Compiled and edited by: Valdine C. Atwood

I have a fascination with cemeteries. It might sound strange, but they are a wonderful place to wander around, wondering and learning about the extraordinary people that lay in their final rest and of the many the stories that they could tell.

The Court Street Cemetery here in Machias is a great place to explore because of the many, many tales that can be told of the people that are buried there. Let us examine the life of Jacob Longfellow, and the extraordinary feat taken by him and his mother Margaret (Bigelow) Longfellow.