Maxcy Pond & Founders Burial Ground

The Founders Burial Ground is a small plot of land located off Cliff Road and overlooking Maxcey's Pond and contains two markers. It is unknown if more stones have been buried through time.

The main memorial, with the names of some of the island's first male European settlers, is situated on the plot. The text of this memorial reads:

ERECTED A.D. 1881. BY
A DESCENDANT OF THE FIRST
SETTLERS OF NANTUCKET
IN MEMORY OF THOSE WHOSE REMAINS
ARE BURIED ON THIS HALLOWED SPOT
WHERE STOOD THE FIRST CHURCH
GATHERED HERE IN 1711,
SINCE REMOVED TO WHERE IT
NOW STANDS AS THE VESTRY OF THE
FIRST CONGREGATIONAL SOCIETY.

Reportedly, the first legal records mention of the "forefather's burial ground" date from 1838:

"I mention that the ancient burial ground of our forefathers, the first settlers of this Island, at the eastward of Macy's Pond (So called) which is about three hundred feet square, be reserved as a sacred spot and that the same shall not be laid out by the Proprietors of the common and undivided land on the Island of Nantucket to any individual, company or individuals hereafter and that the same shall not be appropriated for any other purpose and any set of men that have mind to enclose the same with a fence be permitted so to do."


In September 2004, the Founders Burial Ground was partially cleared. Thanks to Jim Powers (behind the wheel), Frank Powers (who lent the equipment), and Georgen Charnes (of the Nantucket Historical Association). In 2007, Allen Reinhard, working with the Anglers' Club and the Nantucket Land Bank began working out access issues. A small parking area and access road installed by the Anglers Club to provide access to the pond is being allowed for use of the public to access the burial ground; a path has been cut through the brush to provide access to the two monuments.

At the April 23, 2008 meeting of the Nantucket Board of Selectmen, it was decided to officially name this site the"Founder's Burial Ground."