Tour Stop 6: Stephen and Tabitha Longfellow
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.
Stephen and Tabitha Longfellow markers
(full-size image of the Longfellow markers on Flickr)
Stephen (died 1790) and Tabitha (died 1777) Longfellow, great-grandparents of world-famous poet and Portland native, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–1882) are buried here. Their slate markers, hand-carved in Boston, are decorated with winged faces—gentler imagery than the winged skulls we’ve just seen. Also called “soul effigies,” the face has wings that assist the soul on its journey to heaven. Note the other interesting designs on the stones for other family members to either side of Stephen and Tabitha.
Side Notes
- Nearly all of the markers around you are oriented in the same direction. As you look to the east (Mountfort Street), you can see the inscriptions on the front side of these markers. If you turn around to the west (North School), you’ll be looking at the back of the markers. This is because people were buried in an east-west direction, with their heads to the west and feet to the east, so that their souls could rise (resurrect) to greet the dawn. Also note that most graves are decorated with a pair of markers—the inscribed and decorated headstones are often paired with a much smaller footstone that often only include initials and dates. These indicate the borders of the plot. The inscribed sides face away from the middle to allow visitors to read who was buried there without stepping on the grave itself.
- Funeral Lane has taken a 90-degree turn at the flagpole and acts as the border between the old (right—individual slate and marble markers) and the new (left—large monuments in even rows) sections.
Later Read
Subterranean Celebrity – Stephen Longfellow (April 2010 eNews)
Continue to Stop 7: Tombs of Captain Burrows, Captain Blyth, Lt. Waters (War of 1812)
From the Longfellow markers, turn left, and walk back up to Funeral Lane. When you get to the lane, turn right, and walk toward the iron gates on Mountfort Street until you see 3 brick box tombs on your right. You have reached Stop 7, the captains' tombs.