Old Lyme Cemetery Association Continues Restoration of Historic Gravestones, Seeks Volunteers

OLD LYME, CT – The Old Lyme Cemetery Association has announced this season’s restoration schedule as part of a five-year effort to preserve the town’s historic burial grounds. 

In a news release, the association said several restoration sessions this spring and summer will involve cleaning, resetting and mending gravestones using specific conservation guidelines designed to protect fragile historic markers.

The association said restoration preserves the stones while uncovering details about early residents and restoring design motifs created by skilled Connecticut carvers.

Work begins on Sunday, April 26, and Sunday, May 17, at Meetinghouse Hill Cemetery. The sessions run from 10 a.m. to noon. 

Weather and time have caused deterioration at the cemetery, which is one of Old Lyme’s most significant historic burial grounds. Located off Johnny Cake Hill Road and accessible from the Old Lyme Country Club’s parking lot, the scenic site contains some of the town’s earliest grave markers. Many of those buried in the cemetery, established circa 1676 close to the town’s first meetinghouse, lived on farms nearby. 

Monuments commemorating members of the Lay, Smith, Champlin and other families are interspersed with unmarked field stones. A list of Connecticut headstones compiled in the 1930s notes a small slab with the inscription “Our Little Ones.” 

For the remainder of the summer, volunteers will return to Duck River Cemetery to continue the work that began there in 2021. Since then, volunteers have cleaned, repaired, or reset more than 400 gravestones in the town’s earliest burial ground.

Scheduled work sessions at Duck River Cemetery will be held Sunday, June 14 and Sunday, July 26, from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m.

Noting that community participation plays a vital role in preserving Old Lyme’s historic cemeteries and the stories they hold, the association welcomes back its dedicated volunteers and encourages new participants. No prior experience is necessary. Training and guidance are provided on site.

Anyone interested in volunteering or learning more about the project can contact Liz Frankel at olcemeteryassociation@gmail.com.