In 1938, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) completed several projects in Salem, Massachusetts, including a map of veterans’ graves at Broad Street Cemetery. Laid out in 1655, the burial ground contains just over one hundred military graves from the Revolution, the War of 1812, the Civil War, and the Spanish-American War.
Curiously, the map mislabels the Pickman box tomb (B-8) as Col. Timothy Pickering’s burial site. His box tomb, however, is located on the hill (C-10) overlooking the 17th-century Pickering House. My theory is that “Pick” was legible on the Pickman lid but not much else, leading to the misidentification. If so, that tells me the early 20th-century-style slate lid on the Pickman box tomb was placed after 1938.
The Pickman lid at Broad Street has a twin at the Charter Street Cemetery/Old Burying Point. It's the same early 20th-century-style slate, with a family crest in the top left corner, for the Barton-Toppan-Pickman box tomb.
Below, I've provided the text from each tomb lid, then generational family groupings with names in bold for people who are buried in the tomb. Photos of the lids are at the end.
