Tour Stop 2: Alden Monument
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.
Alden monument with North School in the background (full-size image of the Alden monument on Flickr)
The monument for Rear Admiral James Alden, Jr., towers over all others. He was a Portland native (born 1810) and direct descendent of the Mayflower’s first passengers John Alden and Priscilla Mullins. He sailed the world during his life-long naval career, explored the South Pacific, and during a 4-year expedition to the south seas, made many discoveries. He circumnavigated the globe on the USS Constitution and served in the Civil War. Though he died in San Francisco in 1877, his body was returned home to Portland for burial. He rests in a family lot that holds his parents, wife, and siblings.
Side Note
Alden’s monument was machine-made in the late 1800s, but the majority of stones that surround it are far more typical of those found in a colonial cemetery. Notice the slate (gray) and marble (white) stones that decorate the vast majority of graves at Eastern Cemetery. These stones were hand-carved by stonecutters and marble workers who were active from the 1700s to the middle of the 1800s—before granite and machines replaced them.
Later Read
Subterranean Celebrity - James Alden (August 2008 eNews)
Continue to Stop 3: Pine Tree, Commemorative Boulder, Mary Green, Samuel Moodey
From the Alden monument, turn away from Congress Street to the back of the cemetery. Carefully walk through the stones to the pine tree that has a large granite box tomb in front of it and a boulder with a plaque next to it. This is the oldest part of the cemetery. You have reached Stop 3.