Old Burying Ground

A short walk from the Littleton Common lies the town's first public cemetery, the Old Burying Ground. This small one-acre cemetery was established in 1721 and remained active until 1909. Approximately 400 burial sites are represented by family monuments, headstones, and footstones. Many of the slate gravestones have detailed and highly skilled carvings. Common motifs include willows, urns, and winged death heads.

Nineteen revolutionary war veterans are buried in the Old Burying Ground. Luther Blanchard, a fifer with the Acton Minuteman and under Captain Isaac Davis' command, was among the many revolutionary soldiers to meet the British at the Old North Bridge on April 19, 1775. Although the Blanchard monument within the Old Burying Ground commemorates both Calvin and Luther Blanchard, some believe that Luther is actually buried in Acton, Massachusetts. Other distinguished residents of Littleton buried in the Old Burying Ground include two ministers; the Reverend Benjamin Shattuck, Littleton's first minister and the Reverend Daniel Rogers, who served as the town's second minister for 52 years.