You may have driven by a thousand times and never noticed there is one acre of Wilton history at the intersection of Rte. 7 and Sharp Hill Rd., but now there’s a new sign to mark the old cemetery at the corner, above the high rock wall that holds back the ancient hilly terrain.
The sign was hand-crafted and installed last month by Ian Tesar of the Wilton Congregational Church, and its words tell only the beginning of the story: “Sharp Hill Cemetery, 1738, Wilton Congregational Church.” The spot holds a great deal of Wilton history as the second location of the Wilton Congregational Church. The cemetery was located right beside the original building, which was built in 1738.
Founded in 1726, the Wilton Congregational Church was first located on Wolfpit Rd., on the west side of the Norwalk River. But the needs of the growing community led the congregation to acquire land in 1738, at the corner where Sharp Hill meets Danbury Rd., and there they built a new structure for worship. Today, when you turn onto Sharp Hill Rd., you’ll still see the low stone wall and a wooden entry that was built in 1917 to define the property. A bronze corner stone marker was also installed that year to commemorate this site.
It is worth a visit to view the many fascinating gravestones, some with skull-and-crossbone motifs carved into the stone. Sharp Hill Cemetery is the final resting place for 23 Revolutionary War veterans and for many members of the founding families of Wilton, including names such as Belden, Dudley, Grumman, Hurlbutt, Olmstead and Sturges. Original fieldstone markers, as were customarily used to mark graves, are still in existence.
Burials continued at Sharp Hill Cemetery until 1934. You can obtain a map of graves at the cemetery from the Wilton Congregational Church office (70 Ridgefield Rd.). An excellent history of the cemetery is available in Bob Russell’s classic book Wilton, Connecticut outlining three centuries of the town’s history (available at the Wilton Historical Society and the Wilton Library).
In 1790, the Wilton Congregational Church dedicated the sanctuary at its current Ridgefield Rd. location, the centerpiece of the Wilton Center Historic District, listed in the state and national Register of Historic Places. Today, Wilton Congregational Church continues to care for Sharp Hill Cemetery. The church also owns and operates Hillside Cemetery, a 27-acre site located just north of the church on Ridgefield Rd.. Hillside Cemetery is a non-sectarian cemetery open to all faiths and functions as the primary burial site for Wilton residents.
