Oak-Juniper Path

Oak-Juniper Path is a short lane, about 210 feet long, in the east end of Fox Hill Cemetery. It runs north-east from Dogwood Path to the junction of Balsam Path and Hemlock Path. Its double name, two trees, is unusual among the cemetery's lanes; no explanation was found.

The town reports do not say when this or any other lane of the cemetery was built. The burial ground dates from 1856, the year the Billerica Historical Commission gave it in 1976, and from 1900 the cemetery commission's rules required new lots to "front on the avenues or paths." That year the commission asked for a topographical plan of "the new portion" of Fox Hill, to be "immediately followed by the completion of the driveways." Land was added in 1917, with a survey and plans for the "Fox Hill Extension" paid for in 1919; the extension was developed as a relief project from 1934, with work in 1937 that included "constructing roads," and the commission hoped in 1936 for "the seeding of at least an additional avenue." The driveways were hot-topped from 1959 and in 1971. Later expansions opened a "G-section" about 1976 to 1977 and "Section I" in 1982, an expansion of about 4,700 graves was completed by 2001, and a "Phase II" of 2,270 graves was finished in fiscal 2022; in 2024 sections three to six were repaved.

The lane names of Fox Hill Cemetery are mostly plant names, roughly grouped by area: the short lanes of the east end bear tree and shrub names (Balsam, Bayberry, Birch, Dogwood, Elm, Forsythia, Hemlock, Maple, Oak-Juniper) and most of the others flower names. None of them appears in the town reports through 2025, and the origin of the naming, when the names were given and by whom, was not found. The earliest source found for them is OpenStreetMap, where the cemetery's lanes were mapped with these names in February 2024. The lane has no connection with Oak Street or Juniper Street, a separate street elsewhere in town.

References

1. Annual report 1900: Cemetery Commission asks for topographical plans of the new portion of Fox Hill, to be followed by completion of the driveways
2. Annual report 1917: town votes $500 to buy additional land for the Fox Hill Cemetery
3. Annual report 1937: Fox Hill Cemetery public works project, "constructing roads, building cut stone walls and entrances"
4. Annual report 1938: newly developed part of Fox Hill Cemetery set aside for Catholic burials (block A-1 to A-28)
5. Annual report 1947: thirty acres adjoining Fox Hill bought for extension of the cemetery
6. Annual report 1959: hot topping the driveway at Fox Hill Cemetery
7. Annual report 1963: more than 10 acres bought next to Fox Hill Cemetery with frontage on Andover Road
8. Annual report 1971: last section completed, hot top of roadways continued, west end cleared for development
9. Annual report 1976: Art. 56 approves extension of Fox Hill Cemetery between Jones Brook and the existing cemetery
10. Annual report 1976: official cemetery names and dates, "Fox Hill Cemetery (est. 1856)"
11. Annual report 1977: lot sales up after the opening of the new G-section at Fox Hill Cemetery
12. Annual report 1981: Fox Hill expansion program, new Section I expected in spring
13. Annual report 1993: $750,000 for developing burial land and constructing paths and avenues in a town cemetery
14. Annual report 2000: design started for a Fox Hill Cemetery expansion of over 4,000 graves
15. Annual report 2003: recently completed Fox Hill expansion provided 4,700 new graves
16. Annual report 2019: Art. 20, $3,000,000 for expansion of Fox Hill Cemetery
17. Billerica Public Library cemeteries page: Fox Hill Cemetery established 1856, 130 Andover Road, link to a scanned cemetery map
18. OpenStreetMap, Fox Hill Cemetery: named lanes mapped February 2024