New Bedford Cemetery Gravestones Smashed and Burned in Latest Vandalism

The lack of respect in New Bedford is astonishing.

Walking through the historic Oak Grove Cemetery should feel like stepping back into the city’s rich past, but lately it feels more like walking through a warzone. Once again, gravestones have been reduced to rubble.

This time, vandals didn’t just topple stones. They smashed them to pieces and even used the fragments to build a makeshift fire pit right in the middle of a walkway. The scorched remains, ash, and broken headstones are equally as infuriating as they are heartbreaking.

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A Growing Problem

In just the five years I’ve lived in New Bedford’s West End, I’ve noticed more and more damage done to these sacred grounds. What were once dignified memorials to families who came before us are now crumbled ruins, scattered across the grass like trash.

READ MORE: Path at Historic New Bedford Cemetery Seems to Defy Nature

The count of broken, vandalized and toppled gravestones keeps climbing, and with every act of destruction, the city loses another piece of its story.

Disrespect to History and Families

What’s most appalling is the utter disrespect on display. These aren’t just stones; they are markers of lives lived, of families who built this community. They deserve care, not desecration. To see them smashed, burned and treated as kindling is nothing short of disgraceful.

Oak Grove Cemetery is not just a patch of land. It is a chapter of New Bedford’s history.

Time for Accountability

Enough is enough. I truly hope and wish the city need comes up with a solution to protect these sites before more gravestones are lost to senseless acts of vandalism.

Oak Grove Cemetery, along with every other cemetery in the city, tells the story of New Bedford. It’s time we started treating it that way.