Spirits Alive at the Eastern Cemetery

06/05/2026

06/04/2026

Notice the British flag. Why is it here? Come for a tour and find out. Daily at 4:00.

06/04/2026

Tours daily at 4:00.

06/02/2026

Bricks thudded against the door of Portlandʼs City Hall. Fifty to 75 young men, most under 20, stood, shouted, and occasionally hurled bricks at the door on the Middle Street side of the building in the early evening of June 2, 1855. Another five- or six-hundred stood about the area, drawn by the ruckus or called out by the earlier fire alarm.” All would be disappointed. Some would be injured. One would be killed.
The Maine Law allowed for the sale of alcohol for “medicinal and mechanical” uses. Dow, as Mayor, authorized the city to purchase and store $1600 worth of “medicinal and mechanical” alcohol. City aldermen accused him of overstepping his authority, as they had not authorized the expenditure.
On June 2, 1855 a man named Royal Williams with two others, appeared at the police court and swore that Dow had liquor in his possession for the purpose of "selling them in the State in violation of the law."
The court issued the warrant, handing it to Deputy Marshal Ring. Ring went to City Hall, found the liquor, and impounded it on site.
The disappointed crowd became angry. Brick throwing began. The ringing of the fire bell, when there turned out to be no fire, brought more men to the scene. The Marshal and his men entered the City Hall from the far side, and held the rioters off with pistols.
Meanwhile Mayor Dow brought the Rifle Guards, a militia company, to the scene. They fired upon the crowd from a dark room, without a word of warning.
A man fell dead.
The dead man was John Robbins, of Deer Isle, Me. He was second mate of the barque Louisa Eaton, had come to the city on the day of the riot, and gone into the street in response to the fire bell.
Robbins was buried in the Eastern Cemetery at the foot of Munjoy Hill.
Don't ask your tour guide to show you his grave, as it is unmarked, but do remember John Robbins, an innocent citizen killed by minions of an overzealous government official, on the anniversary of his death.

05/30/2026

Spirits Alive's Historian Ron Romano presents on his new book. The Association for Gravestone Studies has named Ron the 2026 recipient of the Harriette Merrifield Forbes Award, its highest honor, in recognition of his work to advance the study of historic cemeteries and gravestones.

01/25/2026

01/12/2026

Save the date; save all the dates! Here's info about our 2026 Winter Lecture Series.