I am making my way through Walter W. Woodward’s book Creating Connecticut: Critical Moments that Shaped a Great State.  Woodward is Connecticut’s State Historian and an associate professor of History at UConn.  The book is about how people and events in Connecticut’s past have played important parts in forming the character and culture of the state of Connecticut today.  

There was an interesting chapter about the Puritans, artwork, and gravestones.  It was common practice that Puritan settlers would cluster their homes around village greens.  Though as second and third generations of Puritans began to settle in this area, people began moving further out from the center of town to individual farms.  Ministers and town leaders worried about social isolation. 

Believe it or not, town cemeteries became symbols of community connection.  Woodward explains, “In a society that normally rejected artistic expression as too worldly, the town cemetery became a gallery of vivid remembrance . . . the ‘yard’ became an essential site of local identity, self-expression, and community.”*

It ends up that one of the most famous gravestone carvers was a man named Benjamin Collins of Columbia, CT.  Gravestones that Collins carved from 1726-1759 appear in quite a few graveyards around the state, including here in Colchester!  (As an aside, I read this chapter and was so disappointed that I’m reading this book in winter and need to wait a while before trying to find some of Benjamin Collins’ handiwork if I’m able).  Collins carved a heart in almost every stone because he was a parishioner of Rev. Eleazar Wheelock (a famous Great Awakening evangelist).  The heart symbolized both the new birth in Christ and eternal life, essential teachings among those who were part of the Great Awakening movement.

As we (carefully) walk by the snowy scenes around our church, keep in mind that generations who came before us viewed not just our historic Meeting House but the burying ground next door as a gathering place for the Colchester community.  Just a thought to share this week. 

Love,
Pastor Lauren

*Walter W. Woodward, Creating Connecticut: Critical Moments That Shaped a Great State, pgs. 57-58.

Photo by Rev. Lauren Ostrout.

Thursday Thoughts 1/18/24