Grave of John "Grizzly" Adams - Charlton, MA
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neoc1
N 42° 07.853 W 071° 58.094
19T E 254671 N 4668573
The grave of folk hero John "Grizzly" Adams is located in Bay Path Cemetery, SR 31, in Charlton, MA.
Waymark Code: WMHPEK
Location: Massachusetts, United States
Date Posted: 07/31/2013
Views: 5
John "Grizzly" Adams was born into a prominent Braintree Massachusetts family, in 1812. As a young man he moved to the mountains of California, became a "Mountain Man", and gained a reputation as a bear trainer. He later went on to work in the circus with P. T. Barnum as an animal trainer. His biography was published in 1861. He became nationally famous folk hero as a result of the 1972 book by Charles E. Sellier's The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams. This was followed by a 1974 movie about his life "The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams," and a TV series from 1977-78, starred Dan Haggerty as Grizzly Adams.
In 1855, Grizzly Adams was attacked by a bear in the Sierra Mountains of California and sustained head and neck injuries. The injury was aggravated while Adams was on tour with the circus in New England in the summer of 1860 when a circus monkey bit the old wound. Complications ensued and Adams was no longer able to continue with the circus he retired to Neponset, MA, where he died five days later, possibly of meningitis.
Grizzly Adams is buried in Bay Path Cemetery in Charlton, MA. His headstone is thought to be commissioned by P. T. Barnum. A relief carving on the headstone depicts Grizzly Adams walking through the woods side-by-side with a large bear.
The granite headstone is inscribed:
JOHN ADAMS
DIED
Oct. 25, 1860
Aged 48 yrs.
A second nearby marker reads:
GRAVE OF
GRIZZLY ADAMS
1976
CHARLTON HISTORICAL COMMISSION