The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Restored 1867 cemetery open
Visitors can check out renovated chapel, new columbarium
MIDDLETOWN — Visitors are invited to Indian Hill Cemetery this weekend during an event that will show off the newly renovated, 19th-century chapel, as well as a recently installed columbarium.
An open house is scheduled for Saturday and Sunday from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the 383 Washington St., nondenominational cemetery, where many early settlers of Middletown and important Civil War and
political figures are among the interred.
With its “exceptional views” and “harmonious” plantings, the cemetery became the resting place of choice for Middletown’s elite in the late 19th century, according to the cemetery website.
In all, $600,000 worth of renovations were done on the chapel, according to Jeffrey Burgess, the cemetery’s association president and treasurer. Part of the project was paid for through a $200,000 grant from the Connecticut Trust for Historic Preservation.
The area around the 96-niche columbine, which offers different sized niches for cremains, has been extensively landscaped, Burgess said. “It’s absolutely gorgeous. It came out just as nice as we had hoped,” he said.
The cost for that project was an additional $35,000, Burgess said.
The columbarium, which has a patio area and marble doors, is one of few places to house burial ashes in the state. The only one in Middletown is located at the State Veterans Cemetery, Burgess said, but it’s reserved for service people and their spouses.
In New England, about 50 percent of people these days are cremated, which costs less than a ground burial, Burgess said.
The cemetery, established in 1850, was part of the America Beautiful movement, which promoted rural environments and serene landscaping for public places, particularly cemeteries, according to its website.
Restoration of the cemetery’s 1867 Gothic Revival chapel, which is listed on the State Register of Historic Places, began in 2014. It is an intimate space, with a capacity of 49, Burgess said. Middletown’s Frances Russell donated the chapel in memory of her late husband, Samuel Russell, an American entrepreneur and trader who founded Russell & Co.
It now can be booked for weddings, lectures, community organization meetings and other events. Durbotany, ing the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, funeral services were prohibited, so some families may now want to hold a service, Burgess added.
The association will be contracting a company to create protective window covers to protect the circa-1800 stained-glass windows at the chapel. These are “extremely” difficult to match, something that was discovered after the building was vandalized last October, according to the cemetery’s newsletter.
Another project, to be conducted by Brown University anthropology PhD candidate Mark Agostini, is the restoration of the Dr. Joseph Barratt monument, which features dinosaur footprints. Emond expects work to begin soon.
Barratt, who died in 1824, was an English-born physician and Middletown resident who was interested in geology, mineralogy, natural history, paleontology and many other things, according to the cemetery’s newsletter.
He was associated with Wesleyan University, Emond said.
“When ichnology (the branch of paleontology regarding the study of fossilized tracks, trails and more) became a focus among the mid-19th-century scientific community, Barratt developed a strong fascination that would last the rest of his life,” the newsletter said.
During the open house, Burgess and Emond will offer tours, and there will be a booth set up by the Friends of Indian Hill. There will also be photos of the chapel, work done by Kronenberger & Sons Restoration, before and after the transformation, Emond said.