Governor Ned Lamont and members of Connecticut's Congressional delegation announced that the state is being awarded a $584,250 grant from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to support the planned expansion of the Connecticut State Veterans Cemetery in Middletown, complementing $294,250 in state funding already allocated for the project.
The expansion, overseen by the Connecticut Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA), will create 1,510 additional grave sites for buried cremains on a parcel contiguous to the existing cemetery at 317 Bow Lane. The land was previously used by the Connecticut Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services for Connecticut Valley Hospital operations and was recently transferred to DVA.
The state funding will support demolition of the vacant hospital building on the property known as Cottage 22. The federal funding will provide cremains burial plots, an entry gate, fencing, landscaping, irrigation components, concrete block storage bays, site furnishings, and supporting infrastructure.
"This cemetery provides an invaluable resource in honoring the lives and service of our military veterans and their families, and it is important that we continue to see that this option remains available to them for decades into the future," Lamont said. "As we explore options to support these needs over the long-term, this expansion of the existing cemetery in Middletown will provide immediate support to ensure that veterans and their families have uninterrupted access to these services over the coming years."
Connecticut Veterans Affairs Commissioner Ron Welch said, "It is our privilege and honor to maintain the cemetery as a perpetual shrine to their selfless service. We look forward to the expansion of the cemetery and further to the establishment of a new cemetery in the future."
Senator Richard Blumenthal, ranking member of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, said he was thrilled the federal funding "will allow for 1,510 additional final resting places for Connecticut veterans, ensuring families have options for their loved ones for years to come."
The cemetery, established in 1985, currently has 14,718 burial plots and 3,000 columbarium niches. DVA estimates the existing cemetery will run out of cremation burial plots around January 2028; with the expansion, it projects they will remain available through at least December 2033, aligning the depletion dates of all three burial options as the agency plans a new cemetery.