Grafton State Hospital was established in 1901 as a farm colony of Worcester State Hospital. Worcester was the oldest state hospital opened in 1830, and their expansion reflected a mandate passed in 1900 that state has the responsibility to take care of its indigent insane. A massive influx of patients from town and city level institutions was expected; prior to the mandate, a local poorhouse was the destination for the those who were less fortunate.
When I published a post about Working Boys Home in Newton about a year ago, I was also fascinated by the "infirmary" just northwest of the Home. Was there any connection between the infirmary and the Home? Were they operated by the same organization? If so, did the parents (most likely unwed mothers) at the infirmary have to be separated from their children to Working Boys Home (and Working Girls Home) ?
A graveyard is an excellent place to learn symbolism. You can learn how the culture surrounding you perceives the concept of death and afterlife as well as how the historic transition of those concepts affects the design of gravestone.
If you are an alien, a gravestone is sort of the Arecibo Message on the earth...Well, at least for a foreigner like me.