Natick Indian Burial Ground
Each town has something special to share and a story that it holds close. Today, I want to share one of Natick’s most sacred and historic sites: The Natick Praying Indian Burial Ground.
Set quietly in the center of town, this grassy enclosure carries a story that predates the town itself. It is one of the last tangible remnants of Natick’s original Praying Indian community, founded in the 1650s under the guidance of Reverend John Eliot, the Puritan missionary who envisioned self-governing Christian Indian towns across Massachusetts. Natick became the first and most prominent of these Praying Indians Communities.
At the center of this burial ground stands a large boulder with the inscription that this plot is all that remains of the one hundred acres that was originally set aside on May 11, 1719 for their tribe.
The two granite stones are engraved with the words: We Will Remember” and the names of Native men who served in the American Revolution. These warriors fought not only for a country still finding its identity but for the promise of liberty is worth defending.
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Natick: The First Praying Indian Town
In 1651, missionary Rev. John Eliot established Natick as the first of the “Praying Indian” towns in Massachusetts. He named the town after the Natick American word Natick, translated as a place of hills or a place of searching. He worked closely with local Massachusett and Nipmic people, teaching them Christianity in their native tongue and translating the Bible […]
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