After 158 years, Henry Moses Judah has a headstone.
The Westporter was the last Civil War general in the nation with an unmarked grave.
For 158 years, his remains lay in the town cemetery at the corner of Wilton Road and Kings Highway North. He shared his grave with several dozen others — including his father, Rev. Henry Judah, and mother Mary Jane. — in a tomb marked for Ozias Marvin.
The Judah family was among the first Jewish residents of Westport (then part of Norwalk). Michael moved from New York City in 1742 because of anti-Semitism. He was a merchant trader, specializing in corn shipped to the West Indies.
His son Henry became an Episcopal minister. (There was intermarriage in the family with non-Jews, including the Jesup family.)
Rev. Judah’s Henry Moses Judah fought in both the Mexican-American and Civil Wars. He died at 44 less than a year after the Civil War ended, apparently of alcoholism.
The Judas family owned an estate in Saugatuck, which was named for them. Over the years, Judah’s Point morphed into Judy’s Point.
Peter Jennings — an 11th generation Westporter, and the author of a book on local cemeteries — helped give General Judah his headstone. He also cleared brush from the site, before the headstone’s installation.
It was paid for by the US Department of Veterans Affairs. Installation costs were covered by Shrouded Veterans. The non-profit identifies, marks and restores 19th-century graves.
Meanwhile, plenty of restoration is needed for the graveyard at one of Westport’s most visible corners.
Grayson Braun, chair of the Westport Historic District, notes with chagrin that debris has been dumped throughout the cemetery.
Before the headstone was laid, she caught a neighbor dumping yard waste there.
(Want to learn more about this, and other Westport’s cemeteries? Click here.)
Brigadier General Henry Moses Judah’s tomb …
… and headstone. (Photos/Grayson Braun)
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The end is near for 246 Hillspoint Road.
The tiny wooden shotgun house has stood — if not tall, then proudly — as all its neighbors were torn down and replaced by far larger homes.
The 2-bedroom, 1-bath, 695-square foot house sold in 2022 for $1.5 million.
A demolition sign hangs on the side.
Another in front says “Luxury Homes.”
And though this is not luxurious — it’s just one of the last beach shacks left in Westport — we all know: This soon will be a luxury home too.
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Johanna Keyser Rossi describes today’s “Westport … Naturally” photo:
“This squirrel outfoxed the fox. He knew how to get to the bird feeder attached to the outside window at the Senior Center.
“He climbed up the wall. It was funny to watch. Then he chased away the dove on the ledge.”
(Photo/Johanna Keyser Rossi)
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And finally … today in 1965, the New York World’s Fair opened for its 2nd (and final) season.
“06880” featured the fair in Friday’s “Flashback.” Readers added many comments.
Plenty of them referenced Disney’s “It’s a Small World After All.” They still remember it, 6 decades later.
So here, for your listening pleasure — and to bring back visual memories too — is that classic earworm.
(It’s a small world — and “06880” connects Westport with all of it. But we can’t do it without our readers’ support. Please click here to make a tax-deductible contribution. Thank you!)
Missed yesterday’s World’s Fair reminisces, so here’s mine. AT&T had this oversize exhibit with two huge vertical time clocks. Below each one was a telephone: a rotary and a push-button (or touch-tone), not yet available. The whole purpose of the elaborate installation was to show you how much faster you could “dial” a number with the buttons rather than the wheel. They were softening the beaches for the product introduction! Which was later done very successfully. And, Dan, I too remember Belgian Waffles as being something exotic! Too funny now.
246 Hillspoint was the home of longtime Saugatuck El. School substitute teacher Ms. Dorothy Thomas. Lovely woman. For some of you older folk she was the mother of Scott and Donny…
Henry Judah had a more famous brother, Theodore Judah, who surveyed the route taken by the first transcontinental railroad. San Francisco, where I now live, has a Judah Street named in his honor.
God, another “luxury” home, don’t we have enough of these ugly, cookie-cutter, gone in a decade “luxury” homes?
Sound like some Westporters. Dumping there crap on a graveyard. Hey Dave, I remember those boys!