How To Repair Cemetery Headstones

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Winsted Mayor Todd Arcelaschi at the Danbury Quarter Road cemetery, one of the town's oldest burial sites near Winchester Center. It is inaccessible, mostly because of the condition of the dirt road, filled with potholes, standing water and deep ruts, as well as steep inclines. But the mayor wants to find a way to record who is buried there, clean up the one-acre property and possibly repair some of the many broken headstones.
Emily M. Olson / Hearst Connecticut Media

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The Danbury Quarter Road cemetery, one of the town's oldest burial sites near Winchester Center, inaccessible, mostly because of the condition of the dirt road, filled with potholes, standing water and deep ruts, as well as steep inclines. Mayor Todd Arcelaschi wants to find a way to record who is buried there, clean up the one-acre property and possibly repair some of the many broken headstones.
Emily M. Olson / Hearst Connecticut Media

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The Danbury Quarter Road cemetery, one of the town's oldest burial sites near Winchester Center, is home to the grave of Diantha Simons, who died in 1857.
Emily M. Olson / Hearst Connecticut Media

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The Danbury Quarter Road cemetery, one of the town's oldest burial sites near Winchester Center. Pictured are the graves of brothers George and William Hurlbut, who fought in the Civil War.
Emily M. Olson / Hearst Connecticut Media

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WINSTED — Some of the town's oldest families have relatives buried in the Danbury Quarter Road Cemetery, a remote burial ground hidden away near Winchester Center.

According to genealogytrails.com, a website dedicated to the history of cemeteries and their occupants, the cemetery has between 60 and 70 graves. Many were members of the Grand Army of the Republic, a fraternal organization with veterans who served in the Civil War. Many of the graves date back to the early 1800s.

There's a stone with the name "Diantha" that is covered with moss and dirt — the grave of Diantha Simons, who died in 1857 at the age of 52. The grave of Mary Pierce also is listed on genealogytrails.com as the daughter of Stephen and Permelia Pierce, who died in 1857 at the age of 18.

Other names in the online listing include Andrews, Benedict, Crocker, Gilbert, Griswold, Hawley, Hurlburt, Jacklin, Moore, Smith, Tucker and Tuttle.

A treacherous trip

The usual ceremonies on Veterans Day and Memorial Day aren't held here, mainly because it's so difficult to get in. An unpaved road with deep ruts, standing water and rocky surfaces with steep inclines is about a mile-and-a-half long.

And only a tough vehicle — like Mayor Todd Arcelaschi's Jeep — can be driven in, and it's a daunting trip, dodging deep potholes, changing sides to avoid dirt channels carved by rain and snow, and slowly driving over large stones, while avoiding pools of standing water.

At one time, Arcelaschi believes, there was a church or homes nearby, but the woods are all that surround it now. The burial ground itself is in sad shape. Many of the headstones are broken; some are leaning against a single pine tree standing in the middle of about an acre of land and surrounded by an ancient stone wall. Other headstones are upright and firm in the ground, but their lettering has been worn away by weather and time, making it nearly impossible to read the names or dates. Some of the graves have sunken into the ground.

Over the years, organizations have cleaned up the cemetery, which Arcelaschi said probably was turned over to the town of Winchester in the mid-1700s. But there's no deed to be found, so far.

Meanwhile, the old cemetery continues to deteriorate.

That bothers Arcelaschi, who was born and raised in Winsted, and knows how important it is to preserve history, particularly the names of veterans and their families. He presented his concerns and ideas to the Board of Selectmen during its Nov. 15 meeting.

"We need to preserve our history, because if this cemetery continues the way it is, the forest will eventually take it back," he said. "This cemetery has graves that date back to before the Civil War. Some look fairly new, but they're over 200 years old, and there's some that are just a piece of stone.

"There's also no way to know where the broken ones belong," he said, during a visit to the cemetery on Nov. 18. He recalled visiting in the 1980s when he was a Boy Scout, and said it was deteriorating then. "It's a lot worse now," he said.

Finding a way

Arcelaschi wants to find a way to account for the people buried at Danbury Quarter Road by identifying the location of the graves on a map that could be found with findagrave.com, another site that specializes in genealogy studies and research.

He also wants to see the broken headstones repaired somehow, and to clean up the overgrown grounds, which are filled with weeds, moss and years of dead leaves.

"It's sad to see that the stones are broken. There's been a lot of vandalism here over the years," he said.

But the mayor knows he can't expect the town to do the work. "Getting a big truck in here would be next to impossible," he said. "It's just too dangerous. And it's so far removed from town, that it's not a place where people could go. It's very remote."

Arcelaschi purchased software that provides information and maps of public land, which tells the user who the property owners are in a particular area. The cemetery is surrounded by privately owned land, and the owner, who likely inherited it from her own family, lives out of state.

"The question is, how do we preserve our history?" Arcelaschi said. "I've spoken to people who agree it's too remote to request town funds to fix it up, so anything we need for it would have to fundraised, using GoFundMe, and volunteers could get involved to preserve it."

He also suggested using students from the Gilbert School help with research, as a community service or academic project, and contacting family members who might be willing to donate to help with the cleanup and restoration.

"I'm also trying to find burial records, or a map, that would show who's buried there and where, for the graves that aren't readable, or were moved or were completely destroyed," Arcelaschi said.

Other cemeteries

Selectwoman Candy Perez noted that the Winchester Historical Association conducted research on the cemetery over the years, and was unable to find the deed that turned it over to the town. "That happened in the 1750s, so it's been a long time," she said. "There was also a Danbury Quarter Road Cemetery Association at one time."

Selectman Jack Bourque, who belongs to the Soldier's Monument Commission, said if any work is done on the town's cemeteries, there are others that also need attention. He pointed to Center Cemetery at East End Park and Forest View on Rowley Street.

"When the Soldiers Monument Commission has done cemetery walks, we found that the Center Cemetery was in need of many monument repairs," Bourque said. "There's a whole section where they were broken, and the fences were broken. We also found that in the Winchester Center Cemetery, there was an older section that had similar types of stone damage and wear.

"Both of those are very accessible," he said. "If you're trying to get work done, that's great, but I would want to make sure we don't lose the locations that are much more accessible than Danbury Quarter. We need to look at what needs to be done there before we go too deeply into Danbury Quarter. ... We need to make sure it's a balanced effort."

Arcelaschi said, "That's why I can't use town funds, but once the cemetery is gone, it's not coming back. We won't be able to get it back."

Funding

Town Manager Josh Kelly visited the cemetery with Arcelaschi in October, and agreed with the descriptions of the decaying site, as well as the access road. "It is a rough ride," he said. "It's just just the cemetery that's in tough shape. We were in a Jeep, and it was still a bumpy ride. My little Prius wouldn't have made it very far."

Kelly advised working with the state Historic Preservation Office. "Generally they're the ones who offer grants for preservation," he said. "I'm not sure what's available, but we can see what we can apply for."

Arcelaschi knows any project involving Danbury Quarter Road cemetery will be a challenge. He has people interested in joining a committee, and knows of several families who have relatives buried there. Finding available grants will help, he said.

"That's all we can do, just see what's out there," he said.