Descendants of the Jennings and Couch families gathered at Burying Hill Beach on Sunday to dedicate one of 4 new monuments extends the Jennings Trail.
What is now named Burying Hill Beach was referred to over 200 years as “The Couch Family Burial Ground/ Couch Burial Hill.” Purchased by Simon Couch around 1660, what he called “his beautiful hill overlooking the sea” was the only burial ground in Green’s Farms, until the West Parish developed its own in 1725.
Couch Burial Hill most likely holds the remains of many colonial settlers, including members of the Jennings, Couch and other local families. All were neighbors and relatives.
Members of the Jennings and Couch families gathered for Sunday’s celebration. (Photo/Emily Jennings)
Francis Andrews, a founder of Hartford, early settler of Fairfield (and Simon Couch’s father -in-law) is also said to be buried there.
The town of Westport acquired the property in 1893, after claiming that the last headstone had gone missing. The name “Couch Burial Hill” was changed to “Burying Hill Beach.” It was the first shoreline park to be designated and approved as a recreation area by the State Legislature.
The Jennings Trail Committee worked for 2 years to research, organize and fund the 4 additional monuments. Jennings Trail Committee chair Peter Jennings joined local historians Morley Boyd, Wendy Crowther, Robert Liftig and Bob Weingarten to complete this first phase of the project.
Peter Jennings and Inez Liftig install the plaque. (Photo/Bob Liftig)
Jennings Trail is a self-guided tour of 2 dozen historic Westport sites, each marked with a plaque. It was conceived in 1974, as part of Westport’s part of the US bicentennial.
The Trail is named for Bessie Jennings, whose family first settled in this area around 1650. She guided 3rd graders along it for many years.
Now under the stewardship of the Westport Historic District Commission, it is maintained — at his own expense — by Peter Jennings, an 11th-generation Westporter and Bessie Jennings’ cousin.
(For more information on Burying Hill Beach, click here.)
(“06880” reports regularly on today’s Westport news — and occasionally looks back. If you enjoy learning about our history, please click here to support our work. Thank you!)
Note, Robert T. Gault and the Westport Young Womens League, along with the then Westport Historical Society, were greatly responsible for the Jennings Trail Project for the centennial celebration.
When I was a lifeguard there I always new that it was the Couch family burial ground. I always wondered where on the property the graves were located. It didn’t make sense that they would be up on the hill since the lifeguard shack and bathrooms are there. I would have thought they would have disturbed the graves when the plumbing was installed or the seawall repaired.
I don’t think that either the Couch or Jennings families were one of the original five Bankside Farmer families, which were the Frost, Gray, Green, Newton and Andrews families. But I believe that the first generation of those five first families were buried there at Burying Hill.
The second and subsequent generations of the Grays were buried at what is today the Longshore Club, opposite Gray’s Creek. Most likely, as the settlers moved to western portions of today’s Westport, closer to the Saugatuck river and S. Compo Rd., the second generation descendants were buried farther west in Westport.
Lydia Frost Gray (whose child was the fist deed holder of the land underlying today’s Longshore Club) was the sister of Daniel Frost (they both lived on Beachside Ave.), and were members of the original five families. Their direct descendants live in Westport to this day.
Simon Couch bought the land to bury his father in law Andrews … and eventually himself. Couch’s daughter Mary married Samuel Jennings. Mary died in 1704. There was no other cemetery before 1725.
Aaron Fountain is supposed to be buried there
Yes. 1745. Last burial recorded. Any known family or relations?
Great. Thank you to all, and Westport Historic district for preserving our towns cherished history.
love your USA-WSPT- history posts, (as I get older I realize they did all of this settling USA not ‘that’ long ago 😉
Grant.