The Laurel Hill Cemetery

One of my projects this summer is to write the text for an interpretive sign for the Laurel Hill Cemetery, which was at one time the town cemetery for Milford. The graveyard us located on Grey Towers' property, and houses 123 graves, including several ancestors of Gifford Pinchot. The sign that I am working on illuminates that relationship between these ancestors and Gifford and gives a little information about who they lived, made their money, etc.

I will be working on this for the next few weeks and will give you information on the ancestors of GP as I find it. For right now I will just give you some background on the history and state of the cemetery, and show you some pictures I took of the Pinchots graves.

The Laurel Hill Cemetery was used primarily between 1820 and 1899, although some internments are later or earlier. Some early Milford residents like the Quick family are buried there. Tom Quick, for those of you unfamiliar with the local lore, was a man who vowed revenge after his father was killed by Indians, and ended up slaying a prolific number of them throughout his life. Nice right? In Milford there is even an Inn named after him. Other families include the Cross, Cadoo, and Metz families. The burials are arranged in family plots. Prior to the cleanup efforts that Grey Towers undertook in 2000-2001 the family plots were surrounded by iron fences and gates. There are two distinct pathways in the cemetery, a hearse road, and another access road.

Over the years the cemetery fell into a state of disrepair. I remember hiking to the cemetery as a kid with my dad and sister, and the graves were shaded by a thick canopy of hemlock and white pines. The trees caused a great deal of damage to the gravestones. Limbs and sometimes entire trees fell on stones and destroyed them. Sap, tannin, and the acidic soil that the trees produced broke down the stones and give them a "sugary" appearance today. Moss grew on many of the stones and caused the inscriptions to deteriorate. Grey Towers has since taken down the trees that were not planted in the cemetery in the 19th century, and they generally try to maintain the site.

Here is the Pinchot plot.


All but one of the stones is legible.



Footstones!! Exciting. I think that they merit attention in my sign. Back in the 18th and 19th centuries the grave was concieved of as a bed for the desceased. The headstone and footstone made the grave look like a bed or cradle.


This Cyrile Pinchot (there are several) died when he was only 22. He has a tombstone and an obelisk. I don't know why someone so young would have all that. I want to research him a little further and try to find out why he died. I'm guessing consumption.


Here's a good example of the damage that's been done to the stones over the years.



More to come on my research. I am excited about this project. I hope I can help make this cemetery more accessible to the public, as I remember it when it was completely run down.