Heritage Trail Guide

Stop #12 - Birdsey’s Plain / Stepney Cemetery (1794)

The main entrance to the Birdsey’s Plain / Stepney Cemetery. The cemetery was established with a gift of land donated by Noah and James Burr, Jr. in 1794.

Next door to the Methodist Meetinghouse is the Birdsey’s Plain/Stepney Cemetery located at 25 Pepper Street.  In the Birdsey’s Plain/Stepney Cemetery lie nearly 1,400 men, women, and children.  Each life constitutes a footnote, a page, or a chapter in the story of Stepney’s development as a community.  This cemetery was established with a gift of land by Noah and James Burr, Jr.  in 1794, and subsequently enlarged in 1813 and 1844.  The earliest death date on a surviving tombstone is that for Nathaniel W.  Knapp who died in 1797.

Many individuals associated with sites on the Stepney Heritage Trail are interred here.  They include industrialists William Penfield, Ira Penfield, Barnum Curtiss (with three of his four wives!) and Andrew Barnum Curtiss; merchant Burr Hawley; postmasters Harriet Platt and Stephen French; pioneer settler Thomas Hawley; and James Burr whose sons donated this land for a burial ground.

Buried here are more than 40 men who helped direct the course of American history through military service in crucial conflicts.  Among their number are five veterans of the Revolutionary War, six veterans of the War of 1812, and 31 veterans of the Civil War.

One of the main entrance gates to the cemetery as seen from Pepper Street. A gatepost and flower detail of the cast iron work was typical of the late nineteenth century.

Some of the more notable people who are buried in this cemetery include: Captain Allen Corning born in 1760 and died in 1842 at 82 years.  He was a Revolutionary War Soldier who crossed the Delaware River with George Washington and was present at the surrender of Lord Cornwallis.  Luzon Nichols was born in 1779 and died in 1850.  He was named for the Duc de Luzon who led French troops through Monroe during the American Revolution on their way to Yorktown to help the colonists defeat the British.  The residents were so appreciative and some named their newborns in Duc de Luzon’s honor.  Captain Hanford Hull was born in 1860 and died in 1892 at 86 years.  He was a captain in Stepney’s local militia.  He built many of the homes around the Stepney Green.  Ira Penfield was born in 1835 and died in 1930 at 94 years.  He fought at the Battle of Chancellorsville and was taken prisoner.  The Monroe Historical Society has in its archives numerous copies of heartfelt letters that he wrote to his wife while serving the country during the Civil War.  Ira Penfield and his wife and children lived in Stepney on Crescent Place.  He taught at a private school in his home.

Vera Hubbell Blakeman was born 1894 and died in 1952.  She was the wife of DT Blakeman.  Hubbell Drive in Stepney is named for her.  Vera was a teacher in the East Village Barn Hill School.  She and her class are depicted on the cover of Images of America - Monroe, published by Arcadia Publishing Company.  Irma Nichols was born in 1899 and died in 1971.  She was the daughter of CF and ML Nichols.  Irma was a charter member of the Monroe Historical Society, a life member of the Stepney Baptist Church, graduated from Mount Holyoke College, and worked for 25 years as an office manager of the Newtown Bee.  Steven Hayes was born in 1847 and died in 1933.  He lived in Stepney and was First Selectman of the Town of Monroe.  He was known as a great storyteller and would often tell entertaining stories at the Burritt Hawley Store.  His daughter Mabel Nichols said that he especially enjoyed telling stories about Hanna Cranna, the witch of Monroe.  The cemetery has been the location of numerous sightings of an unknown spirit called the ”White Lady”.  Stepney residents Ed and Larraine Warren, America’s Top Ghost Hunters, have documented this spirit. 

Details of the Hawley and Corning family memorial stones. Thomas Hawley played a role on the home front in the war for American Independence. He served on the Committee of Inspection appointed in 1776 to “keep watch and ward” in Stratford, of which Monroe was then still part, and which bordered the vulnerable Long Island coast. The Corning family was one of the first families to settle in Stepney.

Other individuals such as Deacon James Hawley, 1809-1853; Andrew Northrop, 1814-1883; Elihu Beardsley, 1777-1844; Salty Beers, 1833-1861; Betsey Peck, 1815-1899; David Burr, 1776-1819; Hiriam Leavenworth, 1760-1853; Jerusha E.  Wakeley, 1821-1869; Eloisa Curtis Botsford, 1793-1859; Truman Hubbell, 1828-1850; Rebecca Winton, 1767-1816; and Mary Cole, 1790-1867 all represent families who made Stepney their home.  For it is in Stepney that these people chose to establish businesses, gather to protest the Civil War, manufacture goods in support of the war, serve in World Wars, farm the land, worship and bury generations of family members.

Physically the Birdsey’s Plain/Stepney Cemetery is a 3.1-acre burial ground.  Most of the memorial stones are carved of granite.  There is a great variety in the designs utilized for the monuments including obelisks and tall columns with urns at their tops.  The cemetery has a single lane “U” shaped road for vehicular access to the rear.  There are two entrances and one exit located along Pepper Street.  The cemetery boundaries are marked by stonewalls and original black ironwork fences and gates, typical of the nineteenth century and earlier.