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Ruthie Brown talks to Troop 92 . Photo by Donna Dufresne.
Owen Gratton installing flagpole. Photo by Gabbi Gratton.
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Memorial to Revolutionary War veterans. Photo by Donna Dufresne.
By Donna Dufresne
April 29 a group of volunteers descended upon the Old Abington Burial Ground to support Owen Gratton’s Eagle Scout project. The goal was to clear brush, clean and repair gravestones, and honor the 60-plus Revolutionary War veterans buried there.
Boy Scout Troop 92, parents, neighbors, and gravestone experts worked tirelessly to revive the long-neglected cemetery. Gratton, a sophomore at Killingly High School, lives in Abington near the burial ground. He and his family have helped place veteran flags for Memorial Day for several years, but many of the stones have become unreadable due to lichen or have succumbed to nearly 300 years of New England winters.
Like many small towns in Connecticut there is no money available to maintain the colonial cemeteries, especially those which are no longer accepting burials. Although the town provides mowing, there is no budget for repairing, cleaning, and keeping the brush and invasives at bay. Veterans from the French Indian War, Revolution, and the War of 1812 have gone unrecognized due to the deterioration of their stones.
The Old Abington Burial Ground is significant as it holds the bones of many of the first proprietors and settlers of Pomfret. For example: the Ingalls, who operated taverns and manufactured silk in one of their houses during the Revolution, were one of the many prominent Abington families. The writer, Laura Ingalls Wilder is one of their descendants. Some of the infants of Captain and Elizabeth Cunningham are memorialized in marble stone. Elizabeth gave birth to many children but only two survived into adulthood. The Kimballs, Sharpes and Fays of the Jericho Section of Abington, as well as the Griggs, Osgood, and Grosvenor families hold their ground in stones that lean heavily toward the earth. Ebenezer Holbrook, Squire Sessions, and Nathaniel Ayers, who operated some of Pomfret’s early mills, lie beneath the rugged ground. This sacred ground is a treasure trove of social history, a record of infant and maternal mortality, disease patterns such as smallpox, economic trends and military records.
Eagle Scout Projects are designed to benefit communities rather than individuals, and ultimately engender civic engagement. During the process, an Eagle Scout develops and demonstrates leadership and organizational skills and service that fulfill a community need. With the help of a diverse community, Owen has designed a project that will have a lasting effect on Pomfret History. He was able to engage gravestone repair expert, Michael Carroll from Rediscovering History, who donated the new flagpole and flag; Ruthie Brown from the New England Gravestone Network, who cleaned several of the stones infested with lichen, and a posse of Boy Scouts who cleared brush along the stone wall. Owen’s father, David Gratton, donated a granite stone which was engraved by Mercer Monuments of Plainfield as a donation.
Dufresne: “The memorial stone recognizes the veterans in the Old Abington Burial Ground whose names we may not know, a reminder of stories forgotten and yet untold as we uncover and rediscover the past. But more importantly, the vision of one Eagle Scout has reminded us that it takes a village to preserve and keep history alive. The volunteers, including myself, came from diverse backgrounds, political and belief systems. Yet we became a mighty force, contributing our skillsets, expertise, and labor to meet the goals and objectives of an excellent Eagle Scout Project that will outlive our efforts. The revival and restoration of the Old Abington Burial Ground proves that Civic engagement, community, leadership, organization, and service can be accomplished with grace – an example of true American grit."
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