Long Hill Burial Ground

Shelton, Connecticut

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Long Hill Burial Ground (not to be confused with Long Hill Burial Ground in Trumbull) is located on Long Hill Avenue, just off Constitution Boulevard in Shelton, Connecticut. It was established in 1720 and boasts one "famous" interment: Henry Shelton Sanford. Continue on this page for additional information about Sanford, as well as photos of his unusual memorial.

Estimated number of interments, as of January 2024: at least 386.

Photos taken 17 March 2010.

A view of Long Hill Burial Ground. The oldest stones (1700s) are on the left.

One of the older, if not the oldest, stone in Long Hill.

"Here Lyes the Body of Mr. Isaac Bennett

aged about 70 years

died May the 23d 1720"

"Here Lyes Buried ye (the) Body of

Capt. NATHAN BENNET Who Departed this Life

Sept. 19th A.D. 1748 Aged 51 Years."

"Here lies the Body of

EBENEZER WAKLEE who died in

Jan.y AD. 1796, in the

35th Year of his Age."

Henry Shelton Sanford

The Honorable Henry Shelton Sanford, L.L.D. was in the

diplomatic service from 1843 until 1891.

In 1871, he founded the town of Sanford, Florida.

In 1878, he convinced the famous adventurer Henry Morton Stanley

to explore the African Congo for Belgium's King Leopold II.

Sanford later became one of the founders of the Congo Free State in Africa.

"Hon. Henry Shelton Sanford, L.L.D.

Born June 15, 1823, Woodbury, Conn. Died May 2, 1891, Healing Springs, Va.

And thus this man died leaving his death for an example of

a noble courage and a memorial of virtue,

not only unto young men, but unto all his nation. - 2MAC.V.1-31"

The Sanford memorial also lists his wife,

Gertrude Ellen du Puy Sanford (June 27, 1841 - June 1, 1902),

their daughters, Gertrude E. du Puy Sanford (Nov. 16, 1869 - April 28, 1893),

Frida Delores Sanford (Feb. 28, 1871 - Dec. 17, 1950) and

Edwynne Emmeline Wilhelmina McKinnon Sanford (Nov. 26, 1881 - March 17, 1953),

and their son, Henry Shelton Sanford, Jr., B.A. (July 17, 1865 - Oct. 1, 1891).

Also in the Sanford plot, but represented by separate memorials, are

the Sanford's daughter Helene Carola Nancy Sanford Dow (April 10, 1876 - August 8, 1962),

and Henry Sanford's parents, Nehemiah Curtis Sanford (died June 23, 1841) and

Nancy Bateman Shelton Sanford (died Dec. 24, 1880).