Vanishing Epitaphs: In Memory of Sarah Gardner (1795) Cos Cob Cemetery

Who was Sarah Gardner? No one is quite sure. We know that she died on October 24, 1795. Sarah was aged 21 years, seven months and seven days when she died.

Oral tradition has it that she died of small pox in one of the nearby homes off Strickland Road.

Her brownstone marker was encased in concrete decades ago in the Old Cos Cob Cemetery. The Mill Pond is just behind the fenced in area that includes a few other marked graves.

Sarah Gardner died in 1795 aged 21 years. 

It was not that long ago that a visitor to the cemetery could easily read the entire inscription easily. The pictures here were taken on July 30, 2014. 

According to Historian Spencer P. Mead, Sarah "was on a trip from New York to Boston by stage when taken sick, and was cared for at the old Brush house at Cos Cob during her illness." 

To this day the nature of her illness is unknown, the old Brush house was demolished, and would have stood today near the I-95 overpass. The cemetery is maintained by the Greenwich Parks Department.

Sarah Gardner, 

died October 24, 1795, aged 21 years, 7 months, 7 days.

Behold and think as you pass by

as you are now so once was I

As I am now so must you be

Prepare to die and follow me.