Milton Cemetery

Milton Cemetery. Walk Rye History. , The Milton Burying Ground is Rye's oldest cemetery. Joseph Lyon (buried here with his wife Sarah) gave this one-acre plot to Rye around 1750. Some older graves were moved here, including that of Nehemiah Webb who died in 1722 at age 28. Many members of Rye's earliest families are buried here: Purdy, Brown, Disbrow,Budd, Sniffen, Theall, and Van Sicklin. In the northwest corner surrounded by an iron fence, you'll find the Halsted family plot with 21 graves, including that of Ezekiel Halsted, former owner of the Knapp House., The gravestones tell us much about life in Rye during the 18th and 19th centuries. The tombstone for Samuel and Catherine Bouten reveals that their four children died in 1849 within a week of each other. It is thought that a scarlet fever epidemic tragically took their lives. Many gravestones show that Rye's residents lived into their 80s and 90s, including Sophia Parker who died in 1852 at age 97., The cemetery has not been used for burials since the 1880s. Today, the Milton Cemetery is listed on the State and National Registers of Historic Places.