City of Boston Parks and Recreation Department Boston, MA

Copps Hill Cemetery Historic Fence Restoration

Located on the Boston Freedom Trail, Copp’s Hill Burial Ground is visited by thousands of tourists annually and has burials dating back to 1659. The cast iron fencing around the site, originally installed in the 1850s had fallen into disrepair such that design and specification of restoration plan was warranted.

Under contract with the Boston Historic Cemeteries Section of Boston Parks and Recreation Department, BSC documented the existing conditions of the site through a photometric process and created specifications for the restoration of the cast iron fence and the masonry wall upon which it stands. The project also included the removal/resetting of the historic tombstones near the fence, preservation of the historic exterior red brick tomb walls, and restoration of other various wrought iron fencing surrounding graves in the cemetery.

The project was approved by the Boston and Massachusetts Historic Commissions.