The Close Family Cemetery (1993)

by Jeffrey Bingham Mead
Greenwich Time, Greenwich, Connecticut USA
December 5, 1993, Page B3

When I grew up in backcountry Greenwich, I often rode the bus to school. We passed by many reminders of Greenwich’s heritage and, as you might expect, one was a small cemetery. 

Little did I know then that I'd be back to this place as an adult delving into the stories behind the gravestones.

The Close family cemetery is off Lake Avenue, just north of the intersection with Clapboard Ridge Road. It is situated at the foot of a tract once known as Close Hill. 

The cemetery has been used since September 1780, when Shadrach Close, age 2, was buried there. The most recent burial was in 1933. 

One of the old Close homesteads, the Gideon Close homestead on Clapboard Ridge Road, is just up the road from the cemetery. He died in 1819 and is buried in the cemetery with Bethia, his wife, who died in 1829.

Odle Close died April 26, 1812 at age 70. He served as a lieutenant in Captain Abraham Mead’s Company and reached the rank of captain in the American Revolution. At the annual town meeting held December 3, 1775, Odle Close was appointed to the Committee of Safety and Inspection. It seems to be a fitting post for Odle; it was that he was a very large man, so large in fact that he had an oak chair of unusual sheight specifically made for his use.

Odle Close eloped with Bethia, daughter of Gideon Reynolds, when Miss Reynolds was only 14 years old. She went on to live just shy of her 90th birthday in 1832. Husband and wife are buried adjacent to each other.

Other family members include Horace and Nelson H. Close who died at sea on March 25, 1839. Horace was 44, and his son was just over 16. What ship were they on? Where were they? Thus far we do not know the circumstances of their demise.

Jonathan A Close and his wife, Mary Hobby, are also buried in this cemetery. He was one of the organizers of the local Methodist church. Allan H. Close, who died in 1904, was a founder of the Greenwich Water Co.  He was one of the first subscribers to telephone service in Greenwich in 1884. He agreed to keep the telephone one year at a quarterly rental of $10. 

Jonathan also reportedly crossed the Hudson River one cold winter in a horse-drawn sleigh.

Jacob Voorhis Close, born in the old Close homestead, sold his vast lands to the Greenwich Water Company in 1880. He died in 1933 of a heart attack while he was hunting with his sons near Auburn, NY.

Today the Close Family Cemetery remains a picturesque scene. Every spring the crabapple trees proudly display colorful blossoms above the gravestones. In 1990 daffodils were planted honoring the town’s 350 years of history.

Will interested family members and friends come forward to preserve this place?

A venerable Yankee heritage is recorded on stones for all the pass by this historic ground, just as I did years ago during those morning bus rides on my way to school.