New England’s Oldest Pet Cemetery Holds Lizzie Borden’s Beloved Dogs

It happens to be the oldest pet cemetery in the entire country run by an animal welfare league and it holds several locally famous animals.

An hour north of New Bedford is the Pine Ridge Pet Cemetery on the Animal Rescue League of Boston's Dedham campus. Opened in 1907, this 27-acre property has become home to nearly 20,000 beloved animals of all kinds.

Including three dogs once owned by the infamous Lizzie Borden.

Though Borden is obviously most well known for her murder trial of the late 1800's, it was probably her numerous charitable donations to the welfare of SouthCoast animals she'd rather be remembered by.

She was one of the original benefactors of the Animal Rescue League of Fall River and had many beloved pets throughout her lifetime.

Three of those pets can still be visited at the Pine Ridge Cemetery.

Later in her life, Lizzie was extremely dedicated to her three Boston Terriers, Donald Stuart, Royal Nelson, and Laddie Miller. She was often seen driving through Fall River with the dogs seated on custom built shelves in her automobiles.

When these beloved terriers passed, Lizzie had them formally buried in her home's backyard. But after Borden herself died in 1927, the decision was made to disinter them from the Borden home and rebury them in Pine Ridge.

You can now walk among the thousands of pet headstones and memorials to find their gravestones in a secluded corner of the pet cemetery, with markers similar to those of the Borden family's memorial stone at Oak Grove Cemetery in Fall River.

Sadly the cemetery does not offer new burials or pet cremations anymore, though the Animal Rescue League of Boston will help those interested find similar cemeteries for those things.

You can however still walk among the thousands of different monuments and headstones dedicated to well-loved animals of all varieties. Horses, dogs, cats, lizards, rabbits and more are buried at Pine Ridge and you can visit them all any day of the week between 8 A.M. and dusk.

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