Saint Michael’s Cemetery is from 1871.
stop 0 – Introduction
stop 1 – Chapel
stop 2 – Mausoleums
stop 3 – Sisters of Saint Joseph
stop 4 – Bishop Beavan
stop 5 – Military Deaths
stop 6 – Mausoleum and more
Stop 7 – Rev J Alfred Lane
7A – Oldest Burials
and his son James both in 1871
8 – Interesting Stones
9 – Babies Section
Dr Paul Nathan
2025 Holyoke Massachusetts area guided tours and presentations — FREE and OPEN to the public. [Except for the listed private tours and presentations.] Keep checking back since information will change. Presented by Robert Comeau. Sign up at Eventbrite for most of these tours. The Holyoke Preservation Trust is the promoter for most of the events and oftentimes the host too.
2025 tours and presentations:
Green Lawn Cemetery (East Longmeadow) – Saturday November 15 2025 from 1 to 2 PM – park along Callender Avenue and meet at the gate of the older part of the cemetery – cemetery is near 30 Callender Avenue – sign up at EVENTBRITE – funded via the East Longmeadow Local Cultural Council
A House in Holyoke through Time – The Lewis Smith Homestead – a Holyoke presentation – Monday November 17 2025 from 5:30 to 6:30 PM in the Community Room of the Holyoke Public Library – funded via the Holyoke Local Cultural Council – LINK
The Springfield Blanket Company – part of series called A Mill in Holyoke through Time (a Holyoke presentation) – Saturday November 22 2025 from 11 AM to noontime at Holyoke Heritage State Park – funded via the Massachusetts Cultural Council and the Holyoke Tourism Advisory Board – sign up at EVENTBRITE
Catholic Cemeteries of Springfield – Burial Grounds of Springfield throughout its History (a Springfield presentation part 1 of 5) – Monday December 8 2025 from 6 to 7 PM at the East Forest Park Branch Library – funded via the Springfield Local Cultural Council – LINK
EARLIER this year:
Precious Blood Church Fire of 1875 (Holyoke)
Elmwood Cemetery tour (Holyoke)
South Hadley Canal – a presentation, a tour, and a display
Precious Blood Church (Holyoke) and Precious Blood Cemetery
The Six Navigational Canals of the Connecticut River
Sacred Heart Church (Springfield)
Southampton Center Cemetery (Southampton)
Holyoke Canal System Walking Tour (Holyoke)
The Six Power Canals of the Chicopee River
Warner Pine Grove Memorial Cemetery (Belchertown)
The Catholic Churches of Chicopee (Chicopee)
Canals in the Connecticut River Valley
Ashleyville Cemetery (West Springfield)
Saint Anthony of Padua Church (Chicopee)
Brookside Cemetery (Easthampton)
Chicopee Center Canal (Chicopee)
Who Were the Militiamen from Ireland Parish? (Holyoke) – (see Revolutionary War Veterans in Holyoke)
East Street Cemetery (Chicopee)
Burial Grounds of Southampton throughout its History
Cherry Lane Cemetery (Springfield)
East Street Cemetery (Easthampton)
Lake Vale Cemetery (Belchertown)
United Congregational Church of Holyoke
Dufresne Park – A History and Nature Walk into its Woods (Granby)
Main Street Cemetery (Easthampton)
From 1947 to 1961 it is owned by Joseph Pelczarski and his wife Mary. They would convert the two room school house into a two family home. Henry J Baker Jr and his wife Fredericka B were tenants were tenants from 1947 to 1948. He worked at the Union Coal and Wood Company. Joseph Pelczarski was a musician who played saxophone. In 1950 Hart-Lester Allen widow of Joseph Allen was a new tenant. The Allen story is HERE. The book that the Gionfriddo family wrote about here is HERE. Pelczarski in 1955 lists himself as a salesman at the Epstein Furniture Store.
Pelczarski would grow up at 2 Oliver Street. His father would work at the Lyman Mills as a weaver. In the late 1920s they would move to Front Street. In about 1930 Joseph Pelczarski would marry a woman with the name of Lucille Irving. In 1931, they would live at 7 Wolcott Street and he would work as an upholsterer at 737 Dwight Street and as a musician. In 1932, they would live at 105 Walnut Street and he would work as an upholsterer at 108 High Street and as a musician. The couple would disappear from 1933 to 1944. Finally, in 1945 he would show up in Holyoke again newly remarried after a divorce. His new wife Mary C and he live at 1966 Northampton Street for two years.
Cemeteries of Ludlow. Ludlow was settled in 1751 and became a district in 1774 and a town in 1775. Anna Sikes is the only known burial in Ludlow before 1775. Any burials before 1772 must have been brought to the Old Springfield Cemetery.
| name | starts | ends | location |
| Sikes Cemetery | 1772 | 1824 | Munsing Street |
| East Ould Cemetery | 1801 | 1982 | Poole Street |
| Fuller Cemetery | 1786 | 1891 | |
| Ludlow Center Cemetery | 1842 | still | |
| Ludlow Village Cemetery | 1818 | 1902 | GONE |
| Island Pond Cemetery | 1891 | still | |
| Reservoir Cemetery | 2023 | still | 1870 Center Street |
Ludlow Memorial Park is from 1910.
The Stevens Memorial Building is from 1906.
Ludlow High School is from 1910 and was designed by George Alderman of Holyoke.
Hubbard Library is from 1889.
Union Church of Christ is from 1845.
Soldiers Memorial
The Ludlow Bridge is called the Putts Bridge and is from the 1930s.
There was a former hydromechanical canal with a wing dam. Now there is a hydroelectric station with a dam across the river.
Ludlow Manufacturing Company mill number 8
Appleton Street
250 Pleasant Street is the location of the Lovering School.
It is also the location for the Highland Park Community House.
Highland Park is a neighborhood of Holyoke. Jones Point Park is a highlight of the neighborhood.
Summary of the presentation:
Lovering School at 253 Oak Street from 1905 to 1917 (12 schoolyears) and then at 250 / 252 Pleasant Street from 1917 to 1939 (23 schoolyears). Thus there were 35 schoolyears in all. Benefactress is Mary Ranlet Lovering. At first it was called the Private Clary School but from September of 1912 onward it was called the Lovering School.
The Highland Park Community House met at this 250 Pleasant Street location from 1917 to 1923. Samuel Hoyt and his construction firm built the house in 1917. Samuel Hoyt lived from 1873 to 1954. He was the leader of the Highland Park Associates. From 1911 to 1927 he would live in many houses in the neighborhood.
The Olmsted firm made plans for the Jones Point Park from 1908 to 1911. Holyoke worked on the park from 1911 to 1912 but never completed it. It was to be called City Park and was to compete with Mountain Park. A new trolley was run up to it.
The house was abandoned from 1939 to 1947 and was to be razed.
Joseph Pelczarski and his wife Mary Chowdrey bought the house and converted it. Pelczarski was a musician that played the saxophone. He would often play with Big Bands in Springfield. During the 1930s he would be in WPA music projects and in the 1940s he would be in military bands. To supplement his income he also worked at furniture stores including 25 years at Epstein Furniture as a sales person. His wife would die in 1963 and he would sell the house the next year.
In 1949 Hart-Lester Allen would move into the house as a tenant. Her husband Joseph Allen had broken up the Charles Ponzi scheme.
The Gionfriddo family would own the house from 1964 onward. Mark is also a musician and a music teacher. Hart-Lester Allen would remain at the house. Jeannie and Mark Gionfriddo would jointly write a book about her called Good Night, Dear Hart, Good Night.
Sanborn map analysis:
Sanborn 1915 school is not there yet and the three earlier maps do not cover this
Saint Mary’s Roman Catholic Church is on Seventh Street in Montague’s Turners Falls village. It is from a 1888 construction. Its first mass was Dec 17 1891.
German Methodist Episcopal Church was founded in 1874 on Grace Street.
