enlarge Ellen Gibson photo

A tabletop grave occupies a quiet spot at historic Riverside Cemetery in Portland.

enlarge Photo courtesy Mount Hope Cemetery

Hannibal Hamlin’s grave is among the more well known at Mount Hope Cemetery in Bangor. It is the second-oldest rural cemetery in the United States.

There is a family cemetery along the road where I live, a lovely niche in a hillside surrounded by hemlocks, beeches and oaks. A wall of notched granite stones with an iron gate faces the road.

The names here tell the history of this neighborhood: William Stearns, who came here in 1792, his wife, Mary, and their nine children. Dudley is a common name in this cemetery, too. Jim Dudley had a large farm in the neighborhood; old-timers here remember his impressive group of farm buildings, since burned.

Hundreds of family cemeteries dot the waysides and secondary roadsides of Maine, and they offer a fascinating look at local history and culture. The graves won't tell the personal stories of the individuals buried here, but collectively, these cemeteries provide a timeline from which we can piece the story of the early settlers, many of whom came after the Revolutionary War, whose sons farmed, whose daughters married, whose grandsons fought in the Civil War, whose children often died way too young.

There are family burial plots with a handful of simple stones, town cemeteries under sweeping maples with lilacs scenting the air, "rural" cemeteries designed as places of restive beauty. There are cemeteries that commemorate a particular family or conflict or immigrant group. West Paris has a Finnish cemetery. South Portland has a Jewish cemetery. Some are formal and large, others are personal and poignant.

As the populations of cities grew from early settlement days, the custom of burying the dead in grounds connected to churchyards became less and less workable. People began to recognize the need for burial grounds on the outskirts of urban areas. Usually they were enclosed and planted with trees to create a special, restive atmosphere.

EASTERN CEMETERY, PORTLAND

The oldest public cemetery in Portland, Eastern Cemetery provides a timeline of 350 years of Portland's history. The site, overlooking Casco Bay, dates from 1668. It is believed that George Cleeve, Portland's first settler, is buried here. There are 92 large underground brick-lined family tombs, some branching into small rooms. They lie under tabletop graves, raised above the ground.

According to Christina White, executive director of the Freeport Historical Society and a founding member of Spirits Alive, an advocacy group for the cemetery, "Lots of soldiers are buried in the cemetery from every single conflict (before 1906, when the cemetery was closed). Last year (Spirits Alive) did a tour with a focus on ghosts of the Revolution. We imagined them standing up and telling their stories."

Two captains who fought against each other in a decisive naval battle in Portland Harbor during the War of 1812 are buried side by side in tabletop graves. The captain of the U.S. Brig Enterprise, William Burroughs, 28, and the captain of the Britannic Majesty's Brig Boxer, Samuel Blyth, 29, were mortally wounded on Sept. 5, 1813, "after a severe contest of 45 minutes."

One hopes that they have rested peacefully ever since, although it would be interesting to imagine their ghosts talking to each other.

Although it is a remarkably intact historic landscape, Eastern Cemetery is undergoing landscape restoration. Portland landscape architect Barry Hosmer has completed a master plan, and with the help of city arborist Jeff Tarling, work is proceeding, albeit slowly.

Their work is complemented by that of Spirits Alive. This group also has planted many trees, sponsors regular work days and trains volunteers to trim and clean carefully around the historic stones. Members make sure Portland's historic cemeteries remain on the city's agenda. Check their Web site, www.spiritsalive.org, for more information.

"People's memories fade after a couple of generations," White says. "Americans are a forward-moving society, impatient with the past, overcoming...