Dispute over old burial grounds ends
A stipulation to end a lawsuit over a burial ground believed to contain the remains of early black and Native American residents of Greenwich has been finalized.
The conceptual plan will go to state Superior Court in Stamford for formal approval. The three main parties involved — the homeowners whose property adjoins the cemetery, the town of Greenwich and the descendants of the people buried there — signed off on a negotiated deal late last week.
The parties have been working to commemorate, preserve and honor a small section of the burial ground, known historically as the Colored Cemetery, below the larger Byram Cemetery. The issues of property rights of nearby homeowners were taken into account.
The settlement calls for a plaque to be placed in the area, which will be designated as a cemetery under the ownership and control of the town of Greenwich. It will be open to people who want to pay their respects. Some modifications to a retaining wall at the site will be made.
The Byram Cemetery is where members of one of the first European families to settle in Greenwich, the Lyon family, are interred, along with Revolutionary War soldiers. The burial of slaves associated with the Lyon family in the 1700s is assumed to have been carried out below the Byram Cemetery, and Native Americans are also believed to have been buried there.
Teresa Vega, a descendant of an early Greenwich family, and a group of other descendants have been pushing for the site to be recognized as a cemetery. She and the other descendants were formally named as parties to the lawsuit.
Vega said she was happy about the new designation that the stipulation entails.
“We get to make that section of the cemetery a historic site,” she said, and a plaque would honor those buried there. “The plaque will pay tribute to the African and native roots of Greenwich.”