Consultants’ Report on ‘Maple Street Burial Grounds’ Addresses Merritt Village Conditions

Though a tooth, coffin fragments and pieces of arm, finger, leg and pelvis bone turned up following an archeological study of the “Maple Street Burial Grounds,” the only bodies still buried there already have been identified, according to a new report.

The body and coffin pieces speak to shoddy work in transferring 13 bodies long ago from the burial grounds to sites such as Lakeview Cemetery, and do not constitute current interments, two experts from a Westport-based archeological and historic structure consulting firm said in a report published last week.

As such, construction of a new, 110-unit housing complex approved in November by the New Canaan Planning & Zoning Commission can proceed with a few basic protective measures, Cece Saunders and Dawn Brown of Historical Perspectives Inc. said in their Feb. 16 report.

“The archaeological excavations confirmed the presence of three intact Law family burials, the historic removal of eleven Hoyt-Keeler family burials and the historic removal of two St. John family burials,” according to the report. “No other burial shafts were encountered.”

During construction of the “Merritt Village” apartment-and-condo complex in the middle of the Maple-Mead-Park Streets block, property owner and developer M2 Partners should, according to the firm:

1. Impose a ten-foot, no-impact protection strip on the east, west, north, and south sides of the east, west, north, and south burial shaft survey points.
2. Delineate the outside limits of the no-impact protection zone with protective fencing to avoid accidental intrusion and/or use of the area for lay down.
3. Post warning signs of “Burial Remains” on the fence along the protection strip.

The findings come as M2 is scheduled to appear before P&Z next week with an amended site plan and special permit application.

Following P&Z’s approval in November, which came with 60-plus conditions, the graves of a prominent shoemaker from the early 19^th Century and two of his relatives turned up in one section of a parcel located alongside one of the planned Merritt Village buildings.

Historical Perspectives Inc.’s conclusion that no additional burials are located on M2’s property appears to clear the developer with respect to at least some of the P&Z conditions. (In December, M2 had filed an administrative appeal citing several of the conditions that involve the burial ground.)

Archeologists excavating from the burial ground site also turned up an early-1900’s trash “midden,” or old dump for domestic waste, according to the consultants.

Saying that “the study of the Maple Street Burial Grounds will considerably add to the history of New Canaan, Connecticut,” the consultants trace the origins of coffin remnants unearthed at the site, artifacts that “show a transition of burial practices and possible socioeconomic differentiation in 19th century New Canaan.”

They discovered coffin hardware—corroded nails and white metal screws, fragments of coffin wood, tacks, flat glass and butt hinges—and in the case of the shoemaker, David Law (whose burial site was left as it was found), clear flat glass over the head of the coffin.

“The growing popularity of coffin viewing windows in the 19^th century was a reflection of both a fear of being buried alive and the increased desire to view the dead, which was spawned by the introduction of embalming, the development of sanitary measures and the germ theory, and advancement in the craft of undertaking that improved the appearances of corpses,” according to Saunders and Brown.

The bodies found at the Maple Street Burial Grounds reflected trends in interment in other ways, the consultants found.

While in the 18^th century, the bodies of the deceased were prepared by the family and coffins made by cabinet-makers using regular furniture hardware, burying the dead by the mid-19^th century “becomes a specialized field with undertakers and mass produced coffins and specifically designed hardware (silver nameplate and decorative coffin screws).”

Meanwhile, M2 officials say they have filed for demolition permits in December, and notified residents that they will need to relocate.

M2 Partners still has several months of architectural work ahead of it, managing partner Arnold Karp has said, and is looking at extensive abatement work removing asbestos and lead paint prior to the physical demolition.

The two-year project, if it starts in earnest in the next few months, should be finished by the spring of 2019, he said.