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| Mills Family Cemetery, interior image. August 19, 2015. |
I first met Carol Wister here in Greenwich 25 years or so ago. In this days I was on the board of the Greenwich Historical Society and the Greenwich 350th celebrations in 1990. Like so many descendants of the Founders of Greenwich, Connecticut we found that our genealogies crisscrossed each other.
Carol is also the niece of local artist the late Roger Selchow. His creative illustrated maps of the town are treasured. (Click here)
Here is a close-up of Mr. Selchow's map showing the Mills Cemetery:
In those days I was also immersed in working with the Greenwich Historical Society and others in locating and documenting the town's many scattered burying grounds.
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| This is Spencer P. Mead's listing of those buried here with inscribed grave markers. There are additional burials marked with plain field stones. |
The cemetery is located in front of the house and off the driveway at #29 Hope Farm Road.
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| This is what I saw at the entrance to the cemetery. |
It was on this occasion that Carol introduced me to the Mills Family Burying Ground in Clapboard Ridge.
Last night Carol contacted me via Facebook Messenger with a request. She asked me to stop by the Mills Plot, capture a few images and take a look at the overall condition of the cemetery. I am staying close enough by where this was no problem at all.
The Mills Family Burying Ground is located at the terminus of Hope Farm Road, a private residential street off Lake Avenue south of the Merritt Parkway. I had not been by to see this plot in over 20 years.
The land around the cemetery was subdivided into smaller residential lots many years ago. At one time the Mills family owned a substantial area. In fact, 'Hope Farm' was the name of the Mills family place. The family home burned down many years ago. But the cemetery still survives.
This cemetery is one of the oldest in the Town of Greenwich. It is bordered by rustic stonewalls that have withstood the tests of weather and time. When I visited today I was that the carpet or myrtle or periwinkle ground covering plants were gone, but that site was not overgrown.
Internments have taken place here from circa 1802 until 1848. The markers here are unpretentious. They are mostly carved from brownstone and white marble. There are a few plain fieldstone markers without carvings on them.
On stone without an epitaph is that of Samuel Mills. He died January 22, 1841, aged 89 years, was a soldier in the American Revolution. He served as a private in Captain Matthew Mead's Company of Horseneck, 9th regiment, 4th Brigade, Connecticut Militia.
The John Mills stone -died October 10, 1802 -in the 40th year of his life is the oldest carved stone here:
Reader behold as you pass by
As you are now so once was I
As I am now so you must be
Prepare for death and follow me.
Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord.
One gravestone with an eight-line epitaph belongs to Sarah H., the wife of Major Lockwood. 'Major' was his name, not his military rank. I hope to go back some time soon to record the text of this epitaph.
Historically,
Jeffrey Bingham Mead,
Greenwich, Connecticut USA
August 19, 2015
