Welcome back to Eastern Cemetery!

Gates will be open daily from Memorial Day to Labor Day

Tours of Eastern Cemetery begin on Saturday, May 28 daily at 4pm. Reserve your tour tickets (link opens in Eventbrite) ahead!

Enter the gates to history, art, and sacred space, by Janet Alexander

Eastern Cemetery Tidying & Gardening

Saturday, May 14
9am to 12pm

If you’re interested in beautifying our much-loved old burial ground, now is your chance! We’ll be working to remove refuse, prune, and trim on Saturday. We'll have tools, bags and gloves, but you can bring you own if you prefer. Everyone is welcome. We’ll meet at the Dead House and disperse throughout the grounds, sprucing up as we go.

Lewis Shepherd, Revolutionary War Veteran, by Janet Alexander

Help Us Flag Veteran Markers and Plots

Wednesday, May 18
11am to 12pm

If you can take an early lunch, join us at the Eastern Cemetery to place flags on veteran stones and plots in preparation for Memorial Day. We will provide flags, maps, and checklists. We know that there are at least 224 veterans memorialized here who served in conflicts such as the War of 1812, Revolutionary War, and Civil War. Many of their plots are decorated with marble and granite military markers. Get your steps in and join us on this fun and special task in a beautiful old landscape!

Volunteers help conservator work on tomb repair, by Janet Alexander

Stone Conservation 2022 Begins

Saturdays, June 4, 11 & 25
Mornings, hours TBD

Are you interested in getting a little cemetery dirt under your nails? Our conservation crew is getting together starting in June to clean, reset, and repair stones in need. We appreciate our returning experts, but are happy to train newbies!

If you prefer to keep your nails clean, we have an Orphan Stone Project where volunteers will catalog and document stone pieces found throughout the landscape.

If you’re interested, email mzmicki@gmail.com for times and details and to be added onto the conservation email list.

Always Online!

Even though the gates are closed, information about Eastern Cemetery is free and available online. Some ideas to learn about and enjoy our favorite historic Portland, Maine landscape:

The Spirits Alive website includes years of archives and information.

• Use our sitemap to learn more about a specific topic

• Some of the more-visited pages include:

  • Captains of the Boxer and the Enterprise

  • Cemetery Papers - a series of cemetery topics from author, Ron Romano

  • Military Markers in Eastern Cemetery

  • Underground Tombs of Section A

Our Flickr image database holds more than 14,000 images related to Eastern Cemetery as well as tours through other cemeteries.

• Peruse Spirits Alive Albums for a tailored journey, such as:

  • Finds of Eastern Cemetery

  • Urn and Willows of Eastern Cemetery

  • Prairie Lea Cemetery, Brenham, Texas

• Use hundreds of tags to pinpoint specific types of images such as:

  • Fence

  • Flag

  • Veteran

Take a tour any time from any place: Virtual Eastern Cemetery in 12 Stops

Watch the video from this year’s Walk Among the Shadows: “The Secret History of the Eastern Cemetery: Movers & Shakers in the Old Burial Ground”

Support Eastern Cemetery

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

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