Medway & Millis October 2018

October 2018 Medway & Millis Local Town Pages www.localtownpages.com Page 17
If These Stones Could Talk
Prospect Hill Cemetery Tour Brings
Past Alive in Millis
By J.D. O’Gara
Stephen Main has worked for the town of Millis since
1984, caring for Prospect Hill Cemetery, which hails back
to the 1700s, when Millis was known as East Medway.
“I come up here every day and there’s always something
to do,” says Main, who fondly remembers the man
who taught him his job – John Joyce -- and what he knew
about the people laid to rest at Prospect Hill.
This month, in the spirit of All Hallow’s Eve, Main
invites strollers along for an oral history of what he’s
learned during his years caring for the location.
Steve Main will lead a Cemetery Stroll at Prospect Hill
Cemetery in Millis on October 13th. For details, contact the
Millis Recreation Department either at the town website,
www.millis.org or at (508) 376-7053.
The entrance to the cemetery climbs a hill, known as
Emerson Hill, says Main. Emerson, the founder of Emerson
College, is buried in the cemetery, and Emerson Farm
sat in majesty at the bottom of the hill.
“I have an old drawing and couple pictures of Emerson
Hill,” says Main. “It was a huge, beautiful farm.”
The drawing of the immense farmhouse, in fact shows
a large area with no trees around, quite different from
today. “They used all of the wood,” says Main.
Emerson’s memorial once sported brass candles,
which were retrieved and placed for safe keeping at Emerson
College by Emerson’s descendants. “I’ve been told
at night, the moon would reflect off these candles and
they’d glow, and Emerson’s widow could look up and see
them.”
The candles are now in the archives at Emerson College,
and Emerson’s descendants had written a letter in
March, 1988, inviting John Joyce to come to see them
there. Sadly, Joyce had passed away the month before,
says Main.
Main explains a plaque in the wall at the top of the
hill, near the shed. Arthur Ware’s family place the plaque
in the wall, next to two rosebushes, which, unfortunately,
did not survive. At one time, Joyce and Main planted
bushes there in an effort to honor the spirit of the plaque;
the rosebushes lived for awhile, but, as Main puts it, they
need care to survive, and it’s all he can do to carefully
keep up with mowing and weedwhacking, so right now,
the area remains rose-free.
The oldest headstone in the cemetery dates back to
about 1724, says Main, and he can show you where it is.
Main can also tell you about the stone for former Massachusetts
Governor Christian Herter, as well as an archway
Where are the roses? Ask Steve Main, on the Cemetery
Stroll at Prospect Hill Cemetery in Millis.
that local lore says was made with a piece of the Blarney
stone, a piece that is always cold to the touch.
Prospect Hill’s caretaker also points to a large rock
dated 1714, where East Medway’s first church was located.
“That’s how they used to bury people, too, where the
churches were located,” says Main. In fact, he says, Prospect
Hill was the site of three churches over the course
of time, with the final church, Church of Christ, having
been moved to its current site to make way for the railroad.
If you’d like to take a trip back into time and explore
this historic site and Millis history, join the Cemetery
Stroll on October 13th, at noon (park over at Richardson’s
Pond on Curve Street). This program will display
some of the local influences that helped form Millis that
are buried here in this cemetery. Registration is required
through the Millis Recreation Department
at http://www.millis.org/Pages/MillisMA_Recreation/index,
or (508) 376-7053, and the cost is $10 per
adult and $5 for seniors.
THE BLACK BOX
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