Address: South Main Street
Contemporary Name: Century Cemetery
Historic Name: Century Cemetery
Present Use: Cemetery
Historic Use: Cemetery
Date constructed: c. 1800
Materials: Brownstone, schist, slate, marble, granite, zinc
Size: .87 acres
Description: Century Cemetery has about 500 markers, arranged in rows running north-south parallel with South Main Street. The oldest, which are concentrated on the west side and start as early as 1781, are round-headed schist stones carved with shoulders and death’s heads. Rectangular schist stones decorated only with incised script dating roughly from 1795 to 1831 are nearby. Round-headed brownstone markers from the turn of the 19th century, to the east, are carved with volutes and foliate borders. Several are deteriorated and crumbling, the brownstone substance having lost its binder. Segmentally topped marble monuments number in quantity during the first quarter of the 19th century. There are two marble obelisks from the third quarter of the 19th century and two brownstone obelisks from the fourth quarter. The cemetery has two metal objects. One is the gate in the center of the stone wall along South Main Street. It is composed of wrought-iron pickets and cast-iron posts. The other is the zinc monument of the type made by the Monumental Bronze Company of Bridgeport, Connecticut, although this one is not signed. It is a typical example of the firm’s Neo-Classical Revival/Baroque work. In general, the cemetery is well-maintained. Some stones are broken off; some have been repaired; there is little indication of vandalism. Many stones are covered with black crusts and biological growth. The encircling stone wall is tall, deep, and in good repair. Hall refers to the cemetery as the “old burying ground,” and mentions that the circumferential wall was built prior to 1846 and re-laid in 1846.
Significance: Century Cemetery displays good examples of the 19th century memorial markers in the schist, slate, brownstone, and marble popular at the time. Most stones post-date the 18th century’s heavily carved symbols of angels, death’s head and homespun homilies and legends. It appears that this is Marlborough’s first town-wide cemetery, earlier burials having been made in the older towns of Glastonbury, Colchester, and Hebron from which Marlborough was formed and in family cemeteries (see, for example, the Finley Cemetery on West Street). Many interments later in the 19th century and through the 20th century were made in another town-owned location known as Marlboro Cemetery.
Sources: Hall, Mary. Report of the Celebration of the Centennial of the Incorporation of the Town of Marlborough. 1904.
Ransom, David. Historical and Architectural Resources Survey, Town of Marlborough, Connecticut. April 1998.
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