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Whidden Grave Yard
Photo courtesy of
SeacoastNH.com.
Yes, that is a Taco Bell in the background of the Whidden Cemetery on Route 1 in Portsmouth. This is what happens when urban sprawl meets rural New Hampshire. This family cemetery, once part of a family farm and dating to 1794, has now been swallowed up by commercial growth on the least attractive byway in the region that runs from Portsmouth to Hampton. The Whidden family cemetery now rests at a stop sign between Shaws, Taco Bell and a Friendly’s Restaurant, relegated to little more than a median strip. In 2001 some idiot drove over the cemetery smashing a number of stones that were later restored by the Syphers Monument Company. The tombs of Frances A. Palmer and Annah L. Whidden were replaced by the insurance of the motorist, but with no descendants maintaining the site, funds had to be collected to restore the other 22 stones. This is in our view, so far, the saddest cemetery in the region.
HOURS: Dawn to dusk
ADMISSION: Free to see
ADDRESS: Route 1 Portsmouth, NH 03802
DIRECTIONS: Route 1, near Portsmouth line at intersection of Constitution Ave, at Portsmouth Industrial Park road between Taco Bell and Friendly’s.
LINKS:
Another Whidden Cemetery,
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