Subterranean Celebrity: James Alden

The Eastern Cemetery in Portland, Maine holds the memories of around 7,000 persons. Some of them are known; some are not. As we uncover stories of their lives, we share them through our e-newsletter. Sometimes the tidbits are not of life, but only of the artifact that remains. These are our subterranean celebrities.

James Alden monument in Eastern Cemetery

More images of the Alden monument are available on the Spirits Alive Flickr site.

If you’ve every noticed the tall, pink granite monument in the southeast section of the cemetery, you’ve found the gravesite of Portland-born James Alden, Jr. (1810–1877). Alden served in the U.S. Navy for 33 years. A descendant of Mayflower folks, he accompanied the Wilkes exploring expedition around the world in 1838–1842. During his career, he served in the Mexican war, the Indian war on Puget Sound, and the Civil War. In the 1850s, he was attached to the U.S. Coastal Survey and helped map the east coast. He passed away in San Francisco 6 years after retiring as a rear admiral and was laid to rest here in the Eastern Cemetery.

The monument is an exquisite example of how granite memorials stand the test of time. The carvings and polish of the stone are crisp and clear—the stone looks newly created—even 132 years after they were created. The only indication of age seems to be in the copper plaques that adorn each of the four sides of the obelisk.

(West side)
REAR ADMIRAL
JAMES ALDEN
BORN IN PORTLAND
MARCH 31 1810
DIED IN SAN FRANCISCO
FEB 6, 1877

(North side)
INTREPID EXPLORER
SKILLFUL HYDROGRAPHER
CARTOGRAPHER OF
WEST COAST OF
UNITED STATES

(East side)
ENTERED THE NAVY
APRIL 1, 1828
COMMISSIONED
REAR ADMIRAL
JUNE 19, 1871

(South side)
MEXICAN WAR
NEW ORLEANS
VICKSBURG
PORT HUDSON
MOBILE BAY
FORT FISHER

This information was first published in the August 2009 issue of Spirits Alive eNews. It will be updated here as more information is available, but my contain information that is not quite right or needs to be corrected. Text may have been edited to make sense for this page as opposed to the eNews issue it had been a part of.

Further Reading

Last update: September 2026