The Old Center Cemetery

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Photo by Lester Smith

These stones are in the oldest corner of Suffield’s Old Center Cemetery. They carry dates back to the 1680s.

There is a cemetery in Suffield at 36 Mountain Road called the Old Center Cemetery. It has gravestones from the late 1600s and on. Quite a few streets in Suffield are named after people who have lived and died in Suffield and are buried there. For example, there is a gravestone for Susana Kent, and there is a Kent Avenue in Suffield. Also, there is a gravestone for Charles Mather, and there is a Mather Street in Suffield.

Colonial style art is displayed on the gravestones. The artists were stone carvers. The artists tried to personalize the gravestones in honor of the people being memorialized. The stones range in color from bronze to gray. Many were made out of tablestone, meaning you were wealthy, because at the time tablestone was expensive.

The cemetery is full of historical sites. There is a monument to Reverend Benjamin Ruggles because he was a leader of the First Congregational Church. Also, there is a tribute to honor colonial Africans. Lester Smith, the town historian, wrote down the lines of the gravestones for people of the town to read. To see this information, go to: oldcentercemetery.wordpress.com.

Today a group of volunteer people called Friends of the Old Center Cemetery keeps the cemetery in shape.

The Old Center Cemetery is a very historical and interesting place to visit. So what do you say, want to check it out? Go to historicalmarkerproject.com or oldcentercemetery.wordpress.com

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