Curious Cape Cod: Chatham cemetery a reminder of life before smallpox vaccine

Eric Williams Cape Cod Times 

Published Jun 9, 2021 

CHATHAM — I was mixing up a batch of Low Tide Cologne (main ingredients: saffron and black mayonnaise mud) when some sort of accelerated evapotranspiration began lifting chunks from the vat into the sky.

"You used too much Fresca," sniffed my parfumeur Nezzy Wrinklston. He opened his parasol, which turned out to be a smart move, as a fishy, lumpy rain began to fall. The driveway became a Jackson Pollock splatter painting, smelling of, you guessed it, pollock.

Happily, some of the sky-clumps gradually formed into fragrant letters and the following message was revealed:

"What is the story behind the smallpox cemetery in Chatham?"

I whistled for the Curious Prius, asked Nezzy to clean things up and handed him a clothespin for his nose. His angry gesticulations disappeared quickly in the rearview mirror as we set sail for a mysterious spot known as the Training Field Triangle. Along the way, I pressed the "SmartyPantz" button on the dashboard for a quick jolt of research.

Thus, I gleaned that smallpox was an infectious and contagious disease caused by a virus. It brought on fever and a distinctive skin rash, and according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, three out of every 10 people who contracted it would perish.

Happily, a successful vaccine was eventually developed and the disease was eradicated. According to the CDC, "the last natural outbreak of smallpox in the United States occurred in 1949."

But back in the day, smallpox was big trouble for Indigenous peoples and settlers in New England. Well before before the Pilgrims arrived, "European visitors brought with them diseases to which the (Native Americans) had no immunity, including smallpox, measles, tuberculosis, cholera and bubonic plague," according to an article titled "The History of Epidemics in New England" on the New England Historical Society website.

And, "it was not long before the settlers began their own battle with smallpox," wrote Dr. Samuel Bayard Woodward for his 1932 oration to the Massachusetts Medical Society. "For 180 years smallpox was responsible for more deaths than any other one cause. Almost always sporadically present, coming in epidemic form every few years, few indeed escaped its ravages."

And that's where Chatham comes in. We arrived at the Training Field Triangle and after a short walk along a shady path I arrived at the smallpox cemetery. It is a solemn, small and beautiful place, with several headstones and footstones.

Many thanks to the folks behind the highly useful interpretive sign just outside the cemetery, with text and photos that really tell the story. "Smallpox ravaged Chatham from November 1765 to May 1766, forcing businesses and schools to close and claiming 37 of the town's 678 lives," reads the text. "Although this smallpox cemetery was formed during the outbreak, few were buried in it due to fears of spreading the disease during funerals. Most victims were buried quietly without a funeral service on family farms."

There was also mention of the selfless work of Chatham doctor Samuel Lord, "who faithfully treated his patients during Chatham's smallpox epidemic. Before the epidemic ceased, Dr. Lord contracted the disease and died in January 1766." A stone marking his burial place and honoring his service is located along Training Field Road, about half a mile from the cemetery.

That was my last stop before a thoughtful ride home.