Friends of Cedar Grove Cemetery

May 2, 2025

CEDAR GROVE CEMETERY TO FORM FRIENDS GROUP

NEW LONDON - Interested in preserving New London’s history and natural beauty? The new Friends of Cedar Grove Cemetery will strive to accomplish this.

An organizational meeting of the Friends group is scheduled for 6 p.m. on Wednesday, May 28 at the Beckwith office building and chapel just inside the cemetery’s Broad Street gates. All are invited to attend.

Cedar Grove Cemetery recently was added to the state and National Register of Historic Places. The Friends group will support the non-profit New London Cemetery Association that oversees Cedar Grove in a variety of ways. Some of the possible service projects the group could oversee include:

• Clean up and planting days at the cemetery -
• Educational workshops about monument care -
• Increased historic-themed tours, tree walks and other events that aim to expand cemetery visitation -
• Fund-raising for important restoration work such as to the Beckwith office building and chapel or to the cemetery pond, allowing for more public access to these important spaces

Those who attend the meeting will have the opportunity to see the Beckwith Chapel and gain insight into the renovation work planned for the building.

Cedar Grove Cemetery was established in the mid-1800s as part of the rural cemetery movement, a time when cemeteries were designed to be as much peaceful park-like areas as they were burial grounds to honor the dead. Cedar Grove is the final resting place of many of New London’s most important historical figures, including whalemen, business and political leaders, historians, artists and others.

Many historic cemeteries have Friends groups that support and promote the cemeteries’ missions. Indian Hills Cemetery in Middletown and Cedar Hill in Hartford are two such local cemeteries.

For questions and more information, contact New London Cemetery Association board members Suzanne O’Connor at [email protected] or Gail B. MacDonald at [email protected].