Hillside Cemetery:

Originally known as the Sharon Burying Ground, the Hillside Cemetery has been Sharon's primary place of burial since December 11, 1739. On that day, the town fathers met at the home of Nathaniel Skinner to decide about essential elements of a growing, thriving town. They concluded that designing and creating a burial ground was one of those essentials. Nathaniel Skinner and Lew Jabez (Habezz) were asked to locate an appropriate site. They found the first part of what has become the Hillside Cemetery, a good name for the site, as it looks out from a hillside across the west and north of the town. The earliest burials are near the upper entrance gate.

As additional land became necessary, two acres were purchased from the King family in 1812 for $244. The Kings lived in the large brick house, which even today stands nearby at the top of the green. The Sharon land records of 1812 include a deed of purchase for this land. Agents for the acquisition were Samuel Roberts, a hired man to George King, who later did well in real estate; Samuel Rockwell, who represented Sharon in the Connecticut legislature of 1815; and Samuel Gager, who served as assistant surgeon in the navy during the Revolutionary War.

In 1875, the Sharon Burying Ground Association voted to have the Cemetery mowed and cleared annually by July 15. In 1878, a vote was taken that the "grass and weeds be cut the last week in June and cleared by July 1." The process was to be repeated in the last week of August.

In 1890, the directors of the Association decided they needed a map of the cemetery. The task was completed, but the map was unfortunately lost. A new map appeared in 1927. However it lacked necessary information such as names of the older stones. Today a large map with plot numbers and an accompanying card catalog of names with numbers are on file at The Sharon Historical Society, and the names are in a searchable data base.

A controversy developed in the early 20th century, when the directors of the Association decided to "re-sell" plots in the oldest part from which previously set stones had vanished. The Superintendent of the Cemetery was so upset by this decision that he resigned from his position and from the Board.

To this day, the Burying Ground Association is the group that looks after the cemetery. It is made up of about eight volunteers who meet four times a year, in March, June, September and December. They review the finances-money to keep up the Cemetery has been left in an endowment-and discuss the repairs and maintenance that need doing. Among their ongoing jobs is repair of the gravestones which fall over, break up and generally need care.

Return to Sharon Cemetery Headstone List