By Ken Valenti

WESTPORT–Taking a walk through the Kings Highway Burial Ground, with some headstones erected before the Revolutionary War, preservation advocate Morley Boyd points to neglect and dangers threatening history, including trees that have fallen on or near the stones.

One tree appeared to have fallen in just the past few days.

“You can see it’s just not a safe site,” Boyd said. “And when things come down, you see what they potentially can do.”

He and Wendy Crowther, both members of the Westport Preservation Alliance, have been pressing the town to restore the historic graveyard at the northeast corner of Kings Highway and Wilton Road.

Very limited budget, access

Parks Superintendent Nick Quatrano agrees that the concerns are valid, but restoration is a challenge. The town’s cemetery maintenance budget of $15,301 essentially covers cutting and trimming grass at the burial ground and two other graveyards – the Platt Burial Ground on Post Road West and the Poplar Plains Cemetery just south of the Merritt Parkway on Wilton Road.

Then there’s the access to the site – or lack of it. The 1.4-acre sloped cemetery fronts directly on the two roads with no sidewalks, and is hemmed in on its other sides by private homes.

“There is no way to access that property with any kind of equipment,” Quatrano said. “You can’t get a tractor in there, you can’t get any kind of machinery. That adds to the cost.”

Work this fall?

He plans to have a tree removal company visit the site to provide a quote on what it would cost to remove hazards from tall trees. And when Parks and Recreation activities slow down after Thanksgiving – barring major storms that require cleanup – he plans to have town employees do some of the work needed.

Grants are also a possibility. The Neglected Cemetery Account Program administered by the Connecticut Office of Policy and Management was established for such projects. The deadline to apply for this year’s grants was last February – three months before Quatrano was named to his position. But he said he would consider available grants in the future.

Preserving history

For Boyd and Crowther, restoring the cemetery is crucial for the history it holds. They say it has been neglected since 2020, when the Westport Garden Club stopped maintaining it as they had been doing since the 1950s.

“Essentially, this is an outdoor museum to show the way people lived and died,” Boyd said.

In addition to removing toppled and falling trees, poison ivy and bittersweet must be removed. A low fence marking the area around an obelisk is in pieces.

But some elements are well preserved. Take the double tombstone near the back marking the resting place of Captain John and Hannah Taylor, complete with intact footstones a few feet away. Boyd marveled at the clarity of the etching.  

Predates the nation

“It’s so crisp and clean and pure, and here they were from 1774, predating the nation. They were here for three years before Benedict Arnold fought the British here,” Boyd said, referring to a clash in April 1777, when Arnold fought British forces returning to Long Island Sound from a raid on Danbury.

The styles of gravestones mark the town’s history, Crowther said. White marble stones with flat tops were a style in the 1800s. Other stones feature a weeping willow, angel or other image.

“Sometimes there were skulls that looked scary, but others were more angelic,” Crowther said.

All of it helps tell the town’s story from Colonial Days.

“It’s like having a precious file cabinet in your backyard, outdoors,” Boyd said. “If it’s lost, it’s lost. There’s no backup.”