By Ken Valenti

WESTPORT–Building on residents’ calls for restoration of the Kings Highway Burial Ground, Westport’s Historic District Commission (HDC) voted last night to establish a subcommittee to drive rehabilitation plans for historic graveyards throughout the town.

When formed, the Historic Cemeteries Subcommittee will be aimed at “improving accessibility to (the cemeteries), and increasing recreation and education opportunities,” said HDC Chairman Benjamin Levites in a Zoom meeting. “Once we have these preservation plans in hand, we can work with the town, the state, volunteers and other interested parties to bring these cemeteries back to their former glory.” 

The commissioners also approved a letter for Levites to send to Parks Superintendent Nicholas Quatrano, supporting the town in seeking a grant under the Neglected Cemetery Account Program. 

While members did not establish who would serve on the committee, several commissioners said they were interested.

“I’d love to be part of it,” said Commissioner Arthur Hayes. “I have a thing for old cemeteries anyway, so count me in for sure.”

The idea sprang from concerns residents raised about the condition of the 1.4-acre King’s Highway Burial Ground, home to some gravestones erected before the Revolutionary War. Levites said that the cemetery, at Kings Highway North and Wilton Road, would be the first addressed by the subcommittee, which would produce a report on it “in a couple of months.”

The subcommittee’s work would require help from volunteers, but also professionals in some areas.

“You need masons to repair the stones, and you need iron workers to repair the gates,” Levites said. “But you can have the Boy Scouts remove the Japanese knotweed. You can have volunteers picking up trash, and things of that nature.”

Ken Valenti

^{_{A career journalist and lifelong resident of the New York City region, Ken Valenti has enjoyed decades of reporting local, regional and national news in New York and Connecticut. Topics of special interest are development, the environment, Long Island Sound and transportation. When not reporting, he’s always on the lookout for the perfect coffee shop or used book sale.}}