Launched in 2005, WellesleyWeston Magazine is a quarterly publication tailored to Wellesley and Weston residents and edited to enrich the experience of living in two of Massachusetts' most desirable communities.
Issue link: https://wellesleywestonmagazine.epubxp.com/i/78488
in the old graveyards in Wellesley Center or Weston, tombstones give clues to the lives of those who lived, died, and left their mark on both towns. Looking at grave- stones, you can guess at the tragedy that killed three siblings in a week, note stillbirths, and deaths resulting from childbirth. You can sense the sentiments of those who survived. But other cemeteries say more about the society that did the burying than they do about the dead. Three nearby burying grounds, as different from one another as from our town-center churchyards, tell shameful chapters from our past. They speak of the fates of Native Americans, delinquent women, and the mentally ill. And of how we treated them. The closest cemetery, on soil that was once part of Wellesley, is in South Natick; the far- thest one is in Medfield, only ten and a half miles from our two-town boundary. (See directions in sidebar on page 94.) 93 SUSAN SABIN writer / PETER BAKER photographer fall 2012 | WellesleyWeston Magazine