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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."
"Lambertine Constance
1857 - 1933"
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).
All photos copyright by the author, 2010. Not to be used or reproduced without permission.
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