A Glimpse of Town's History in Cos Cob's Historic Cemetery

by Jeffrey Bingham Mead
Greenwich Time: August 17, 1990

The old cemetery at Cos Cob, located within the Strickland Road Historic District, is Greenwich's second oldest burying ground. Though only a few legible headstones remain, this site is steeped in history from the days from the town's early days.

Image Credit: ShowMyStreet.com

It is here that many of the early settlers of the town who crossed the Mianus River in 1672 are said to be buried. A small area featuring the few remaining gravestones is bordered by an iron fence, although it is well known that the large field adjacent to it contains the unmarked graves of the early settlers, their identities forever hidden. The prominently inscribed grave markers are encased in concrete in an early effort to preserve them. This was through action taken years ago by First Selectmen Wilbur Peck, a direct descendent of our towns' founders.

The gravestone of Benjamin Mead in Cos Cob. 

The oldest gravemarker with an inscription at this site commemorates Benjamin Mead, who died on Feb. 22, 1746, at the ripe age of 80 years, which was quite an accomplishment in those days. His stone is only one of a handful in Greenwich that is carved from slate. A closer inspection reveals a partial death-head with wings motif, bordered by floral work along either side of the stone. Benjamin was one of the early settlers of Cos Cob, and he is credited as having set aside this land for the cemetery circa 1710.

Home of Benjamin Mead, Orchard Street, Cob Cob. Circa 1697.

His homestead and Orchard Street is a familiar landmark to local residents. I know I expressed popularly felt gratitude that the owner has painstakingly preserved the historical integrity of this classic Yankee New England saltbox homestead in contrast to transient real estate speculators who might have torn it down.

The researchers involved with the Historical Society's Signs of the Times house plaquing program have dated this fine homestead at 1697, making it one of the oldest houses in Greenwich and the oldest Mead family homestead remaining today.

The gravestone of the Obadiah Mead is nearby. It is carved of brownstone and features a badly worn death-head motif with wings and floral designs on either side. This young men, said to be a son of Benjamin Mead, died on April 27, 1759, aged 39 years.

A legend passed down through the generations surrounds Sarah Gardner, a young woman who died in Cos Cob on Oct. 24, 1795 and who is buried at the site. According to historian Spencer Mead, Sarah "was on a trip from New York to Boston by stage when taken sick, and was cared for at the old Brush house at Cos Cob during her illness." 

From Other Days in Greenwich, by Judge Frederick Hubbard. 

The nature of her illness is unknown to us and the Brush homestead was sadly torn down long-ago, preserved only through photographs. 

Her brownstone marker does leave the reader with a thoughtful reminder commonly found in many old burying grounds:

Behold and think as you pass by 

As you are now so once was I 

As I am now so you will be,

Prepare to die and follow me.

The Brush House, by Childe Hassam. Image credit: Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. 

A few plain fieldstone markers protrude from the ground as does a small marble stone, and with them legends of others supposedly buried here. It has been said, for example, the Chief Kos Ko Koba is buried here, some believing other Indians were interred at the site. Many for years thought that from this man Cos Cob took its name, a notion Spencer Mead and others have pointed out to be erroneous, as well as the assumption that the cemetery was an Indian burying ground.

Historian Spencer P. Mead's records of the cemetery. 

Another Mead family member thought to have been buried here is Capt. Sylvanus Mead. He was a veteran of the French and Indian Wars and active in the War of the Revolution on the Committee of Safety, and captain of the company of Rangers. Sylvanus was tragically killed by a group of men known as cowboys, who unmercilessly plundered and relentlessly killed both Americans and British, showing loyalty to no one except themselves. This event happened at the historic Ralph Peck House, which still stands today facing the Mianus River off River Road Extension, in 1780.

The house in the lower right side of this image is off River Road Ext. in Cos Cob. This is the house where Capt. Mead was shot and killed. The Mianus River is off to the right. 

Spencer Mead wrote long ago, the cowboys found Sylvanus at the homestead and "one of them knocked at the door. He called out from within 'who's there,' when one of them answered by firing through the door. The ball struck Capt. Mead, wounding him fatally, and he died the following day."

Some of the homeowners on the west side of Strickland Road may be surprised to discover that graves once occupied the sites of their homes and front yards. These were removed and said to have been reinterred nearer to the Mill Pond when the course of the road was cut through the cemetery many, many years ago, and witnessed by local residents.

Despite the fact that many of the individual settlers graves at the old cemetery at Cos Cob are unmarked, we of the latter 20th century are fortunate to have one of Greenwich's oldest historic sites still us with us. Recognized as an ancient community burial place and maintained by the town government, this second oldest cemetery is steeped in mystery and history and enduring example, offering those who ponder the messages and legacies of its gravestones a crack in a door that opens to the past.

Jeffrey Mead is a direct descendent of one of the founding families of the town.