Cemeteries in Meriden and Plainfield
Article 6. 2022 Town Meeting Green Burials in NH
- Coryville Cemetery
Coryville Cemetery (also known as Willow Brook Cemetery) is on the west side of Ladieu Road near the bottom of the hill. Several umarked graves and approximately thirty stones are found there. The grave of Eleanore Kimball, wife of Joseph Kimball, lies inside a granite fence. It is unknown why Eleanore was not buried with her husband at Gilkey Cemetery, althouth the Kimball stone there gives the date of her death. Hodges Cutler, the last living Plainfield soldier of the Revolutionary War, also lies here. Probably, the only slaves held in town are buried here. In the census of 1790, Benjamin Cutler owned two slaves. According to Vernon Hood, the final graves in the cemetery were occupied by two of John Holt's children who died in 1880. Their graves are at the west end of the lot without a stone.
- East Plainfield Cemetery
East Planfield Cemetery is just east of Route 120. It lies on Barker road just off the Croydon turnpike. Its oldest stone reads 1796.
- Freeman Cemetery
The Freeman Cemetery is located near the Cornish town line on Route 12A across from Town Line Equipment. Descendants of Lieutenant Daniel Freeman are buried in the cemetery. Lieutenant Freeman's grave is the oldest dated stone: August 14, 1806.
The cemetery had its own trust fund for maintenance until the fall of 1960 when Mary Cassedy turned over the records and all funds to the town. No special care is given to any of the lots within the cemetery and a limited amount of space remains for burial. The last person buried in the cemetery was Lori Schaffer, a five-year old child, in 1984. The cemetery had no burials between 1929-1959. The only markers for war veterans buried in the cemetery are those of David Cassedy and Lieutenant Freeman.
According to Mary Cassedy, a Freeman descendant, Freeman Cemetery is located near the former house of Daniel Freeman on the family property. The big barn, which still stands, was built by Freeman's family in the eighteenth century. The house was near the foot of the hill on the corner near the house owned by Scott Walker (1991). the first house burned in 1940.
- Gilkey Cemetery
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Gilkey Cemetery, located on a hill above Stage Road, was at one time on the Gilkey farm owned by Ellen Shipman. The graves are in three separate groups. The largest is near the tall pine trees. There are many unmarked mounds. The first dated stone reads "June 28, 1767, Sarah, daughter of Captain Benjamin and Jerman Chapman." Members of the Shipman family have recently been buried near the oldest stone.
The second group is surrounded by a tall wire fence on iron stakes. Graves in this lot date between 1803 and 1906. The third group lies on the east side of the graveyard. Within this lot are six lettered graves, some of native field stone, and some unmarked mounds. The earliest stone is that of Lieutenant Thomas Gallup, who died September 30, 1777, at fifty-two years old. Gallup had been town clerk at his death and was a notable citizen at the town's beginning.
There is also a section in the cemetery reserved for the Avery family. Money for the cemetery comes from the town and private trust funds. According to Joseph Meyette, a former sexton, the last person buried in Gilkey Cemetery was Gerald Wilder.
- Gleason Cemetery
Gleason Cemetery is one of the larger graveyards in Planfield. It is located on the east side of Gleason Road above Meriden Village. The cemetery is named for an early settler of Grantham, Elijah Gleason, who lived in that section ceded to Plainfield in 1856. In April 1851, John P. Chellis and Father Bean planted the trees still standing in the cemetery, which has remained in continual use. The Gleasons' own gravestone is among the earliest. It also memorializes the death of a son in 1755 before the family moved to the New Hampshire Grants.
Other stones have since been moved. Mr. Walter Stearns, who lived in Meriden next to the Grange Hall, was a sexton of Gleason Cemetery. Stearns removed some of the headstones from the graveyard because he feared that the plot was filling too quickly. He stacked them in the cemetery shed and then in his cellar. Gleason Cemetery, to this day, has rows of graves with no headstones. When the new Kimball Union Academy library was built, the workers unearthed a single gravestone, which had the name Gleason on it. Other gravestones have popped up in odd places over the years.
- Hell Hollow Cemetery
Near Hell Hollow in Plainfield lies a small graveyard for the Kenyon family, who were early settlers. It is located near their home along an unused road between the town farm and the old Colonel Ripley place in Cornish. There are eight graves. One stone is inscribed "Sarah K" and stands four feet tall. Vernon Hood said that he could not find the cemetery because the trees had not been cut around it. Its location in the woods is now obscure.
- Hopkins Cemetery
Hopkins Cemetery, located on the road of the same name, has only three stones, all members of the Hopkins family. The Hopkins Road was the principal road from Meriden to Cornish Flat in old times. The Hopkins family were early pioneers of the Grantham region. Hood said, "One wag made the remark that the reason the ground was used for a cemetery was because it was not fit for any other use." Stones are dated 1793, 1796, and 1831. The oldest stone is that of Ruth Hopkins, daughter of Philip and Ruth Hopkins.
- Methodist Hill Cemetery
On the easterly side of the four corners on Methodist Hill, it was an early burial ground for the first settlers of Grantham and Enfield, before this section was annexed to Plainfield. The earliest inscription is for John Calif, February 12, 1840. In 1912, Wilbur F. Smith created a small trust fund for the care of the Daniel L. Smith and Moses Flanders lots. Any excess income can be applied to the general care of the yard except the Howe lots!
- Mill Cemetery
- Mill Cemetery is on Colby Hill Road above the covered bridge on Blood's Brook in Meriden. It is one of the earliest and largest cemeteries in town and is the final resting place of many Meriden people. Mrs. Hannah Kimball, wife of Benjamin Kimball, was the first person buried there in 1783. Their son, Daniel Kimball, the benefactor of the Academy, is also buried there. Granite hitching posts survive along the road. Above the old graveyard lies the newer section of the Mill Cemetery. It provides a beautiful view of Grantham Mountain. The "new" (west) part of Mill Cemetery is Plainfield's only cemetery not owned and maintained by the town. It is owned and operated by a private, nonprofit association.
- Moulton Cemetery
- Deriving its name from Darius Moulton who owned property adjacent to it, it is east of Route 120 on the south side of Andrews Lane. It contains the graves of several members of the Moulton family. The oldest part of the graveyard is the western section. Trust funds are available for the cemetery's maintenance.
- Penniman Cemetery
- Penniman Cemetery lies east of Penniman Road and south of the town shed. Surrounded by a stone wall and wooden gate, the oldest grave is that of Mary Spaulding, about 1810. Enclosed by a white picket fence, in the southeastern sections, is the Penniman family lot. The town maintains the whole cemetery. The cemetery contains over sixty graves and is curently in use.
- Plainfield Plain Cemetery
- Plainfield Plain Cemetery started as a "Church Yard." The meeting house stood there until moved to its present location and remodeled as a town hall. The cemetery has been expanded five different times and is presently the largest cemetery in Plainfield. The first graves lie in the middle section and in back of the round drive. Experience Stevens is the oldest dated stone--February 20, 1767. The town records show that she was the first person to die in Plainfield. Experience passed away on February 20, 1767, aged forty-one years, the wife of John Stevens, the town moderator. She was buried near their cabin on Maude (Earle) Stanley's land (1991) on the River Road. About 1900, the Stevens residence was sold to William Orlo Kenyon, and the cemetery plot and stone were moved to Plainfield Plain Cemetery. A trust fund of $500 was started in 1889 for Plainfield Plain Cemetery by Mrs. Lucy (Parker) Chamberlin and others for the upkeep of the cemetery. The town contributed $100. At the cemetery's entrance, there is a cobblestone wall with wrought iron gates from Italy. Hitching rails were put up in 1902. There are two plaques on either side of the gates, one for Mrs. Chamberlin's parents and the other for the meeting house.
- Raynsford Cemetery
- Raynsford Cemetery is on the west side of Bonner Road in Meriden. Three of the four sides of the cemetery have a stone wall. The other has a white picket fence. The stones were carefully planned, but are close together in places. Isaac Williams, who died of smallpox in 1808 was buried there.
- River Cemetery
- The River Cemetery (also known as Colby Cemetery) is located on the River Road, near the McNamara and Sprague land and the old Fuller place. The oldest stone is dated 1788. It is near the grave of Francis Smith, who was one of the first grantees. There are about seventy-five graves and several unmarked mounds. There is a tall tree in the rear of the cemetery, and John Alden Gilbert is buried under it. Gilbert was a servant who lived with the Smith family. He asked Lewis Jordan to put a pine tree on his grave as a monument. He feared no one would provide a stone for him because he was a town pauper. Town records show that in 1868 the selectmen paid Lewis Jordan two dollars "for digging grave for Gilbert" and that Judith Davis received thirty-three cents for "making robe for Gilbert."
- Westgate-Peterson Cemetery