Pam Hawley Marlin October 2019
Riverside Cemetery (also called Macdonough Cemetery) was Middletown's first burying ground. Although English families buried their dead here from the town's beginning, the earliest gravestone dates from 1689 - nearly four decades after settlement. Gravestones were expensive, and not every family could afford them, leaving hundreds of graves unmarked.
Riverside's gravestones recalls Jabez, John and Ebenezer Starr, brothers who all died before reaching their first birthday. In the back right corner stand two simple stones to African- American slaves. The story of Isaac and Nathaniel tells of young brothers who were "both slain by lightning in an instant" in 1739.
Riverside Cemetery. P Marlin 2019
Most local gravestones from the 1600s and 1700s were carved of brownstone, which was plentiful just across the Connecticut River in Portland (then part of Middletown). Stonecarvers often used skulls or death's head to ornament the earliest, while angel's faces came into style about 1740. By 1800, white marble had become the stone of choice. See The Riverside Cemetery. A Sketch of the Old Burying-Ground in Middletown.
Around 1650, a handful of English colonists began settling Middletown, then called by its native American name, Mattabeseck. The first colonists did not come directly from England, but from early New England settlements like Boston, Cambridge, and Hartford. The settlers laid out their homes in what is now the north end of Main Street, and here built their homes and barns.
A key to the Riverside Cemetery can be obtained at the
local fire station. P Marlin 2019
The first English families here were primarily farmers, but many men also worked as milliners, stonecutters, weavers, carpenters, or shipbuilders. Families were large and from their marriage day, most women faced over two decades either pregnant, nursing, or both. Many couples had as many as ten children, although not all surived into adulthood.
The settlement boulder, placed here for Middletown's 250th anniversary in 1900, honored the men who first setted here. Another plaque honors Middletown's first female settlers.
A plaque commemorates the first settlers. P Marlin 2019
A plaque commemorates the first settlers. P Marlin 2019
Riverside Cemetery. P Marlin 2019
Riverside Cemetery. P Marlin 2019
Riverside Cemetery. P Marlin 2019
Riverside Cemetery. P Marlin 2019
Riverside Cemetery. P Marlin 2019
Riverside Cemetery. P Marlin 2019
Riverside Cemetery. P Marlin 2019
Riverside Cemetery. P Marlin 2019
Riverside Cemetery. P Marlin 2019
Riverside Cemetery. P Marlin 2019
Riverside Cemetery. P Marlin 2019
Riverside Cemetery. P Marlin 2019
Riverside Cemetery. P Marlin 2019
Riverside Cemetery. P Marlin 2019
Riverside Cemetery. P Marlin 2019
Riverside Cemetery. P Marlin 2019
Riverside Cemetery. P Marlin 2019
Riverside Cemetery. P Marlin 2019
Riverside Cemetery. P Marlin 2019
Riverside Cemetery. P Marlin 2019
Riverside Cemetery. P Marlin 2019
Riverside Cemetery. P Marlin 2019
Riverside Cemetery. P Marlin 2019
Riverside Cemetery. P Marlin 2019
Riverside Cemetery. P Marlin 2019
Riverside Cemetery. P Marlin 2019
Riverside Cemetery. P Marlin 2019
Riverside Cemetery. P Marlin 2019
Riverside Cemetery. P Marlin 2019
Riverside Cemetery. P Marlin 2019
Riverside Cemetery. P Marlin 2019
Riverside Cemetery. P Marlin 2019
Riverside Cemetery. P Marlin 2019
Riverside Cemetery. P Marlin 2019
Riverside Cemetery. P Marlin 2019
Riverside Cemetery. P Marlin 2019
Riverside Cemetery. P Marlin 2019
Yours truly.