Abington Burying Ground, Pomfret CT

Abington Burying Ground / Benson Cemetery

Pomfret Connecticut has two Colonial burying grounds, Sabin / Old Pomfret Burying Ground and the Abington Burying Ground.   Though a few other cemeteries have a smattering of late 1700s stones, they make up the vast minority of the stones in the yards.  

Abington Burying Ground was founded in 1752, several decades after the Sabin Cemetery.  I visited somewhat briefly in September 2020 and need to revisit sometime in the future.

The dominant carver here is Richard Kimball, a Pomfret native.  Kimball lived from 1722 to 1810 and carved from the 1750's until the turn of the century and moved to Ames NY where he lived the rest of his life.   His designs while consisting of the usual Soul effigy has no obvious direct influences from other carvers. He carved from a local schist deposit and his work often contained iron oxide which would give it a brown coloration after a long period.   He was a successful carver in the region with much of his work visible in Pomfret, Woodstock, and Brooklyn though spread out in towns like Hampton, and as far south as Norwich.  Over 40 stones can be found in this cemetery.

Stone carved by Richard Kimball dated 1773, a good example of the iron oxide rust
gained over centuries.  The bright orange yellow dotting is a lichen or fungus.

Stone carved by Richard dated 1783.  Kimball would sometimes carve 
more elaborate stones in a square shape, a shape that would become very
popular in the decades entering the marble era.  This stone marks the
grave of a married couple.

Another pair of Richard Kimball stones dated in the 1780s.  Sometimes on smaller stones, Kimball would leave the designs blank, though in this case he used a spiral rosette design.  

Another square designed stone carved by Richard.  Notice the Spiral Rosette 

designs on the corners.

Richard had a son in 1750 named Lebbeus who learned the trade of grave carving from his father and was carving stones by the mid 1770's.  His early work is closer to his fathers work, though during the mid 1780s he moved to Lebanon Connecticut and his work gradually took some aspects of the Manning style and mixed it in with his usual work.  His work is common in Pomfret as well as Hampton and Union, with other stones mixed in other towns like Chaplin, Lebanon, Eastford and others.

Stone for two young brothers carved by Lebbeus Kimball dated 1774.






Two Lebbeus stones dated 1786 and 1791. The wing designs have changed to the Manning style by this time though much of his design remains consistent with his older work.





Another stone by Lebbeus Kimball dated 1788, manning type wings present.



Now for some other carvers and stones here,

This stone dated 1770 is the work of Elijah Sikes, a carver who carved many stones viewable in the northeastern part of the state, as well as in much in southern Worcester County Massachussets.

Another stone carved by Sikes dated 1791.  Like Kimball, Sikes designs seemed to be quite organic with no direct influences attributable.  He would often use leaves and vines as chief designs even sometimes replacing the soul effigy.

This elaborate schist stone dated 1782 was carved by Josiah Manning of Windham.
Manning is well represented here with 12 stones present.






This handsome slate was carved by George Allen of the Narragansett region of
Rhode Island.  His stones are very uncommon in CT, though a small few are mixed
in between Woodstock, Killingly, Pomfret and Woodstock as well as some in 
coastal towns.




A slate stone dated 1795 carved by George Allen of Rhode Island.  Four slates carved by Allen
are viewable in the Abington Burying Ground.

           

Two more stones by Josiah Manning dated 1769 and 1773.

Three stones, the left slate dated 1804 was carved by Beza Soule, a Brooklyn carver who carved from slate sourced from Rhode Island.  Soule is well represented with over 13 stones here, most being soul effigies that I sadly neglected to photograph.  The middle schist stone dated 1804 is the work of infamous Manning clone, Aaron Hasking who has 7 examples of his work in the yard.  The one on the right is an example of an Urn and Willow schist stone, dated 1807.

A single Connecticut River Valley sandstone is present here, unknown date as
the stone is well into decay.

 

I mentioned in my other post about Boston Slates in CT, that this yard had a single Boston slate featuring a skull design dated 1762.  Oddly the other burying ground (Sabin Burying Ground) had well over 70 different skull slates mixed in the yard.

           Notable Urn and Willow type stones.

Rhode Island Slate grave dated 1805, featuring an urn design.  Often on Rhode
Island slates in this period, borders began consisting of pillars and geometrical
shapes instead of flowing scrolls or vine borders.

Two Urn and Willow stones, the left out of a dark slate dated 1822, the right dated 1804.  The dark slate intrigues me as I have seen almost identical stones in other yards in very small numbers, notably Scotland, Windham and Westford among others.  

A marble grave marker dated 1802, the stone shape makes me believe this is the work of
a Rhode Island carver.






This yard not only features many interesting old stones from a fair number of carvers, but a beautiful landscape, rolling hills near the back of the yard, cows grazing on the farmland.

The cemetery itself is on a hill, and makes for a beautiful environment.  The soil shifting over the years has made the stones often angled in peculiar ways.

Another angle of the hill.

Honestly a beautiful site even aside from the history and unique stones.

Hope you all enjoyed!