Visions: The Old Burying Ground at Clapboard Ridge, Greenwich

Nestled atop a hillside overlooking Rockwood Lake along Butternut Hollow Road is this ancient public cemetery. Its numerous fieldstone markers conceal forever the identities of those interred here centuries ago. 

Tranquil and mysterious, the Old Burying Ground at Clapboard Ridge beckons visitors to contemplate its secrets. I first encountered this site in the late 1980s as Greenwich was counting down towards its 350th year celebrations in 1990. 

At that time the Greenwich Historical Society had created at my request and Burial Grounds Committee. As a member of the Board -and one of its youngest ever- we discovered that many of the town's historic cemetery sites were in poor condition. Our committee teamed up with local Scout troops, homeowners associations, literally anyone willing to spend time and energy to clean up these sites. Based on what I saw here today, it's apparent that our efforts paid off. 

This is the soul effigy of Garrot Schotler, whose identity is a mystery. His gravestone features one of the few soul effigies found on any gravestones in Greenwich. You'll find these in one two other places: Tomac Cemetery in Old Greenwich and the Old Burying Ground at Cos Cob on Strickland Road. 

This is a broken-off section of a gravestone for Lincoln Mead, whose farm was nearby. 

A few select fieldstone markers like this one feature a mere initial or two of those whose burials are marked. 

Charles Henry Peck & Eunice E. Peck: Peck Family Burying Ground at Pecksland

Chances are you've driven by this small cemetery site more times than you can recall. If that's true you have plenty of company. 

This is one of three small Peck Family cemetery sites in Greenwich. Located on the western side of Round Hill Road -and just north of the intersection with Pecksland Road- this family plot has been in use since circa 1777. The final burial here was in 1896.

Three generations of members of this branch of the Peck family with the name Theophilus are interred here. Theophilus I (died in 1783, aged 82 years) was the grandson of Rev. Jeremiah Peck, one of the original Patentees of the Town of Greenwich. 

Pecksland was a deed gift from Samuel Peck, the son of Rev. Jeremiah Peck. In 1756 he served on the Pecksland School District Committee and served the cause of the American Revolution in the First Battalion, Wadsworth's Brigade, which was stationed in New York under General Putnam. They engaged the British at the Battle of White Plains in Westchester County, New York.

Theophilus II died in 1812, aged 83 years. Theophilus III died in 1777, aged 18 years. It is interesting to note that he and his grandmother buried nearby died within 10 days of each other.

The gravemarker I share today is that of Charles Henry and Eunice Peck, the earliest carved gravestone located here:

Charles Henry was the son of Gideon and Phebe W. Peck. He was only four years old and 5 months when he died on March 20, 1820. 

One day later his sister, Eunice E. Peck, died on March 21. She was one year and 11 months old. 

Their epitaph reads:

These lovely buds so young and fair

Call'd hence by early doom            

Just came to show how sweet a flower

In Paradise would bloom.

Note the inscription with the name of the stone carver, W. Hale (William Hale) -something that is quite rare on Greenwich tombstones.

Other members of the Peck's buried here who are noteworthy include Arod Peck, a Private in Capt. Seth Mead's Company during the War of 1812. 

Rev. David Peck is buried here as well. He assisted Rev. Nathaniel Finch, first Pastor of the King Street Baptist Society Church, in the latter days of Rev. Finch's pastorate.  

A large, plain fieldstone marker most likely marks the grave of Gilbert Peck. His home, known as The Fincherie, was built in 1763 around the corner on Round Hill Road. 

It was for many years the home of Ernest Thompson Seton, writer, naturalist and a founder of the Boy Scouts of America. He named it after the Finch's, another old family who lived there. 

The house was demolished without warning in early January 1990, just as Greenwich kicked off its 350th year celebrations.