The Old Center Cemetery behind the First Congregational Church on High Street is getting a new life and it’s just in time for a walking tour of the cemetery in October sponsored by the Suffield Historical Society.
The clean-up and the walking tour were coincidentally planned. Members of the Sibbil-Dwight chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) led by Sarah Donahue and her twin sister Susan Tyler, are cleaning up as much of the cemetery as they can. Using a special biological solution called D/2, they are uncovering inscriptions on the stones which were indecipherable. A gallon of the solution is enough to clean 20 to 30 stones and costs approximately $50, mostly paid by the volunteers. It is the cleaner used by the National Cemeteries, White House and Colonial Williamsburg.
The group is also pulling weeds and small shrubs and clearing away broken flowerpots left over from Memorial Day. They are also correcting mistakes which are found on the popular internet site, Find a Grave, as well as adding plot numbers, GPS coordinates and photos. Data on the site is input by volunteers, and errors occur. They have also found that some of the military markers put near the headstones are on the wrong graves.
Originally from Massachusetts., Sarah and Susan’s family can be traced back nine generations to 1669 in Middleboro, Massachusetts. Sarah recently moved to Windsor Locks and joined the local DAR and found that she was missing something – a cemetery fix. Susan, who lives in Belchertown, Massachusetts, also shares the same avocation and often comes to help Sarah. Cognizant of this grave familial responsibility, the sisters spent time fixing and cleaning up the family plot and then expanding their care to other families’ plots. For the two, cemeteries were not endings but intriguing puzzles. What stones belong to whom? Who is buried here? Can we unearth the stories and preserve the headstones? One story Susan uncovered was of Joseph Pease who is buried in the old Suffield cemetery. In 1775, he lost $90 worth of coins and offered a reward of $20 to recover them. One wonders if he ever got them back.
The headstones depict the changing times. The earliest ones were severe with no decoration, only name, date and age. Then decorations appeared with inscriptions. At first, skulls and crossbones were etched to remind everyone that life is mortal. Then softer images, less scary were favored. One headstone bears an image that looks like a gentle man in the moon. Flowers and cherubs appeared and in Victorian times came images of urns and weeping willows.
The cemetery is peaceful. Susan notes the bluebirds and purple finches that visit the place. There are soldiers here from the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, the Civil War and both World Wars. Men were interred here who died at the Battle of Antietam and others who didn’t survive the squalor of the infamous Andersonville prison. There has been violence above the ground too, as there are bullet holes on one or two stones. Earlier restorations to the stones have caused damage as well. Metal rods were bolted into stones to keep broken stones together. Cement was also used to the detriment of the stone. Bleaching made some stones illegible forever. One headstone was replanted, upside-down.
Many of the early headstones in this cemetery were sculpted from locally excavated brownstone, a fragile material that does not stand up well to the New England weather and separates in layers. In Massachusetts, Sarah and Susan never encountered brownstone proving stone material and carvers were geographically determined. Some of the newer stones in the Old Center Cemetery were sculpted from marble which is porous. When exposed to acid rain and incorrect restoration methods, inscriptions on marble become unreadable.
Come see the Old Center Cemetery yourself and marvel at the clarity of the newly revealed inscriptions. The walking tour is on Saturday, October 28 from 1 p.m.to 2:30 p.m. It is not suitable for young children and is an historical tour, not a ghoulish one. Wear proper footwear as the ground is uneven and hilly. Reservations are required, and only for a limited number of people. Please make reservations at rsvphistory@gmail.com.