NOTABLE STONES

Pulitzer-prize winning author John Cheever is buried near the western border of the cemetery near Cheever Tavern (shown in the background of this photo). Cheever preferred his grave to look traditional (despite being buried in 1982), and is laid to rest with his parents.

The Delanos were a family of shipbuilders who worked mostly at the Wanton Shipyard on the North River. This large mausoleum was built to memorialize many in the family, including Sarah Hart Delano who was portrayed at the 2023 First Parish Comes Alive! Cemetery Tour.  Sarah Hart Delano was portrayed recently at the First Parish Comes Alive! Cemetery Tour. The re-enactment video is available online.

A minister at First Parish of South Scituate, Rev. Fish occupied the pulpit for twenty years. It was thanks to his efforts that Miss Abigail Otis and Nathan Cushing donated the current church parsonage on Main Street. Also, Rev. Fish persuaded Josiah James of Chicago, a former resident of South Scituate, to donate funds for the James Library.   

Many members of the Fogg family are buried in this plot on the west side of the main road in the cemetery. Many in the family were bankers, and in 1907 Horace Fogg co-founded the Rockland Trust Bank which today has 120 branches. Horace also donated the Fogg Forest to the Town of Norwell. Horace Fogg was portrayed recently at the First Parish Comes Alive! Cemetery Tour. The re-enactment video is available online.

At his funeral, Rev. Fish noted the following about Charles Granderson: "...a remarkable man... industrious, honest, upright in his relations--a man universally respected." As one of the few Black residents in Norwell in the mid-1800s, Charles and his family lived on Mount Blue Street. A video on the history of the Granderson/Grandison family is available online.

A shipbuilder at the Block House Shipyard in today's Norwell, William James built the Malabar--which was 355 tons with two decks, three masts, and was 102 feet long and 28 feet wide! Read more about shipbuilding in Norwell and the houses associated with the shipyards in this Norwell Historical Society driving tour brochure. William James' stone was just cleaned and repaired this past year, thanks in part to funding by the Community Preservation Act.

Joseph Foster Merritt, author of The History of South Scituate-Norwell (available for purchase), and Helen Foster Merritt, after whom the last large ship built at a North River shipyard (the Helen M. Foster) was named, are buried here along with other members of the Merritt family.

Together with her husband, Albert, Eleanor Norris donated what is today called “Norris Reservation” (owned by The Trustees and open to the public). Her gravestone is an old mill wheel repurposed from the Norris Reservation acreage.

Dr. Isaac Otis was Scituate's (today's Norwell) first physician. He began his career as a doctor at age 20 and continued caring for the sick until his death, just one year after America declared its independence. His gravestone features a saddlebag, which figured prominently in his practice as he attended his patients on horseback. Dr. Otis was portrayed recently at the First Parish Comes Alive! Cemetery Tour. The re-enactment video is available online.

Norwell historian extraordinaire Mary Nash Power is buried with her husband and her parents in the Nash family plot on the west side of the cemetery. Mrs. Power was portrayed recently at the First Parish Comes Alive! Cemetery Tour. The re-enactment video is available online.