Thank You, Supporters!

2019 was a stellar year for Spirits Alive and the Eastern Cemetery

Thanks to you and our incredible group of cemetery volunteers, we wrapped up a record-breaking season. We accompanied more guests than ever—expanding our tours to a daily schedule.
We also were able to conserve many stones that require more than just a simple cleaning and reset, and sometimes even show that work to student groups in the cemetery.
We put on another string of evening walks with entertainment by some of our favorite local actors during Walk Among the Shadows.
And, we were able to strengthen our ties with our community and the city with lectures, meetings, and meetups behind the scenes, both in person and with new media partnerships.
We look forward to 2020 with the hope that we will see you inside the gates to support our mission:

Spirits Alive is a non-profit organization dedicated to the protection and preservation of Portland’s historic Eastern Cemetery through a range of activities including promotion and education.

To volunteer with us, please drop us a line. We have opportunities available on our volunteer page, but we are always eager to hear your ideas of how you would want to help.

Upcoming Lecture Series
Mark your calendar for our annual 3-event series.

• Saturday, January 25, 2020
  Alicia Harding, Professor of History - Harriet Beecher Stowe in Maine
• Saturday, February 29, 2020
  Warren Riess, Associate Research Professor Emeritus, University of Maine - Maine's Historic Lighthouses
• Saturday, March 28, 2020
  Bruce Bourque, Chief Archaeologist and Curator of Ethnography at the Maine State Museum - Merrymeeting Bay Archaeological Project Technologies

Veterans Now Listed Online!

We have added veterans in Eastern Cemetery to our website. There is a table that holds the name, war, and their inscription or burial record information. Some include a link to a photo on our Flickr site (finalizing this is ongoing). This information supplements our page on Eastern Cemetery military markers.

Currently there are over 200 veterans in Eastern Cemetery. Most of these graves are marked with government-issued stones in marble or granite. The others are marked with personal head stones or large monuments. Some veterans (around 10) are buried in locations that are no longer known.

In addition to these markers, there are monuments dedicated to those who have served in the U.S. military as well as a monument to the first young man who died in the Civil War, Alonso Stinson. We even have 2 men interred who served in the British Navy.

If you find that we have missed a veteran in our listing, please send an email to us with name, military credentials, and a source. We'd be thrilled to add to the list.

Subterranean Celebrity: Francis Ilsley Carr 

Died February 11, 1833

Francis Ilsley must have felt a bit odd carving this slate marker in 1833 for the child of John and Almira Carr. Ilsley was one of the 2 men who had taken over the Federal Street stonecutting shop of Bartlett Adams when Adams died in 1828. The stonecutter was also an accomplished musician who performed often and operated a music school in town. John Carr Jr. and Almira Bradbury were married in 1829 and Francis Ilsley Carr was their first child, born the same year they were married and no doubt named for the local stonecutter and musician. The child, Francis Ilsley Carr, lived only 3 years and died of unknown causes on February 11, 1833. The elder Francis Ilsley was 29 that year, and he lived another 40. The slate marker he carved for the first-born child of John and Almira Carr is embellished with an urn and willow, and it can still be found today in Eastern Cemetery’s Section B, row 2, plot 27.

Francis Ilsley,
son of
John & Almira Carr,
died died Feb. 11, 1833
aged 3 yrs. 6 mos.
The angels do always behold
the face of my dear which is
in heaven.

Many thanks to Ron Romano for this write-up on Francis. You can suggest a subterranean celebrity! Just send an email—it doesn't take much to make a nice little story. An index of all of our Subterranean Celebrities is available.

Eastern Cemetery Book!

Ron Romano has published a follow-up to his first book, Early Gravestones in Southern Maine — The Genius of Bartlett Adams and it focuses on the Eastern Cemetery itself: Portland's Historic Eastern Cemetery—A Field of Ancient Graves. This book:

• Describes the history of the cemetery's evolution
• Includes information on special cemetery sections: African American, Quaker, Catholic, and "Strangers"
• Discusses the history of Portland, Maine, in relation to this historic landscape
• Provides vignettes of the men and women memorialized in this special place

A must-read for any cemetery aficionado, the book is filled with photographs and sketches to illustrate the text. Our website has more about how to purchase this publication.

Ask Amazon to Donate to Spirits Alive

This is an easy way to give! If you're an Amazon shopper, here's an easy way to support our favorite and the oldest historic Portland, Maine, cemetery:

• Go to smile.amazon.com
• Enter "Spirits Alive" in the box
• Choose the non-profit in Portland, Maine from the list

Voila! A portion of all of your purchases through smile.amazon.com will go to our efforts to support, conserve and promote this historic outdoor museum. Thank you!

Help the Eastern Cemetery

Support the work of Spirits Alive with your giving

You can help Spirits Alive keep the Eastern Cemetery alive for generations to come. Through your support, you can help us, an ALL-VOLUNTEER organization, to continue to:

• Keep the gates open – encouraging the community to explore its open and safe green space
• Offer education about the cemetery and its residents to the public – through tours, lectures, and events
• Encourage and support the city in keeping the site clean and safe for visitors of all ages
• Preserve this incredible outdoor museum and sacred historic landscape