free Public Library and William Monroe Special Collections for hosting the online gallery and promoting and encouraging the effort from its start; Massachusetts College of Art and Design for the creative illustrations and artistic partnership; the Town boards, committees and departments for support; to Dee’s Funeral Home of Concord for handling burial arrangements for unclaimed bodies with dignity for decades as entrusted by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts; and SelectDemo, New England Tree and GeoView for their donated services.
We are also thankful to our funders: Concord Community Preservation Fund, Freedom’s Way National Heritage Area, Mass Humanities, West Concord Union Church, and private individuals. The project would not be possible without their support.
Concord Prison Outreach (CPO) is a 501 (c)(3) organization composed of a coalition of hundreds of individuals and nearly forty faith communities committed to helping people who are incarcerated build better lives for themselves and their families. Since its founding in 1968, CPO has developed into the largest organization of its kind in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Working cooperatively with the Massachusetts Department of Correction (DOC), CPO offers educational programs that focus on skill-building, personal growth, and essentials to help support people in prison to achieve success while incarcerated or post-incarceration.
CPO continues to run programs in 8 different prison facilities despite the closing of MCI-Concord in June 2024.