Oak Lawn Cemetery (Fairfield, Connecticut)

In 1864, the Connecticut General Assembly authorized Captain Jonathan Godfrey to purchase twelve acres near Bronson Road for "no more than $12,000". On December 29, 1865, the Oak Lawn Cemetery Association was incorporated.[1] The oak was regarded as a symbol of immortality in the 19th century and there was a white oak tree across the street from the parcel at Bronson Street.[1][2] Captain Edwn Sherwood served as the first president of the Oak Lawn Cemetery Association from 1865 to September 1886.[1]

Sturges Ogden was charged with the care of the white oak in 1818. The David Ogden House was renovated in 1935 and opened to visitors to the cemetery.[3][4]

In 1866, sixteen people were buried at Oak Lawn. In 1867, 46 people were buried. More than half of the first 170 burials were transferred from the West Burying Ground.[1] As of 1881, there were 435 burials at Oak Lawn.[5]

As of May 2006, Oak Lawn Cemetery includes the remains of "nearly 10,000 people" and was "almost one hundred acres".[1] As of 2015, the cemetery had over 1,200 veterans remains.[2]

In 2021, a memorial of two granite towers on top of a pentagon granite structure was built in honor of 9/11 victims.[6]

Grave of Mary Tyler Moore at Oak Lawn Cemetery

• Hugh D. Auchincloss (1858–1913), merchant and businessman
• Frederic Bronson (1851–1900), lawyer
• Michael J. Daly (1924–2008), U.S. Army officer and Medal of Honorary recipient
• Charles I. DeBevoise (1872–1958), U.S. Army officer and Distinguished Service Medal recipient
• John H. Esquirol (1900–1970), bishop of Episcopal Diocese of Connecticut[7]
• Mary Tyler Moore (1936–2017), American actress[8]
• Jason Robards (1922–2000), American actor[8]
• James C. Shannon (1896–1980), judge and governor of Connecticut[9]
• Franco Ventriglia (1922–2012), opera singer[10]
• Mabel Osgood Wright (1859–1934), American author

• List of cemeteries in Connecticut

• Oak Lawn Cemetery (official website)
• ProPublica - Oak Lawn Cemetery Association