In accordance with this rule, it may safely be assumed that the forefathers of Boston had built the first prison-house, somewhere in the vicinity of Cornhill, almost as seasonably as they marked out the first burial-ground, on Isaac Johnson's lot, and round about his grave, which subsequently became the nucleus of all the congregated sepulchres in the old church-yard of King's Chapel. What is the meaning of this excerpt? The prison and cemetery were built early, with the cemetery expanding in size from its original plot. The prison was built near Cornhill, and the cemetery was built on an important man’s property. Just as Puritans gathered at the prison, they also gathered at the cemetery and the church. The forefathers of Boston chose the two most famous landmarks: the prison and the cemetery.