Northfield Cemetery Stamford, Connecticut

Northfield Cemetery in Stamford, Connecticut has some of the oldest graves in that city. Begun as a formal cemetery in 1787, there are burials there that pre-date the formal founding of the cemetery. The cemetery is in the middle of the city of over 100,000 and it includes burials from many of the most well-to-do families of the 18th and 19th Centuries, but when it was reviewed by historians in 2001, its condition was described as “Fair,” the second lowest grade. The cemetery had many overturned tombstones. Later reports published in local newspapers said that the site had much litter and that it was not being carefully maintained.

In 2016, groups of Masons took on the responsibility of restoring the burial ground and when I visited it in June of 2024, it was in improved condition.

The cemetery is a 1.50-acre burying ground located at 106 North Street in Downtown Stamford.

This cemetery was dedicated beofre the Presidency of George Washington when the Constitution was being written, but people who died during colonial times are buried there. This was due to the old burial ground being converted into Main Street, and graves from the early 1700s being moved to Northfield. The earliest date on the monuments in the cemetery goes back to 1745. There are a number of Revolutionary War veterans laid to rest here as well as at least two War of 1812 veterans. See: Ct Register of Historic Places

Local authorities say there are at least a dozen veterans of the Civil War at the burial place.

There are two modern plaques (above) explaining the cemeteries significance, one at each entry to the grounds. In 1970, there was a memorial (below) marking the 200th Anniversary of Stamford’s incorporation which also explains the history of the place.

 

I went around the cemetery and took some pictures of the graves of Union Army veterans. Below is the grave of Samuel M Bouton who died in 1909 at 75 years of age. He was in Company B of the 28th Connecticut Volunteer Infantry. He enlisted in August of 1862 as a musician and served for one year.

Bouton’s unit, the 28th, was organized in response to Lincoln’s call for eight-month regiments to meet the emergency after McClellan’s army had been rebuffed during the Peninsula Campaign. Five of the companies were from Fairfield County, where Stamford is located. The unit trained in New Haven and in November 1862 it embarked by ship for New York. In December, the regiment boarded transports to Ship Island, Mississippi. The regiment was used primarily in Louisiana, including the capture of Port Hudson.

 

Andrew Boyd was a sergeant in the 28th Connecticut Infantry Regiment. He died in Stamford from Dysentery, likely as a result of his service in the swamps of Louisiana.

 

As you can see in the photo below, the Masons have done a good job at restoring the cemetery. From this angle, it looks like a classic New England country cemetery.

 

Of course, once you look in the other direction, you will see very modern buildings on three sides of the cemetery. The city has seen a one-third growth in size over the last fifty years and it has a population of over 135,000. In the downtown, most of the buildings were built since 1980, with tech firms and entertainment predominant among new businesses.

 

Here is another view of the area around the burying ground, showing more modern buildings overlooking graves from the 19th Century.

In this small field you can feel as though your are back in 19th Century.

William Stevens was a young man who enlisted in the Union Army. He was in Company B of the 17th Connecticut Volunteer Infantry Regiment. He was injured felling trees and he was sent back North to New York’s Fort Schuyler to recover. He visited his wife who had come down to New York to see him, but he missed his boat to the fort. When he got back to Fort Schuyler, now underneath the Throgs Neck Bridge, he was arrested. He was sent to the guard house, became ill, and died on February 1, 1863. According to the Stamford Soldiers’ Memorial (1869), his death “left a wife to mourn over one of the most inconsolable hardships of a soldier’s fate.”

Another Civil War soldier without the tell-tale Union grave marker was Theodore Peck. He was 24 years of age when he died in 1863.

 

Brian (my son) and I went to the Lakeside Diner in Stamford, Conn. that morning. This is an old diner set on a small lake with giant windows that let you look out on the water. There are even picnic tables outside by the lake! Total for two breakfasts was $25. Get there by 8AM to have a chance at a table. We got there at 7:15AM and it was mercifully empty. 1050 Long Ridge Rd, Stamford, CT.

This diner is just a ten minute ride from the cemetery.

Below is the view from my window.

 

The food is not complicated and it is good and cheap.

 

If you are visiting Stamford, you may also want to visit the Stamford memorial just a few blocks away.

 

 

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