History Buried Among Town's Forgotten Tombstones

by Jeffrey Bingham Mead
Greenwich Time, Greenwich, Connecticut
January 25, 1987

Dotted throughout the various neighborhoods of the Town of Greenwich exist many historic burial grounds. Along with the old homesteads that have been preserved throughout the years, the cemeteries are the last remnants, in some instances, of the vast farms that covered Greenwich in earlier ages.

A portion of the Old Cemetery in North Greenwich off Riversville Road. October, 2014.

Many homesteads from those earlier years had some kind of burial ground, with stone monuments framed by a stone wall or fence of some kind. They were situated in meadows exposed to the sunlight, but also in orchards or near gardens, or overlooking a stream or pond. While this custom for the most part no longer exists, the tradition of a family burial ground was quite common and acceptable in the early colonial days, when it all began, until this century.

Gravestone of Joshua Knapp. Knapp Family Burying Ground, Round Hill.

It is with remorse to report that many of the sites are neglected, forgotten and rudely vandalized. One finds upon visiting some of these places years of accumulated leaves, an abundance of tall grass, weeds and wild shrubbery, fallen trees and dilapidated fences. Some have their monuments fallen or tipped over. Indeed, the historic cemeteries at Burying Hill in Round Hill, the Ferris Family – Taconic Road burial ground in the backcountry and an old cemetery on Pecksland Road in Glenville are just three examples of a number of places that resemble a New England jungle. Some of the sites are more accommodating to the many species of wild animals that live in the area rather than to those interred there.

Back in the early part of the century, Spencer Mead the historian described one site he visited as being "so overgrown with tall grass and shrubbery in the summer that it was necessary to wait until late autumn before exes to the burial was possible." It is sad to find some burial grounds today that still fit this image.

This section of Union Cemetery contains the family plots of Greenwich's early African Americans. 

It is important today for town residents, government and historical associations to recognize that these burial grounds constitute historic sites as the last resting places of many of the citizens of Greenwich's early years, including those who founded the town more than three centuries ago, and are worthy of sustained efforts at preservation.

When one visits these historic cemeteries, the tombstones are inscribed with the names of many folk who were the first settlers and early inhabitants of the town. Quite a few of these individuals figured in some fashion in the history of the community. Such family names found at these places include Adams, Bonnell, Brush, Bush, Coe, June, Mosher, Ferris, Husted, Howe, Holmes, Hitchcock, Ingersoll, Lockwood, Mead, Merritt, Peck, Reynolds, Rundle, Timpany, and many others.

A portion of Tomac Cemetery, Old Greenwich. October, 2014. 

The oldest burial ground in Greenwich is the Tomac Cemetery in Old Greenwich, where many of the first settlers of buried. The second-oldest one is on Strickland Road in Cos Cob at Mill Pond Park, surrounded by a green fence. This place was known as an old Indian burial ground, although the graves of Sarah Gardner and Benjamin Mead of Cos Cob are found here as well.

Most of the oldest monuments are mere flat stones. Sandstone was used a century, more or less, after the first settlement here was established. This was followed by the use of marble, which is still used today.

Reynolds Family Cemetery at Stanwich Road and Tod Lane. October, 2014. 

Some of the symbols and motives on the monuments are interesting. A few of the earliest tombstones have hideous death-heads and winged skulls. This apparently symbolized death and the heavenward acscent of the soul. Likewise are found variations of common Jack-o'-Lanterns, empty hour glasses, and coffins and bones. Surely this conjures up the gloominess of the Puritan mind. Fortunately, as time progressed, some stone monuments appeared with some artistic representations of foliage, fruit and religious symbols. The Lewis family cemetery on Lafayette Place in central Greenwich feature some outstanding examples of this.

The Old Cemetery at Clapboard Ridge. October 2014. 

Lettering was just as important. While the elements have erased forever some of the information found on the monuments of a few of our early settlers years, many have survived and are quite readable. Most of the stones are inscribed with the name, birth and death dates of the deceased as well as their age at the time of death. Some also have biographical information.

Gravestone of Rev. Platt Buffett, Lewis Family Burying Ground off Lafayette Place, Greenwich. 

By far, however, one of the most curious aspects of these historic burial grounds are the epitaphs found on a number of the stone monuments. Products of the Puritan mind, these inscriptions reflect personal thoughts of the deceased individuals. One carved on a stone reads as follows: "Pray look at me as you pass by, as you are now so once was I. This is to let you see what care of my child has took for me."

Another, from the grave of Charles Coe, interred at the historic burial ground on Pecksland Road, who died in 1800, aged a mere 18 years and 27 days, reads: "Alas how frail is mortal man, see here my life is but a span."

From a stone monuments, dated 1795, an epitaph that would startle any child: "Stop, careless youths as you pass by, as you are now so once was I. As I am now so must you be, prepare for death and follow me."

Gravestone of Benjamin Mead, Mead Burying Ground in North Greenwich off Cliffdale Road. August 2014. 

In the backcountry, one of the Mead burial grounds, this one on  Cliffdale Road is yet another Benjamin Mead who died in the year 1815 and left the following epitaph: 

My fresh shall slumber in the ground 

Till the last trumpet sounds. 

Then burst to chains with sweet surprise 

And in my Savior's image rise."

The Historical Society of Greenwich, with the assistance of dedicated volunteers, should assume the care and the jurisdiction of many of these forgotten places for cleaning up the burial grounds. Together with the creation of the Historic House Registry, the restoration, sustained preservation and protection of many of these sites will be assured. This indeed is a project open to all people from all walks of life. After years of neglect, ignorance and vandalism, our shared efforts at such a worthwhile cause for both individuals and families to be involved in will at last stand as a proper memorial to the early settlers of Greenwich.

Jeffrey Bingham Mead, who lives in Greenwich, is a direct descendant of one of the founding families of the town. He is a free-lance writer and a member of the Greenwich Historical Society.