Tour Stop 11: Preble Monument, Field of Tombs
Watch your step as you walk through the stones. Sunken spots, iron posts, small markers are all tripping hazards! Also, please never step backwards unless you double-check what you're stepping on first.
Preble monument (full-size image of the Preble monument on Flickr)
Commodore Edward Preble (1761–1807) was commander of “Old Ironsides," or the USS Constitution. His storied naval career led to a Congressional Medal and an invitation in 1806 to join the cabinet of President Thomas Jefferson. He declined the position due to ailing health and died the next year of consumption at the age of 46.
Preble's tomb is one of 86 located in the 4-row field of tombs. Dug parallel to Funeral Lane, these underground rooms, each with a private entrance, were constructed for Portland’s well-to-do between 1795 to about 1825. Each tomb could hold up to 30 coffins and was decorated however its owners preferred. While many are topped with various monuments such as box tombs (15), ledgers (15), and obelisks (7), 15 are no longer marked at all. Step to the second row in from the Lane and you’ll see the coping stones or curb stones (21) for some tombs. The narrower curbed section denotes the boundary for the private stairway down into the tomb while the larger attached curbed section is the boundary of the tomb itself.
Later Reads
- The Tombs: A 2017 Update to the 1978 “Record of Interments” with New Historical Notes (paper by Ron Romano)
- Underground Tombs of Section A in Eastern Cemetery
Continue to Stop 12: Alonzo Stinson Monument, Strangers Ground
Turn to the front corner of the cemetery where Congress and Mountfort Streets meet. Walk to the large monument. You have reached Stop 12 (the last), Alonzo Stinson Monument.