The Lives Buried in Wilton's Bald Hill Cemetery

Like a winter watchman, a snowdrift blocks Bald Hill Cemetery's small paved road. Until it melts, this historic Wilton cemetery appears to slumber. Indeed a winter such as this one can take its toll on the marble and sandstone markers.

“They do weather,” Walter R.T. Smith, the cemetery’s superintendent, said. “Eventually they will disappear. We try to maintain them. We put them upright. But the older stones aren’t as good as the granite ones. They’re nice when they’re put in, but they don’t last.”

Established in 1850, Bald Hill Cemetery holds many stories.

“You can get a pretty good picture of the town reading the ages on the stones and speculating what life was like,” Smith said.

The non-sectarian cemetery sits on land once owned by the Methodist Church.

There are 51 veterans buried on Bald Hill; they fought in seven of this nation’s wars, including six from the Civil War. According to local historian Robert Russell many Wilton men served in the 12^th and 23^rd Regiments in Louisiana during the Mississippi River campaign of 1863, or Vicksburg.

Both President Abraham Lincoln and Confederate President Jefferson Davis viewed Vicksburg as essential to the war. Lincoln said: “Vicksburg is the key. The war can never be brought to a close without the key in our pocket.” Davis, meanwhile, said: “Vicksburg is the nail that holds the two halves of the south together.”

The Union prevailed with the capture of Port Hudson, gaining control of the Mississippi.

There were several Wilton men among the 3,199 casualties. Captain George Godfrey died on April 1863. Malaria killed Sergeant Aaron Scribner and Walter Dikeman died of wounds sustained in Louisiana during the battle.

A monument in Bald Hill Cemetery honors the four Davis brothers who fought in the Civil War, including James Davis who was wounded and captured.

On Memorial Day, a member of Wilton’s American Legion Post 86 comes to the church-like plot and plants a small American flag at each of their graves.

Smith said a permanent, perpetual care fund covers the cost of maintaining the cemetery. And though the market has fluctuated a bit these past years, the fund has remained quite stable, Smith said.

So in 1997, the Bald Hill Cemetery’s Executive Committee voted to accept the offer of the Wilton Historical Society to provide assistance and support to The Bald Hill Cemetery Association, Inc. This helps maintain and preserve the historic cemetery.

On site sits a 170-year-old horse barn. In times past the minister and church members put their horses during services.

“It’s designed around the church,” Smith said. “It gives a great country feeling.”