Tack Factory Cemetery - Middleboro, MA
Posted by: 
NorStar
N 41° 53.585 W 070° 57.261
19T E 337871 N 4639752
The Tack Factory Cemetery is a small unkept cemetery plot of families that is the only reminder of the factory village that was once there.
Waymark Code: WM4NGX
Location: Massachusetts, United States
Date Posted: 09/11/2008
Views: 15
I came upon this cemetery by accident. I often drive around an area in search of evidence of old industry. As it happens, at the end of this road, which was cut in two by I495, is the factory of Alden Shoe, which is perhaps the only remaining company of over 50 shoe companies in the Brockton area that is still manufacturing shoes in Massachusetts.
After I turned the car around and started to head back, I passed this rather disheveled raised plot of grave markers. I noticed a small wooden sign with blistered and peeling paint. The letters on the sign were hard to read, but the one word I figured out made me stop to look further, "Factory." I got out of the car and made out the other words to read in order, "Tack Factory Cemetery."
According to an online source found on the Middleborough Library web site (
visit link) , which I had found in a blog (
visit link) , there are 26 people buried at this site. One of the family names I had recognized: Leonard, so I had the right cemetery. A partial list of other names buried there include Cole, Elmes, Holmes, and Macomber.
The cemetery is located on Taunton Street, just on the Middleborough side of the border with Lakeville. In fact, you have to approach from Route 18 in Lakeville to get to it (it's about a half mile south of the Ocean Spray Headquarters).
I could not come up with much on the Tack Factory, but there was a village of Middleborough that was known as Tack Factory Village, and there was the Tack Factory Pond. However, I could not find a pond with that name on any modern map that I accessed, so a trip to the Middleborough Library may be needed.