Dalton in Berkshire County, Massachusetts — The American Northeast (New England)
Fairview Cemetery
Fairview Cemetery has been placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2000 by the United States Department of the Interior
Erected 2019 by William G. Pomeroy Foundation. (Marker Number 288.)
Topics and series. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Architecture • Arts, Letters, Music • Cemeteries & Burial Sites • Immigration. In addition, it is included in the William G. Pomeroy Foundation series list. A significant historical year for this entry is 2000.
Location. 42° 28.63′ N, 73° 10.254′ W. Marker is in Dalton, Massachusetts, in Berkshire County. It is at the intersection of Curtis Avenue and 3rd Street, on the right when traveling south on Curtis Avenue. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 114 Curtis Ave, Dalton MA 01226, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Regionally, this marker is in Massachusetts’ Berkshires. It is also in the American Northeast and in New England. Globally, it is in the North Atlantic Region, North America, the Western Hemisphere, the Western World, and the Anglosphere. Historically, it finds itself in what was once one of the original Thirteen Colonies.
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within 2 miles of this marker, measured as the crow flies: Coach Mike Cooney (within shouting distance of this marker); Lafayette's Tour (approx. 0.3 miles away); Main Street Cemetery (approx. 0.3 miles away); Fitch-Hoose House (approx. 0.3 miles away); Cranesville Historic District (approx. 0.8 miles away); First Congregation Church of Dalton
this page online
Also see . . . National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form for the Cemetery.
This form was prepared by Michele Plourde-Barker, consultant with Betsy Friedberg, NR Director, Massachusetts Historical Commission in April 2000. The statement of historical significance is on page 9:
Dalton's late nineteenth-century Fairview Cemetery marks a transition in attitudes toward death and burial. Retaining some of the landscape characteristics propounded by the rural cemetery movement begun in the 1830s, the cemetery also reflects changing attitudes toward cemetery design, with a gradual movement toward less densely landscaped and more formally structured and more easily maintained burial grounds. As an example of how changing trends in cemetery and monument design were realized in a small rural town during the tum of the century, the Fairview Cemetery fulfills National Register Criterion C in the area of Landscape Architecture and Art. While its monuments tend to be moderate in scale, they are often finely detailed and grander than might be expected for a working-class community. Fairview Cemetery's markers reflect an aesthetic that placed(Submitted on June 27, 2026, by Devry Becker Jones of Washington, District of Columbia.)a high priority on commemorating the deceased in as stylish and grand manner as possible. The cemetery's collection of late nineteenth to mid-twentieth monuments remains remarkably intact and well-maintained, retaining integrity of location, design, setting, materials, workmanship, and association.
In addition to its visual characteristics, the cemetery provides an important record of Dalton's Irish Catholic community. Because there has been little documentary research yet conducted on the Irish immigrants who came to this small industrial town to work in its paper and textile mills, the Fairview Cemetery, with its preponderance of stones carved with Irish surnames and Catholic symbols, provides a dramatic visual reminder of the dramatic shift in population that was occurring in Dalton during the mid- to late nineteenth century. The cemetery's role in documenting the history of Dalton's Irish Catholic community fiilfills National Register Criterion A in the areas of Social History, Religion, and Ethnic Heritage. Because of the cemetery's connection with Dalton's social and ethnic history and because of its role in showing changes in cemetery and monument design in a nineteenth-century rural town, it satisfies National Register Criteria Consideration D.
Additional keywords. landscape architecture
Credits. This page was last revised on June 27, 2026. It was originally submitted on June 27, 2026, by Devry Becker Jones of Washington, District of Columbia. This page has been viewed 3 times since then. Photos: 1, 2. submitted on June 27, 2026, by Devry Becker Jones of Washington, District of Columbia.
