Year 2_Day 178

I went on an adventure today to locate the Danvers State Hospital Cemetery behind the grounds of the old Insane Asylum in Danvers Massachusetts

As I walked along the dirt path to the cemetery, this was my view looking back at the State Hospital wich is now a condo/apartment complex..The brick building is one of the original buildings.

Danvers State Hospital Cemetery Restoration: From Numbers To Names

All across the United States there are forgotten cemeteries at state hospitals. Historically, people who died at state hospitals and whose remains were not claimed by family or friends, were buried on the grounds. Most state hospitals buried former patients and marked their resting place with numbered markers. Patient confidentiality and tight budgets often comprised the rationale for burying people in this way. Over time many state hospital cemeteries fell into neglect, and were subsequently forgotten.

In 1997 Pat Deegan stumbled upon two abandoned cemeteries at Danvers State Hospital in Massachusetts. Small, round, numbered markers lay beneath jungle-like overgrowth and the state had lost all record of the names of those buried there. Pat organized a group of ex-patients who called themselves the Danvers State Memorial Committee. Over the next five years this grassroots organization successfully restored the cemeteries and replaced names with numbers.