Bronx Cemeteries Bronx STATS 2020
WOODLAWN CEMETERY
4199 Webster Avenue
(718) 920-0500
www.thewoodlawncemetery.org
Serving over 3,000 families each
year, the 400 acre Woodlawn
Cemetery is an active cemetery
with new developments and
provides a full line of products
and services including private &
community mausoleums, cremation
service as well as in ground
burial options. Designated a National
Historic Landmark in 2011,
the historic site is known for the
celebrated fi gures at rest, signifi -
cant works of architecture and the
fi nest collection of memorial art in
the nation. Woodlawn was established
in 1863 as a non-sectarian
cemetery serving people of all
cultures, religions, races and economic
groups. In 2017 Woodlawn
was designated as a Level II Arboretum
and features more than
140 unique species of trees, each
tree labeled and mapped for easy
identifi cation. Many of the “Builders
of the Bronx” are memorialized
at Woodlawn including Louis
Haffen, the fi rst Borough President,
Louis Risse, designer of the
Grand Concourse and Robert Moses
who developed much of 20th
century New York. Internationally
known entertainers Celia Cruz,
Duke Ellington and Miles Davis
are in Woodlawn’s care as well as
author Herman Melville, suffragist
Elizabeth Cady Stanton, publisher
Joseph Pulitzer and retailer JC
Penney. Outstanding monuments
include the memorial to Isidor and
Ida Straus who lost their lives
aboard the Titanic, the elaborate
mausoleum for members of the
Belmont family and the Egyptian
tomb of dime store magnate F.W.
Woolworth.
ST. RAYMOND CEMETERY
2600 Lafayette Avenue
(718) 792-1133
www.straymondparish.org/
cemetery.html
The Cemetery of St. Raymond,
the only Catholic cemetery in the
Bronx, has been a part of the parish
since 1842 and has expanded
from the original cemetery in front
of the church and on the site of
the elementary school to the Old
Cemetery on Tremont Avenue to
the new Cemetery and Mausoleums
at the Lafayette Avenue site.
The Cemetery provides in-ground
burials, in-ground crypt burials
in the new Holy Cross section,
Mausoleum burials and niches
for cremains and burials in the
base of the granite Cross located
in the Holy Cross section. The
entire cemetery complex is 180
acres and when fi lled (almost
4,000 burials are held each year)
will be a holy and prayerful burial
site for more than half a million
people. Buried in the cemetery
are Dr. L.Sullivan Ives, founder of
The Catholic Protectory (originally
an orphanage on the Parkchester
site); Bishop Pernicone, the fi rst
Italian American Bishop of New
York; Jazz singer Billie Holiday
and Fr. Frank Duffy of the Fighting
69th regiment, among other well
known names. A special Garden
of Innocents is where still-born
and young babies are buried with
dignity and solemnity. In 1964, a
portion of the St. Peters Section
was set aside for the burial of
Priests of the Archdiocese of New
York. There is also a section for
the Sisters of Charity who continue
to serve the parish and a section
for the Sisters of St. Ursula.
OLD WEST FARMS
SOLDIERS CEMETERY
Bryant Avenue and
E. 180th Street
Information: he responsibility of
caring for the plot.
ST. ANNE’S CHURCH
AND GRAVEYARD
140th Street and
Brook Avenue
(718) 585-5632
This designated Bronx landmark
has occupied the space at Bryant
Avenue and E. 180th Street since
1815. There are 40 soldiers buried
at the site. The fi rst soldier buried
here was Sam Adams, a veteran
of the War of 1812; the last, Valerino
Tulosa, fought in World War
I. The cemetery was founded by
John Butler and the Butler family
retained possession until 1953.
Since then, New York City has inherited
the responsibility of caring
for the plot.
HUNT FAMILY CEMETERY
(DRAKE CEMETERY)
Drake Park on Hunts Point and
Oak Point avenues.
This is on of the smallest cemeteries
in the Bronx. Drake Cemetery
was named after Joseph Rodman
Drake, a poet who made a name
for himself in the 1800’s. When
he died of tuberculosis at the age
of 25, he requested to be laid to
rest near the Bronx River. Since
then, members of the prominent
families of the era – the Hunts,
Leggetts, etc. have been buried
here.
FERRIS FAMILY PLOT
Commerce Street near
Westchester Avenue
Ferris Family Plot - Commerce
Street near Westchester Avenue –
This cemetery originally belonged
to the Ferris family, which had
large holdings in the area beginning
in 1667. Benjamin Ferris
owned what is now Westchester
Square in 1839. Captain Watson
Ferris sailed for California to fi nd
gold in 1851 and died of yellow
fever in Panama. His body was
42 BRONX STATS - NOVEMBER 20, 2020 BTR
placed in a barrel of rum and
is, according to Bronx historian
John McNamara, interred in the
“family vault behind Westchester
Square,” where the Ferris Family
Plot is said to be.
JESUIT CEMETERY
Fordham University,
Rose Hill Campus
July 11, 1847 marked the fi rst
burial in the old Fordham cemetery
on a hillside, east part of
campus: Joseph Creeden, aged
26, Irish-born Jesuit novice
Brother. In April 1889, after payment
of $93,966.25, New York
City took title to 26.845 acres of
Fordham’s east campus, which
included the college cemetery.
The property was taken by the
authority of the state 1884 New
Parks Law. Those acres later
became part of the New York
Botanical Garden. Thereafter
the cemetery could no longer be
used and so for a short time 3 Jesuits’
bodies were kept in a vault
in the St. Raymond cemetery. In
January 1890, he remains of 61
Jesuits), three seminarians, nine
college students, and two workmen
were transferred to the
new cemetery near the university
church. January 24, 1909,
marked the last burial in the
Fordham cemetery: New Yorkborn
Fr. William O’B. Pardow,
aged 62, formerly Jesuit provincial
superior and famous preacher.
In 1999, at a newly formed
committee’s suggestion, the
deteriorating tombstones were
replaced by low granite markers.
The cemetery and the markers
were blessed by the Rev. Gerald
Blaszczak, S.J., Rector of the
Jesuit Community, in a wellattended
ceremony. On April 5,
2000, a permanent plaque was
placed beside the cemetery to
bear witness to those interred in
“God’s Holy Acre.”
ST. PETER’S CHURCHYARD
Westchester Avenue
While the current St. Peter’s Episcopal
Church was built in 1855,
the parish grounds have actually
existed since 1693 and contains
many graves dating back to the
late 1690’s. St. Peter’s Church,
Complex and Cemetery were
designated by the New York City
Landmarks Preservation Commission
in 1976, and listed on
the National Registry of Historic
Places in 1983.
BERRIAN-BASHFORD
BURYING GROUND
East of Van Cortlandt Mansion
and West of the lake in Van
Cortlandt Park
c/o Van Cortlandt House Museum
Van Cortlandt Park
Broadway and W. 246th Street
(718) 543-3344
Members of the Ackerman, Berrian,
Bashford and Warner families
are known to be buried at
this site, with gravestones dating
back to between 1794 and 1807.
Most graves were marked by
rough fi eldstones. In some cases,
the initials of the deceased were
engraved into stone, while formal
monuments were erected for others.
The New York City and Northern
Railroad was cut through the
northern end of the plot around
1890, where African-American
slaves are thought to be buried.
PELHAM CEMETERY
73 Earley Street
(718) 885-3036
Pelham Cemetery is so named because
City Island was still a part
of the Westchester town when the
cemetery was fi rst placed here in
the 1880s. It is the only waterside
cemetery in the Five Boroughs and
while it was created in the 1880’s,
there are older gravestones within
its grounds. The cemetery is fi lled
with the gravestones of wellknown
Pelham families and early
settlers. In addition, the grave
sites of veterans of the Civil War
and virtually every war since may
be found in the cemetery.
CORSA FAMILY
BURIAL GROUNDS
Fordham University’s Rose Hill
Campus
The circular garden behind St.
John’s Hall is the spot of the private
burial ground of the Corsa
family who owned the land that
Fordham University now occupies.
The site was discovered in the
1840’s when St. John’s Hall was
under construction.
MOUNT SAINT
VINCENT CEMETERY
College of Mount Saint Vincent in
Riverdale
This cemetery contains the remains
of approximately 150 nuns.
POTTER’S FIELD
Hart Island
The City purchased Hart Island
from the Hunter family for
$75,000 in 1868 and established
the site as a public cemetery for
the burial of those persons who
died penniless or whose bodies
went unclaimed. In the fi rst year,
1,875 burials were performed.
Potter’s Field has been used by
a variety of agencies over the
years, including the Department
of Correction. In 1948, at the
behest of inmates, a 30-foot high
monument, located in the center
of the burial site, pays tribute to
the departed there. The DOC
still maintains and operates the
site. Burials continue to be performed
there by inmate labor,
under supervision of Correction
staff. Hart Island is closed to the
public.
FIRST PRESBYTERIAN
CHURCH CEMETERY
3051 E. Tremont Avenue
(718) 829-5326
The First Presbyterian Church
of Throgg’s Neck was organized
in 1855 and the cemetery was
used during the 19th Century. The
church was destroyed in a fi re in
1870. It is believed that church
records may have been destroyed
in that fi re. A new church was built
in 1883.
CEMETERIES NO LONGER
IN EXISTENCE
Bensionia (Morrisania) Cemetery:
This grave site was originally
an Indian Burial Ground and
contained many prominent families.
The graves were reinterred
to Woodlawn and the former grave
site is now the home of P.S. 138
Old Berrian Cemetery – Located
at Fordham Road and Sedgwick
Avenue, the site was once the fi nal
resting place of the Berrian, Valentine
and Cromwell families.
Fordham Manor Dutch Reformed
Church – Once located
on Kingsbridge Road, the remains
were eventually reinterred in Kensico
Cemetery in Westchester.
West Farms Dutch Reformed
Church – Most of the interments at
this cemetery, once located at Boone
Avenue and 172nd Street, were removed
to Woodlawn Cemetery.
Westchester Methodist Church
– Located at 2547 E. Tremont
Avenue, the cemetery here once
contained members of the Fowler
family as well as church members
and townsmen. In 1940, the remains
were removed to a churchyard
in Jamaica, Queens.
PELL FAMILY BURIAL PLOT
895 Shore Road
On The Grounds of the
Bartow-Pell Mansion & Museum
Thomas Pell, the fi rst Lord of Pelham
Manor, settled the area in
1654. The family burial plot, dating
from the colonial period, contains
six graves of family members
- the oldest belonging to Isac
9sic) Pell, who died December 14,
1748. The site is a short walk from
the mansion and, of course, it is
opened to the public during the
daylight hours.
The Woodlawn Cemetery and Conservancy Brookside Cremation Garden.
Saint Raymond Cemetery
/www.thewoodlawncemetery.org
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/www.thewoodlawncemetery.org
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