Documenting Cemeteries for Their Protection and Preservation

Dr. R. Christopher Goodwin, PhD

Introduction For more than three decades, Dr. R. Christopher Goodwin has

acted as principal investigator for significant cultural resource investigations performed by his firm R. Christopher Goodwin and Associates, Inc. (RCGA). Dr. Goodwin’s group has been performing a series of projects for Connecticut’s State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) with funding appropriated by the U.S. Congress and administered by the National Park Service.

This series of projects includes documentation of selected historic cemeteries in Connecticut, ranging from municipal burial grounds to historic church and institutional cemeteries. Much of the history of the state is manifested in these burial grounds, which illustrate the historical change from Colonial cemeteries and family plots and eventually to memorial parks. 

Documenting Cemeteries Another aspect of this project is creation and free distribution of a

mobile app that will enable users to document, record and share information about cemeteries of importance to them, their families and communities. In doing so and by sharing the information recorded on the app with the Connecticut State Historic Preservation Office, residents will be able to initiate a process to get formal historical recognition and designation for local cemeteries that might be eligible for listing on the Connecticut or National Registers of Historic Places. The app will allow Information to be gathered on monuments, landscapes, and markers so that the information can be shared with the public. 

The Goodwin team currently is preparing nominations of cemeteries in Stonington, Old Saybrook and Middletown for the National Register of Historic Places, as well as assisting in resiliency planning for the coastal counties of Connecticut.