Address: West Road
Contemporary Name: Finley Family Cemetery
Historic Name: Finley Family Cemetery
Present Use: Cemetery
Historic Use: Cemetery
Date constructed: 1783-1863 (Baber)
Materials: Schist, marble, brownstone, granite
Size: .24 acre
Description: The approximately 65 stones of the Finley Family Cemetery are in the eastern two-thirds of the parcel. The western one-third is vacant. The monuments are lined up in rows running in the north-south direction. Most of the stones are schist in rectangular, segmental, and tombstone shapes. The predominant family names on the stones are Finley and Chamberlin. Many are carved; for instance, three Chamberlin stones dates 1789 are 1790 display arched tops carved with death’s heads, shoulders, foliate borders, and incised lettering. The Esther Finley and John Finley memorials both are carved schist but reflect changing tastes in funerary arts at the turn of the 19th century. Esther Finley, 1794, displays foliate vertical borders under the shoulders and winged death’s head in the arch in the traditional 18th century mode. John Finley, a somewhat larger stone of 1807, is still schist but with stylized vertical borders and an early 19th century urn in the arch, thereby reflecting contemporary evolving preference in funerary art. Dozens of other stones are similar. One schist stone of 1813 features the urn-and-willow motif. Several stones are broken off. Many are covered with biological growth and black crusts. On the whole, however, the cemetery is reasonably well maintained.
Significance: The Finley Family Cemetery is significant because of its many carved schist stones and because of the uniformity of appearance and character of the stones. Most turn-of-the-18th century cemeteries display monuments of brownstone, slate, schist, and marble in more-or-less equal proportions. Here almost all the stones are schist, an unusual uniformity. Elaborate carving of tombstones with such features as death’s heads, decorated shoulders, foliate borders, and incised legends proliferate in brownstone, which was easier to carve because it is soft. The large collection of schist stones with carving of this character in the Finley Family Cemetery is unusual. Continued preference for schist in this cemetery into the 19th century is demonstrated by the 19th century urn-and-willow design of 1813 executed in schist. The cemetery’s location about a quarter of a mile east of Jones Hollow Road suggests a Jones connection. Samuel Finley Jones, for who Jones Hollow Road was named, provides such relationship.
Sources: Baber, David. Capitol Region Council of Governments Historic Resource Survey of Marlborough, 1978.
Ransom, David. Historical and Architectural Resources Survey, Town of Marlborough, Connecticut. April 1998.
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