Bell Rock Cemetery (Sandy Bank) Marker

In 1640, the Puritans settled in Malden on land obtained in 1629 from the Pennacook people. Located north of the Mystic River, the area was originally part of Charlestown and known as "Mistick Side.” Nine years later, the 3.3-acre Common Burying Ground at Sandy Bank (officially known as Bell Rock Cemetery) was established.

In 1940, the City of Malden celebrated its Tercentenary and the Trustees of Cemeteries erected a simple memorial at Bell Rock Cemetery. It reads:

1640 BELL ROCK CEMETERY 1940
SANDY BANK
OLD BURYING GROUND
MALDEN
FORMERLY MYSTIC SIDE

CONTAINS THE GRAVES OF EARLY
SETTLERS OF MALDEN AND
THIRTY-NINE SOLDIERS OF THE
AMERICAN REVOLUTION

ERECTED BY THE TRUSTEES OF
CEMETERIES TO COMMEMORATE
THE 300TH ANNIVERSARY OF
MALDEN’S FOUNDING

The inscription notes thirty-nine soldiers of the American Revolution are buried within the cemetery however, the memorial plaque on the opposite side of the entrance erected a decade earlier lists the names and death dates for forty men.