Hillside Cemetery Tour

Hill Side Cemetery is the oldest municipal cemetery in North Adams; it is the city’s second oldest existing cemetery, its age being exceeded only by the so-called Congregational Cemetery, which dates to the 1780's, and the now lost Fort Massachusetts burial ground, which was established in 1749.

The first burial in Hill Side (now more often referred to as Hillside) was in 1798; the deceased was one Olive Knight, the 18 year old daughter of Richard and Lilles Knight of what would become Braytonville. Richard Knight was a well-to-do farmer, and it is possible that he owned the land that the cemetery was established on; or, perhaps, he was merely the first to purchase a lot. In any event, the Knights buried their daughter at the top of the north hill; later, she was joined there by her parents, a brother, and all three of her sisters, along with their husbands, and many of their children.

Another fact that suggests the Knights may have owned the cemetery property can be found on the plot map of that section: The entire top of the hill, and some of the south face, is marked off and labeled “Widow Knight’s Land -- Occupied Free.” This area, donated by Lilles Knight, may well have been the community’s first formal Potters Field.

For some years, the cemetery was limited to what is now the north section. The plot map specifically denotes it as the “Old Yard.” Exactly when the expansion was made across the road is unknown. Town meeting records of the period indicate only vaguely to the need to acquire more land for the burial of the dead, but it may have occurred as early as the mid-1830's.

In the summer of 1838, a young writer named Nathaniel Hawthorne paid a visit to Hill Side Cemetery. He was having an extended holiday in the area, and was residing for the summer in the North Adams House. Hawthorne and the owner, Orrin Smith, were in the habit of taking long walks together in the evening. On one such walk, they met a funeral procession, and joined the mourners. In his journal, Hawthorne described the burial as having been “....on the steep side of the hill.” Today, weathering has rendered the stone completely illegible, to the degree that it is impossible to determine which one it is.

In 1865, the Town of Adams installed a vault at the cemetery, where coffins could be stored over the winter. In the 1890's, a larger, more modern vault was built on the Brown Street side, with enough shelving to hold more than 50 caskets and enough additional space to serve as a morgue. At that time, North Adams did not have a morgue, and when one was needed, a funeral parlor was required to provide that service. There was a good deal of talk of building a chapel as well, in front of the vault. The main argument for a chapel being built was that it was customary for a family member to sit with the coffin until it was buried and vaults were notoriously damp, drafty, and cold. The chapel, however, was never built.

Even though it was supplanted by South View Cemetery more than a century ago, Hill Side is still the scene of occasional burials today, and it exists as a repository of some of the most breathtaking and beautiful funerary monuments in northern Berkshire County.

Come explore historic Hillside Cemetery and learn the stories of some of the people who are buried there!