Historic Inner City of Paramaribo

Graves Of Connecticut Sea Captains Discovered In South America

By Erik Hasselberg; The Hartford Courant; January 2 2012

The Republic of Suriname, a former Dutch sugar colony on the northern coast of South America, is not often a topic of conversation around here. But a team of researchers may make the tiny state of interest to Connecticut residents, thanks to their discovery of the graves of two 18th-century sea captains.

One headstone, bearing the date of 1758, is that of Capt. Michael Burnham of Middletown, a swashbuckling adventurer who made a fortune as a privateer and most likely trafficked in slaves. Another, made of Portland brownstone, marks the grave of New London Capt. William Barbut. Nearby are the graves of Rhode Island merchants Capt. Nathaniel Angel and Capt. William Gardner Wanton.

The graves of the New England seafarers were uncovered on Oct. 29 in the Dutch colonial cemetery of Nieuw Oranjetuin in Paramaribo, Suriname's capital city, by researchers who used machetes to hack away the vines covering the old headstones. One of those researchers, a former Connecticut resident, Tom Hart, immediately communicated the find to the Middlesex County Historical Society. The expedition was led by Paramaribo historian Bas Spek.

Finding Suriname's Past In Its Present

By David Shaftel; The New York Times; May 7 2009

TO the uninitiated, Paramaribo is full of surprises. Surveying the buildings surrounding Independence Square, for example, one could be forgiven for mistaking the scene for a quad at a Northeast college, especially while taking in the red-brick Finance Ministry of Suriname, complete with its Doric columns, hipped roof, dormers and clock tower. Or take the Neve Shalom Synagogue, which, completed in 1839, looks more like a cross between an antebellum plantation house and a small town bank than a place of worship. Surinamers are fond of boasting of its harmonious proximity to the Central Mosque, whose minarets climb in stark contrast to the earthly synagogue.

These buildings might appear to be out of place in this drowsy tropical South American capital, with its cultural ties to the West Indies. The key to the puzzle, may lie in the country’s colonial experience, which only ended some 35 years ago.