Searching For Traces Of Newtown’s Past

In A Sandy Hook Side Yard

By Nancy K. Crevier

As Newtown nears the 300th anniversary of its founding, uncovering the town’s history continues as an everyday quest for Town Historian Dan Cruson. This week he enlisted some high tech expertise in that pursuit.

On Tuesday, July 26, Mr Cruson and the town’s geographic information systems (GIS) director Scott Sharlow met in the side yard of Susan and Philip Knoche on Riverside Drive with Connecticut State Archaeologist Nick Bellantoni; Shawn McVey, the assistant state soil scientist from the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS)’ Deb Surabian, NRCS; Jim Doolittle, specialist in geophysical tools with NRCS; and members of the Friends of the State Archaeologist, John Spaulding and David Cook. With the help of an electromagnetic (EM) meter and ground penetrating radar (GPR) they hoped to determine if the property was the site of an early 19th Century cemetery.

In 2003, when the Knoches purchased their summer home on the Housatonic River, they ended up with an old map of the house site. Indicated on the map was an area marked “reserved grave lot.”

“We were curious as to what it was all about — if it had been used,” says Mrs Knoche, “so my husband contacted the town last summer.”

Scott Sharlow had also red flagged the plot of land when doing parcel mapping for the town’s geographic information systems. The 1923 map and questions it raised deserved further research.

At that time, Mr Cruson, Mr Bellantoni, Mr Sharlow, and Dave Poirier, archaeologist for the department of tourism, walked the Knoche property, turning up a footstone and other evidence of burial grounds. Faded initials — A.B. — could be seen on the fragment, but no date was legible.

Terry O’Connell’s property, adjacent to that of the Knoches’ and part of the indicated reserved grave plot, yielded other exciting finds. Slabs of marble bases, mysteriously missing the tops, were plowed to the surface as he tilled his yard. The fact that these marker pieces are of marble indicate any burials would date from the early 1800s, says Mr Spaulding, who is also the research coordinator for the association for gravestone studies. Evidence collected so far shows, he says, that “it is probably a family grave site.”

Who was the family, and what is the significance of the discovery of their grave site?

According to Mr Cruson, more than likely it is the family of Abel Bennett, who farmed the property in the early 1800s, along with his sons and daughter. Bennett’s Bridge once crossed the river not far from the site, and took its name from the family.

Tombstone inscriptions recorded as a part of the WPA during the Depression show eight Bennett burials in an area thought to be that of the Knoche property. The determination of the burials and the extent of them is a matter of “respect for the past,” says Mr Cruson. “If a family is buried there, it shouldn’t be under someone’s driveway. It’s part of our heritage.” The knowledge of the grave plots could also be pertinent to future sales of the property. “Future owners,” cautions Mr Cruson, “could get a little squeamish about burials on their property. It happens.”

The discoveries warranted research that only an EM meter or GPR could provide, but because Connecticut does not own any of this equipment or employ a technician to interpret GPR readings, Mr Bellantoni had to wait for the once-a-year training session when NCRS would bring the equipment to the region.

A Sled In July

So, on the hottest day of the 2005 summer thus far, NRCS scientists provided Mr Bellantoni with the technical assistance to delve deeper into the mysteries buried beneath the soil of the Knoches’ yard. Working systematically on a carefully measured grid system of rope and flags, Deb Surabian dragged the GPR “sled” slowly across each plot, followed by Jim Doolittle wearing a small geophysical survey systems computer trussed into a back pack. 

As the GPR system moves across the land, it shoots radar into the ground. The radar bounces off of dense areas deep in the earth, sending back a signal to the computer.

“We’re looking for less dense areas, as well as tombstones themselves,” said Mr Cruson. A less dense area indicates an area of disturbed soil, which may designate a grave.

After several passes with the GPR system, Mr Doolittle paused to briefly analyze the data. What looks to the untrained eye as a work of abstract art is easily interpreted by this technician. “We are looking for breaks in the readout — it shows a ‘feature,’” he said. Something highly concentrated in the ground, such as the tombstones the investigators hope to find, will appear as a white area on the computer amid the waves of reds, blacks, and yellows. 

All of the techniques used to probe the site are of the noninvasive variety. “Sometimes,” said Mr Doolittle, “we’re looking for preservation. We don’t want to dig it up.” Other remote sensing methods used by archaeologists include aerial photography and a tool utilized by this crew: a long, hollow metal rod about 1½ inches in diameter used to collect soil samples. The variations in a cross section of soil retrieved by this tool can tell scientists much about the history of that particular area.

Tuesday’s search was inconclusive, although the radar and soil cores showed some indication of disturbance. However, this does not mean that it is not a burial site. “We are fairly certain that it is,” said Mr Cruson.

It is up to Mr Doolittle to process the isolated data collected on the computer now. “I’ll develop a 3D map,” he said. “You can then see if you pick up any anomalies, such as tree roots, utility lines — or graves. Lots of times things don’t obviously show up. We look for patterns.”

Identification of the grave plot will increase knowledge available to future generations. It will be added to the GIS maps for the town currently being constructed by Mr Sharlow that locate major features of a town, such as roads, houses, vegetation, and of course, cemeteries.

Regardless of how extensive the discovery does or does not turn out to be, there remains, says Mr Cruson, “the excitement factor when you find out something new about an area.”