Cypress Cemetery

Cypress Cemetery. The Ancient Burying Ground. , History of Saybrook Colony , Saybrook Colony was established at the mouth of the Connecticut River, about 1/2 mile from this location, by English Puritans in 1635 under the leadership of Lieutenant Lion Gardiner who built a fort and laid out a town for the expected arrival of "gentlemen of quality." John Winthrop, Jr. was the first governor and served until succeeded by George Fenwick, the only one of the original 15 patentees who immigrated to Saybrook. The Ancient Burying Ground section of Cypress Cemetery was established in 1636 and was the original burial ground for the colony. Some of the earliest colonists are thought to be buried under College Street when the northern cemetery boundary was further north than its present location. Burials in the cemetery - the Ancient Burying Ground and the 1904 "Annex" - have occurred continuously since 1636 and continue today. The cemetery is overseen by the Cypress Cemetery Association. , National Register of Historic Places , In 2017 the "Ancient Burying Ground" portion of Cypress Cemetery was placed on the National Historic Register of Historic Places. The nomination is based on the tombstone carving in that portion of the cemetery which represent both the "Boston school" of carvers, and the "Connecticut River Valley school" of carvers. The tombstones shown here represent the Boston school with durable slate markers (Constant Burrows and Temperance Kirtland tombstones) and the Connecticut Valley red sandstone which is represented by the more delicate but erosion prone (Susanna Lynde gravestone, likely carved by James Stanclift and Andrew Lord likely carved by Thomas Johnson). , Veterans , There are more than 130 veterans buried in Cypress Cemetery with the earliest from the French and Indian War. Three stand out because they died in their respective wars. Lieutenant Giles Ward Jr. enlisted in the Civil War at the age of 17 and rose through the ranks in a short period of time, only to be accidentally killed by his commanding officer at age of 20 while the two were carelessly handling a pistol before the battle at New Bern, North Carolina. Ward was brought home by an honor guard to a hero's funeral ceremony at the Saybrook Congregational Church. World War I Private Harry Faulk was killed at the age of 20 in the Battle of Chateau-Thierry and was first buried in the American Cemetery at Belleau Wood in France. Three years later, his father brought his remains to be buried in Cypress Cemetery. Faulk was honored with the planting of a memorial tree, the large oak that today stands to the rear of his plot (right rear of photo at right). Daniel Williams was a 14 year old youngster that wanted to see the nearby Fort Trumbull in Groton. When a soldier came home on leave to Saybrook, Daniel convinced his father to let him substitute in place of the soldier at the fort. Unfortunately, his time at the fort coincided with the bloody September 6, 1781 British attack where Daniel was one of many killed. , The Hart Family , The Harts were one of the most prominent families in Saybrook history. Reverend William Hart, the patriarch, was an early pastor at the Saybrook Congregational Church. His son, Major General William Hart, was a successful merchant engaged in West India trade a member of the First Regiment of the Light Horse Cavalry in the Revolutionary War. As a land speculator, he and several others purchased over a million acres of land in northeastern Ohio known as the Western Reserve. When later sold to settlers that came west, Hart and his partners made a tremendous amount of money. General Hart's youngest brother, Elisha Hart was also a successful merchant. He had a family of seven "beautiful daughters. One daughter, Ann, married Isaac Hull, commander of the USS Constitution or "Old Ironsides". Another , Jeannette McCurdy Hart, gave Cypress Cemetery the wrought iron fence that borders College Street in return for being able to bury their slave, Leah Lathrop Hart, in the family plot. Another of the many Harts buried in the Ancient Burying Ground is Reverend Dr. Samuel Hart, a beloved pastor and prominent professor. , Lady Alice Boteler Fenwick , Lady Alice Fenwick was the wife of Colonel George Fenwick, the only "patentee" of fifteen that came from England to the Saybrook Colony. Lady Alice was described as a "tall, stately young woman, beautiful, golden-haired, of gracious presence." She was said to be fond of horseback riding and had a "shooting gun' kept pet rabbits and loved to garden and cultivate flowers, herbs and fruits. , In 1645, Lady Fenwick died and was buried on "Tomb Hill" near the river. In 1870, when the Valley Railroad removed the hill to construct a locomotive roundhouse, Lady Alice was removed for reburial. Her remains were placed in a new casket and brought to the Saybrook Congregational Church where a funeral ceremony was held. Afterward, she was buried in the Ancient Burying Ground at Cypress Cemetery where she rests today. , Reverend Thomas Buckingham , Reverend Thomas Buckingham was a prominent early resident of Saybrook Colony and one of the earliest pastors of the Saybrook Congregational Church. He was influential throughout the Connecticut Colonies and was one of the original trustees who founded the Collegiate School, later to become Yale University. , Buckingham was also notable for being one of twelve ministers called together by the General Court in 1708 to develop the Saybrook Platform. The purpose of this Platform was to establish "mild advisory control" over the colony's Congregational Churches, which acted independently of each other. The ministers met and wrote the Platform in the house of National Lynde, the possible site of the Collegiate School. , The Lynde Family , Nathaniel Lynde was the son of wealthy Boston merchant Simon Lynde, who emigrated from London. After Colonel Fenwick left Saybrook following the death of his wife Lady Fenwick, his land was left to his niece and her husband who sold Fenwick's original landholdings to Simon Lynde. The land included all of today's Borough of Fenwick, Fenwood, Knollwood and Cornfield Point as well as a sixteen acre plot of land immediately west of the Ancient Burying Ground. That sixteen acre plot included the original Fenwick house and would later become the site of the Saybrook Collegiate School. , Nathaniel married Susanna Willoughby, daughter of Francis Willoughby, a prominent Boston merchant and Deputy Governor of Massachusetts. The Lyndes had eleven children, the youngest of which - Susanna - died at 4½ months of age. Her marker is the oldest original marker in the Ancient Burying Ground. The three tablets in the Lynde plot belong to Nathaniel, Susanna and their oldest son Judge Samuel Lynde. It was Samuel Lynde, with the help of up to eight slaves, that ran the large Fenwick farm located across South Cove. , Slaves in Colonial Saybrook , Wealthy Saybrook families like the Harts and Lyndes had numerous slaves. Slaves in New England were likely to be more a part of the family, working side by side with their owners. Members of the Hart family owned Frank Ransome and sisters Rose Hart and Phyllis Jackson who are buried facing north instead of south, unlike most of the older burials in the Ancient Burying Ground. Whether that was because they were slaves is unknown.