ANNOUNCEMENT: Caroline Mills Smith Mead Memorial Garden and Mead Family Cemetery at Cos Cob

 

Caroline Mills Smith Mead (Mrs. William H. Mead)

The Historic Mead Family Burying Grounds Association, Inc., announces the establishment of the Caroline Mills Smith Mead Memorial Garden at the Mead Family Cemetery in Cos Cob. 

The Caroline Mills Smith Mead Memorial Garden was established in conjunction with the centennial of the passage of the 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution granting women the right to vote in elections. 

"While Mrs. Mead was not known to be a suffragist, the garden pays respects to a woman whose business acumen, foresight and philanthropy were well-known throughout Greenwich," said Jeffrey Bingham Mead, historian and founder of The Historic Mead Family Burying Grounds Association.

From the Greenwich News, June 10, 1910, page 7, column 5: "Mrs. Mead was a prominent woman in Greenwich, a woman of strong character in mind and one highly respected in town. She was born in 1826 in Stamford, the daughter of Ebenezer and Rhoda Smith. On her marriage to Mr. Mead she came to Greenwich to live in the old homestead which is now occupied by Mr. Young. Thirty-seven years ago her husband died and upon her then devolved the task of looking out after his large land holdings. In recent years she has done much to improve the property. She had four streets laid out, Mead Circle, Suburban avenue, Glendale street, and Randolph place, all of which are well built up. She showed remarkable business ability in all of her dealings, and much to build up Cos Cob. Mrs. Mead was one of the oldest members of Christ Church and was active in church work. She was a member of the New Canaan chapter of the D.A.R."

Caroline Mills Smith Mead's 'Mead Circle' real estate development in Cos Cob. Map dated 1906.

In 1906, Mrs. Mead laid out streets and developed real estate from her late-husband's lands she inherited upon his death. The area was at one time known as Mead Circle. It included Suburban Avenue, Tremont Street, Randolph Place, Glendale Street and some housing plots along the east side of Sinawoy Road. 

From Greenwich Graphic, June 11, 1910 after she died: "Mrs. Mead owned a large acreage of Cos Cob property, and although advanced in years was deeply interested in building up that part of the town, opening up her land into desirable building lots, handsome cottages having been built on many, Mrs. Mead's wish being that only a good class of houses be constructed, and the attractive section known as Mead Circle, which has so rapidly built up the past few years, was a part of her holdings." 

For example: 10 Tremont Street (circa 1900), 19 Tremont Street (circa 1910), , 23 Tremont Street, was built circa 1906, as well as 25 Tremont Street. 

The memorial garden consists of a strip of land ("Right of Way to Cemetery") connecting the Mead Cemetery on the east side of the Cos Cob Mill Pond to the terminus of Relay Place. "This is the same path to and from the cemetery that she would have traversed when visiting the graves of her father, Ebenezer Smith, and her husband, William H. Mead," said Association president, Jeffrey Bingham Mead.

"She died in the home she built and gave to her caretaker, Mary Frances Peck, at 7 Relay Place," Mead continued. "Caroline's funeral was held in the home. Her final journey was from the house to the end of Relay Place, along the path to the cemetery where she was interred in June, 1910. In her recorded last will and testament she hand drew the property lines as they are still today in the 21st century." 

The land -including the cemetery, which was established circa 1791- has been in the family's possession since the late 17th century. It measures approximating one-third of an acre. 

Work on the memorial garden and cemetery was originally scheduled to begin in March, 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic and government-instituted lockdowns at that time delayed the initial start of the project. 

Starting in October, 2020 work resumed and is continuing throughout the winter into Spring, 2021. The Association's goal is to complete most work by May 15, 2021. 

This will include the creation of flower beds along the property lines and shoreline along the Cos Cob Mill Pond; the trimming and removal of some trees, planting of perennial and annual ornamental flowers and the installation of either an arbor or gate at the entrance. 

  

At the same time, work is being performed on the cemetery. This includes the replacement of sod and invasive vines, removal and trimming of trees, the planting of ground-covers and the cleaning of grave markers. 

Ebenezer Smith, father of Caroline Mills Smith Mead, is interred in the cemetery. 

A long time ago a massive oak tree once graced the landscape in front of the Mead home located where Cos Cob Elementary School is today. 

The drawing featured here is by Whitman Bailey of the "Bill Mead Oak." No one recalls when the tree came down, though it reputedly happened during a hurricane. The tree was so large that a large section of the trunk was hollow, allowing people to actually go inside. 

The date of this drawing, allegedly from a photograph, is 1930.

The William H. Mead House (left), now the site of  Cos Cob Elementary School (right)

The Caroline Mills Smith Mead House, circa 1904, at 391 East Putnam Avenue, Cos Cob.
Today it is the home of Greenwich Dentistry.  

The Caroline Mills Smith Mead Memorial Garden and the Mead Family Cemetery at Cos Cob are not open to the public. 

Escorted visits must be arranged by appointment-only through the Association. 

An application is in the process of submission to have the property listed on the Connecticut State Register of Historic Places. 

The Mead Family Cemetery at Cos Cob is a private family plot with burials restricted to Mead family descendants. 

Contact meadburyinggrounds@gmail.com for further information.