State Archaeologist Asked to Find "Wolf Stones" in Church Cemetery

Teresa Neumann : Nov 10, 2010
Peter Marteka - Hartford Courant

"Wolves were such a scourge that in 1660, settlers offered 20 shillings—a huge sum of money at the time—for each wolf killed."

(Mystic, Ct.)—General Israel Putnam, who fought with distinction in the Revolutionary War, is credited with the famous command, "Don't fire until you see the whites of their eyes." He is also credited with, according to local lore in Connecticut, killing the last wolf in the state when he was a young man, by tracking it to its den.

Notes a report in the Harford Courant, "No more would they [colonists] need to place huge slabs of stone over the burial sites of loved ones to prevent wolves from digging up and scattering the remains." (Photo: Bettina Hansen, Hartford Courant)

The slabs of stones were called "wolf stones," and as they were no longer needed, they were eventually used as capstones for stone walls, were discarded, or became buried over time.

According to the report, "Behind the iron gates of Wightman Burying Ground—located near the site of the state's first Baptist church—are the graves of Revolutionary War and Civil War soldiers and many of Groton's early settlers, including John Burrows. A huge wolf stone—an extremely rare one on which the inscription carved into the granite is legible—covers his grave. Burrows' wolf stone, which reads 'JB A74 dyed 1716,' was believed to be the only wolf stone in the cemetery."

Recently, state archaeologist Nicholas F. Bellantoni and members of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Service were asked to use ground-penetrating radar to search for unmarked graves in the cemetery. Nearly a half-dozen wolf stones were reportedly detected and eventually uncovered.

Bellantoni was quoted as saying he doesn't see a lot of wolf stones in his travels throughout the state. "Wolves were a big problem and they were always a concern," he said.

According to local records, wolves were such a scourge that in 1660, settlers offered 20 shillings—a huge sum of money at the time—for each wolf killed.