What Is It: "Public" Tomb in Vine Lake Cemetery

Have you seen the door marked "public" in the Vine Lake Cemetery? Perhaps you've seen it from Main Street, it's almost right on the street. 

Yes? Do you know what it is? We asked the Vine Lake Preservation Trust for the answer -- It's a public receiving tomb.

According to Rob Gregg, President of the Vine Lake Preservation Trust: 

In 1844, the Town of Medfield built a public receiving tomb on this Main Street spot at Vine Lake Cemetery.  It is 10 feet by 10 feet by 8 feet high and was constructed of quarried granite.  The tomb was used for winter storage of caskets of persons waiting to be buried once the soil thawed in the spring.  Prior to the tomb's availability, burials did occur in the winter despite the arduous task of excavating frozen ground.

Gregg said the public receiving tomb is still used occasionally in the winter if a funeral home needs to store a casket when family schedules won't allow for an immediate burial.

He said that, these days, it is no longer necessary to wait for the ground to thaw to bury the deceased.

With pneumatic hammers, frozen ground can be penetrated.  Once beyond the frost, normal digging equipment takes over.

And now you know...