November 5, 2012 RL Students Celebrate their Founder
Every year, students from the Roxbury Latin School visit the Eliot Burying Ground, and pay tribute to their school?s founder, John Eliot. Eliot arrived in Roxbury in 1631 after having crossed the Atlantic aboard The Lyon, the same boat that carried the wife and children of Governor Winthrop. Eliot was the first minister of Roxbury, the founder of the First Church of Roxbury, commonly known as the Eliot Church, and the first person to translate the Bible into the Algonquin language, among many other noteworthy accomplishments. In 1645 Eliot founded the Roxbury Latin School, an all boys, independent school, now located in West Roxbury.
In the fall, fifth graders at Roxbury Latin, visit the Eliot Burial Ground as part of their service learning day, and plant bulbs in tribute to Eliot, who is buried in the Parish Tomb. We witnessed this tradition this past week, when this year?s class stopped by. However, we are reminded of this custom once more in the spring, when the Burial Ground comes alive with hundreds and hundreds of daffodils.