The MetFern Cemetery Website
296 forgotten inmates from two Massachusetts state institutions are buried in the woods of Waltham, Massachusetts. This site, a collaborative project of Gann Academy, tells their stories for the first time. Explore their biographies and the story of the cemetery below.
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What is the MetFern Cemetery?
The MetFern Cemetery is an institutional burial ground in Waltham, Massachusetts, where 296 inmates of the Metropolitan State Hospital and Walter E. Fernald Developmental Center were interred between 1947 and 1979. Their grave markers include only a C or P indicating their presumed religion—Catholic or Protestant—and a number to signify the order in which they died. There are no names. This site tells their stories.
23%
immigrants
296
graves
31%
in more than one institution
Explore the Cemetery
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We have hundreds of stories,
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If you or someone you know has a story about Fernald or the MetFern Cemetery, we would love to hear about it.