Rendezvous Point Burying Ground
Photo: Erin Ware, Kleinfelder, March 2021.
Donated to the town by James Coffin around 1827, the Rendezvous Point Burying Ground is a small historic cemetery located off Ferry Road in Saco, serving as a public burial ground since at least 1721.
It contains both marked and unmarked graves of early European settlers from Saco's permanent establishment in 1713, with an estimated 135 to 260 interments. There may be earlier 17th-century burials, as it is noted as the oldest cemetery in Saco and potentially the oldest surviving colonial cemetery in Maine. On the site of an Indigenous meeting place, the cemetery is significant for its folk-art carvings on gravestones, such as death's heads and protective symbols like demons and other motifs by unidentified local carvers. Notable burials include early settlers like Thomas Lewis and Captain Richard Bonython.
Once surrounded by open fields, it fell into neglect as newer, more accessible cemeteries like Laurel Hill (established in 1844) gained preference, but recent efforts, including surveys in 1992 and 2009, have underscored its value as an important link to Maine's colonial and Indigenous history.
