When Fairfield was first laid out in 1639, this land was set aside as a burying ground. Care and preservation help old burial grounds survive, and gravestones reveal stories about the town and its residents. Many of the earliest graves are no longer marked, and some headstones are broken, covered by earth, or were used as masonry. The oldest surviving markers are simple undecorated stones with very little information. The oldest marked gravestone is inscribed "1687 S.M." and is believed to mark the grave of Samuel Morehouse, who served as county marshal and lieutenant from 1675 to 1687. During the late 1700s and throughout the 1800s, gravestones became more sculptural and biographical, reflecting ideas about death and the value placed on an individual's life. Elaborate bluestone and sandstone gravestones bear weeping willows, urns, winged skulls, and cherub-like faces as symbols of death, mourning, and eternal life. Lieutenant Colonel Abraham Gould, killed on April 27, 1777, at the Battle of Ridgefield, was carried home to Fairfield and buried in the Old Burying Ground.