Palisado Cemetery

Palisado Cemetery

Located at 69 Palisado Avenue (Rt. 159 north of the Farmington River bridge) , this cemetery has sold all its gravesites but visitors are welc ome. It contains one of Connecticut’s oldest surviving gravestones, Ephraim Huit 1644. The southwest quadrant contains several 17th century stones and numerous 18th century stones made mostly of locally quarried sandstone. Due to their age and frailty, efforts have been made over the centuries to preserve them. Please read our Guidelines to help with the preservation of this outdoor museum.

Windsor’s “Burying Place” was first laid out in 1637. Originally on a much smaller piece of ground, it was located behind where the First Church meeting house now stands. Some tombstones have been re-sited and some have not survived. Many people buried here could not afford the expense of a gravestone and had wood markers, which weathered and disappeared quickly. By 1657 the Burying Place was out of room. An adjoining landowner provided more space which was cleared and his livestock grazed on it. The cemetery has sold all its gravesites. However, a new cemetery is being planned further north on Rt. 159 in Windsor.

---

New Ways to Experience Palisado Cemetery

Digital Mapping

The first is an interactive online map of all the graves in the cemetery along with a SEARCH capability. You can look at the map, and search for a particular grave or deceased person. When you click on the person’s name, you will immediately be brought to the grave, located within the cemetery. You can also review the deceased person’s vital statistics and a photograph of the grave. Walk to Grave: This technology also works if you are physically in the Cemetery and want to easily ‘walk to the grave.’
Click here to access this new map technology.

3-D Visual Technology

This is a 3D virtual tour of the most ancient part of Palisado Cemetery, an extraordinary record of early Windsor history with examples of the exquisite art of the gravestone carvers of the era. The tour also offers the visitor an accurate 360 degree view of selected gravestones of notable Windsor settlers, and especially features the stones of our American Revolutionary War Patriots, importantly preserving both the image information and the art of the monuments. As America approaches its 250th celebration (1776-2026), we honor those who preserved American freedom. Visit virtually anytime, from anywhere.
Click here to access.

Additional Information on Burials in Palisado Cemetery

Additional information is available by utilizing public search engines and applications like Find A Grave and Billion Graves. The Windsor Historical Society is a rich repository of the three hundred years of Windsor history.

There are numerous compilations of death records, burial records, and demographic information available to the public, including the Barbour Collection, the Hale Collection of Cemetery Inscriptions and Newspapers Notices, Jabez Hayden Collection, and the Abigail Wolcott Ellsworth Inscription book.

Cemetery Heritage

The First School Society has maintained the cemetery for over two hundred years. The Daughters of the American Revolution, Abigail Wolcott Ellsworth Chapter, has had a leadership role in preserving the details of individual graves in the cemetery for over one hundred years. This partnership has enabled the implementation of state-of-the art technology for the use by the public as well as the archiving of irreplaceable Windsor history.

---

Several of the interesting burials in the Palisado Cemetery include:

Oliver Ellsworth:
Windsor’s most nationally recognizable citizen. Member of Continental Congress, Third Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, administered oath of office to John Adams. Commissioner to France.

---

Roger Wolcott:
Colonial Governor. He was the Royal Governor of Connecticut from 1750 to 1754. Father of Oliver Wolcott who was one of the signer's of the Declaration of Independence.

---

Ephraim Huit:
Ephraim Huit was born in 1604 and died September 4, 1644. He was one of the first ministers of First Church in Windsor (Congregational) from 1639 to 1644.

---

Revolutionary War Soldiers: Revolutionary War Soldiers Buried in Palisado Cemetery (PDF)

---

Historical Information

Historical information courtesy of The Windsor Histor ical Society, and in particular Christine Ermenc, Executive Director; and the Abigail Wolcott Ellsworth Chapter of the DAR which copied all the cemetery inscriptions here in 1929; and to Barbara Sanborn who donated a notebook of with birth and death dates noted on gravestone s from 1894-2013.

Gravestone images courtesy of Find a Grave.com Palisado Cemetery.

Palisado Cemetery index on the website Interment.net.

Guidelines

Please help us preserve this cemetery by following these rules:

1. Parking must not be on the grass.
2. Dogs must be leashed and cleaned up after.
3. Gravestone rubbings of historic markers (pre-1900) are not permitted.
4. Please do not lean or sit on any gravestones.
5. Fresh flowers may be placed on graves and should be removed after one week.
6. Potted plants may be placed at graves but not dug into the soil.
7. Artificial flowers may be used only from November 1 through March 1.
8. The use of glass containers, balloons, stuffed animals, toys and fire of any kind is not permitted.
9. The planting of shrubbery or trees is not permitted.
10. The directors reserve the right to remove anything that detracts from the appearance of the cemetery or its road.
11. Clean ups are performed by cemetery employees. If you wish to save any loose items placed on gravesites, please remove them prior to the following dates:
    • March 1
    • Two weeks after Memorial Day
    • Two weeks after Veterans Day
    • Two weeks after Christmas
12. The directors, cemetery employees and cemetery representatives are not responsible for the loss of objects including monuments and markers or personal injury incurred on cemetery grounds.

A copy of the complete regulations is available from Carmon Funeral Home, 860/688-2200.

---

---