Gallow Hill Cemetery, Part 1

While out driving in Connecticut yesterday we passed a cemetery I had seen from a distance on many occasions. This time we stopped and it was well worth the trouble. Located in Brookfield, CT, this small cemetery was established in 1734, as you can see from the first photo. The oldest stone I could find was 1757, as shown in the third picture. There were numerous older looking stones but they were too badly weathered to find a legible date. A majority of the headstones fall in the 1800 to 1850 range, although a few date from the 1870s as well. I'm guessing that this cemetery was little used after the mid-19th century because of its distance from the town itself. The 1757 stone is unusual for this cemetery because it's the only one cut from this reddish stone. Also, it incorporates the angel motif that I've more often found up in Vermont. Given the popularity of the carved angel faces on early- to mid-18th century New England stones, there were probably other examples of this motif on the severely weathered stones. Surrounded by a beautiful stone wall, the Gallow Hill Cemetery was no more than three to four acres large.