BAPTIST GRAVEYARD
(Salisbury Heights)
LOCATION
On Route 4 north to the Salisbury Heights community, the town common area. On the left of the Old Baptist Church. Good Condition and access.
The Town of Salisbury, NH, is responsible for the care and maintenance of the graveyard.
“The Center Road, or Baptist cemetery, was laid out at the time of the building of the church, in 1791. Previous to that time, the people in this neighborhood buried their dead in the field east of F.W. Fifield’s house. The land was given by Able Elkins. The oldest stone is that of Rhoda, wife of Reuben True, and daughter of Gov. Josiah Bartlett, 1794- Here are buried the Sawyers, Fifields, Pettengills, Websters, and Adamses.” John Dearborn, The History of Salisbury, 1890. Dearborn’s book
Note: The house referenced as the F.W. Fifield House may be the Hattan House across the road and down several houses from the Church. Since 1775 and the first owner, Joseph Fifield, several generations and families of Fifields have owned the house, and several were named Frederick; however, none were named Frederick W. Fifield according to Paul Shaw’s Historical Houses: Salisbury Houses.
Another consideration is that between 1775 and 1790, the Fifield brothers built 4 homes.
More research is needed on the location of the original burial ground in the fields mentioned by Dearborn.
This list is a compilation of data from the study of tombstones by Priscilla Hammond in 1933.