Medfield dsmc

Medfield State

Contact:
Faye Stylianopoulos (617) 522-5768
or Bob Canal (508)359-7312

There are 1,360 former patients from Medfield State buried in two cemeteries.

Medfield State Hospital has buried former patients in two locations. Initially, the hospital used space in the town cemetery - Vine Lake - where 521 former patients were buried. Later the hosital established its own cemetery on the grounds and an additional 839 former patients have been buried there, with the latest burial occurring in 1988.

The cemetery on the grounds of Medfield State had been very overgrown until recently when a local Boy Scout troop began clearing it. Now some of the markers are visible. The markers are small stones with numbers scratched onto them.

A numbered marker in the cemetery on the grounds of Medfield State

Currently, the restoration committee is negotiating with DMH to get access to the names of people buried in the cemetery on the hospital grounds. Their hope is to purchase and install markers with names and dates of birth and death. The hospital's Chief Operating Officer, though, is concern about the viability of sustaining landscaping in the cemetery and has suggested it may be more practical to erect a wall of remembrance, with people's names on it, rather than having individual markers.

Faye Stylianopoulos says the committee's biggest challenge, at this point, is increasing the number of consumer/survivor members involved on the committee. If you are interested in getting involved, please call Faye or Bob.

This is the one marker still visible at Vine Lake Cemetery where 521 former patients of Medfield State are buried in a paupers field.