Hillside Cemetery is on the Heal Road about a quarter of a mile above Lower or Centre Lincolnville Burying Ground. It is referred to as the “New” Cemetery in comparison with the “Old” Lower Cemetery. The burials here date from the 1900’s with Robert and Lydia Moody in 1900 and Ursula Kimball in 1901. The exceptions are three youngsters, a Heal toddler (1877) and a Knight infant (1891) and toddler (1894) who have stones here but may actually not be buried here and Winnifred Tolman Knight (1899).

In 1991, Jenness Eugley wrote a valuable history of this cemetery as he gathered information on the boundaries of Lots #11 and #12 which belonged to himself, Millard Eugley and Robert Libby. They were at the far upper end of the cemetery and until the boundary was extended it was not always clear where the old boundary ended . Of the cemetery’s beginnings Jenness writes, “These dates (above) agree well with the story my mother told me. Agnes (Heal) Eugley who was born in 1890 said, ‘The lower cemetery was getting filled up so Uncle Ammie (Amasa Heal who was a stone cutter) started the new or upper cemetery.’”

The cemetery is on land that was part of a tract belonging to Joshua Lamb who, in 1892, sold 5.9 acres to Amasa Heal for $236.00. There is no mention of a burying ground in this deed but when Amasa Heal sold the same piece to Dana Fletcher in 1906, for $100.00 he reserved and excepted from the lot “about one acre in the south-west corner thereof set apart and enclosed by a wire fence as a cemetery.” Although the fencing is now gone, in 1991 some old 3/8” flat spiraled iron fencing was found at a living yellow birch stump at the south east corner and again at the south west corner. Might this be a part of the original fencing?

Hillside was very intentionally laid out with three 12’ avenues running the length of it with regular lots, 20’ feet square, separated by two feet. The plot map shows 76 lots. Sometime after 1976, the cemetery was enlarged at the end of First Avenue to accommodate more burial plots. The cemetery itself is now bounded by the Mahoney subdivision which was established in 1976 by Sturgis Mahoney. Lot #3 surrounds the cemetery. The land to the east of the burying ground was sold by Joshua Lamb to James Meservy in 1890, and he in turn sold it to Frederick Leadbetter in 1947. The land to the west was sold by Lucy and Lindley Knight to Frederick Leadbetter between 1926 and 1929 while a further piece was sold by Avans Knight in 1930. The stone walls marking these boundaries can be seen today.

When Frederick Leadbetter died in 1947 his four children inherited his land. They sold it to their mother, Beulah, and she in turn sold it, in 1948, to her daughter Bernice Mahoney, wife of Vesper Mahoney. Vesper and his children, Sturgis and Harriet, owned the land before it was subdivided. The Mahoney cemetery was set apart as a 48 (now 54) square foot area along the Heal Road and abutting Hillside Cemetery at its southwest corner. The first burial there is one year-old Norman Leadbetter, Jr, who died in 1841, the grandson of Frederick, and son of Norman and Geneva Leadbetter who are also buried there. The Mahoneys and Leadbetters reserved the right to be buried in their cemetery although it has now been incorporated into Hillside for care and upkeep.

These two cemeteries are different from many Lincolnville cemeteries in that those buried here are still remembered for their daily lives in Lincolnville. Virgil Hall, better known as Grandpa Hall, whose store still stands in Lincolnville Center, is buried here. He was born in 1891, and died in 1976. His wife Beatrice died in 1920 at age 24 and he was left to raise his daughters alone. He was the Fire Chief and built Lincolnville’s first fire truck from his old car. The Chief’s flag is placed on his grave every year. There are many fascinating stories here: find a Lincolnville Old Timer to tell them to you!

Written by Corelyn Senn