Trinity College

The Ancient Burying Ground Association seeks to preserve and promote the history of the Ancient Burying Ground - Hartford's oldest historic landmark located at the corner of Main & Gold Streets near Center Church in Hartford.

The Ancient Burying Ground is the oldest historic site in Hartford, and the only one surviving from the 1600s. From 1640, four years after the arrival of the first English settlers, down until the early 1800s, it was Hartford's first and foremost graveyard. During that period anyone who died in town, regardless of age, gender, race, ethnic background, economic status, or religious faith, was interred here. The oldest gravestone is believed to be that for Timothy Stanley, who died in 1648.

Approximately 6,000 men, women, and children are believed to have been interred in the Ancient Burying Ground, which was originallyconsiderably larger than it is today. Over the centuries commercial buildings, as well as the First Congregational meeting house, were erected on Burying Ground land, whittling it down it to its present size of four acres.

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