A PORTFOLIO OF THE Dartmouth Cemetery

Here lies the pantheon of College heroes and rascals: Wheelock the elder; Wheelock the younger, leader of Dartmouth University; not far away his young adversary, Francis Brown, defender of Dartmouth College; Bezaleel Woodward; Mills Olcott; Nathan Lord, sixth President and defender of slavery; faculty, townsmen, students - high and low.

Established in 1771 as a "burying ground for the use of the college and the inhabitants of this vicinity," the Dartmouth Cemetery at first comprised an acre of level land behind the present Massachusetts dormitory row. In the 1820s the site was described by the niece of Mills Olcott: "It was of the genuine New England pilgrim stamp, its monumental tombs and graves abandoned to weeds and nettles and relentless gloom; inclosed by a plain board fence stained with the damp and mould of time; hemmed in and choked up by the high grass, rank shrubs and matted ivy which rambled over it.... The situation was beautiful upon the verge of a deep gorge between two hills lined with a thick growth of young forest trees."

The cemetery was later enlarged by several acres and now, the growth of young forest trees matured to lofty white pines, it has the aura of a carefully tended park - tranquil, permanent, impermanent - haven for some 1,200 souls. The early slate stones, quarried in Lebanon, have been pushed askew by frost and tree roots. The 18th century inscriptions have mostly been obliterated by time and weather.

Today, except in early morning fog or in an autumn drizzle, no special sense of mystery or brooding hangs over the burying ground. With the sun slanting through the pine branches, it serves for a quiet afternoon stroll, a location for study and contemplation and, on occasion, a trysting place.

Toward the end of the 19th century,headstones bearing the sombre "pilgrimstamp" gave way to huge granitemonuments, no less subject to shiftingcontours of the earth.

At left, a gray squirrel - one of scoresinhabiting the cemetery - interruptsits noonday meal. Opposite, a studentshort-cuts his way back from class.

In sun-filtered glades, markers honorveterans of distinctly Yankeeregiments and, from far away,the 1st Nevada Cavalry.

At right, a foot path winds downthrough the pines to a secluded bowl.This area was added to the old buryingground in the mid-1800s.

An angel of death peers over the graveof Mrs. Tilden, who died in 1776.The stonecutter had spelling problemsin the first line of her epitaph.

Opposite, a long uneven file of earlygraves occupies the center section ofthe old cemetery. Those in theforeground are from the 1700s.

At right, leaves and rain coverthe precariously raised stone of MajorGeneral James Poole.