King’s Chapel Burying Ground

King’s Chapel Burying Ground is Boston’s oldest cemetery, located in downtown Boston beside King’s Chapel. Established in 1630, the year Boston was founded, it is the final resting place of John Winthrop, the first governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony and the figure most responsible for founding the city. Today the small, shady grounds offer a quiet respite from the bustle of the surrounding downtown streets.

Its neighbor, King’s Chapel, was the first Anglican church in New England and has a dramatic history of its own, though the burying ground predates the congregation by more than five decades. Across the street sits the Granary Burying Ground, another historic cemetery that offers a similarly quiet, shaded break from the busy downtown blocks. Together the two burial grounds hold some of the oldest graves in Boston.

What to Know

• Mary Chilton, traditionally said to be the first woman to step ashore from the Mayflower, is buried here.
• The burying ground is a stop on Boston’s Freedom Trail.
• The Downtown Boston Alliance lists it among the area’s destinations.