Reclaiming A Forgotten Woodhaven Cemetery Stop any passerby on Jamaica Avenue in Woodhaven and ask them where the cemetery is and nine times out of ten, or maybe more, you’ll get no answer. Or maybe they’ll point you in the direction of Cypress Hills. Yet, nestled in between All Saints Church on 96th Street and residential homes on 98th Street, is a Colonial-era cemetery that is the permanent residence of some of Woodhaven’s earliest settlers. Many of the surnames in Woodhaven’s cemetery are names that nearly any Queens resident would recognize. Wyckoff, Snedicker, Eldert, Ditmars, Lott. But although the names are familiar, the cemetery is still not widely known because it has suffered from periods of neglect and has been closed to the general public for decades. The Woodhaven Cultural and Historical Society is looking to change all of that and it has been working with local residents, history buffs and the students of St. Thomas the Apostle’s Woodhaven History Club, to clean up and restore the cemetery. Starting this past July, the groups have met at the cemetery at 9 a.m. on the second Saturday of every month. The next cleanup is on Saturday, Dec. 13, and the volunteers will be joined by the staff of City Council Member Eric Ulrich who allocated funding to support the project. More volunteers are welcome and needed. The story of Woodhaven’s historic cemetery is an interesting one. Around the time of the Revolutionary War, no local cemeteries were easily reached so the Wyckoff and Snedicker families each gave portions of their farms to be used as a local burial ground. The Wyckoff name is probably most familiar to people today in Brooklyn, what with a neighborhood, a hospital and a museum bearing that name. There are also several streets bearing that name (one located in Ridgewood) and there are two Wyckoff buildings not far from the cemetery—one in Woodhaven and one in Ozone Park. As for the Snedickers, there used to be a street named after them in Woodhaven until it was renamed 78th Street back in the 1920s, but you can still find a portion of Snedicker Avenue in Ozone Park. Smack dab in the center of the cemetery is a cenotaph with the name Eldert, which local residents recognize from Eldert Lane, which was originally known as Eldert’s Lane, and then Elderts Lane (without the apostrophe) before the current name was finally settled upon (though the elevated train station still retains the Elderts Lane name). Nearly everyone who enters the cemetery is surprised by its size. It is just over 360 feet long and about 80 feet wide. According to a survey done in 1919, there are 136 people buried there, but it is very likely that many burials have been lost to time and there are people buried there that we may never learn anything about. A few decades after the last known burial took place there in the 1890s, the property directly to the west was developed and St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church was built. Over the years, there was a common misconception that the church was responsible for the condition of the cemetery, but there was no relation between the Dutch settlers and the English church. Starting in the early 1900s, the cemetery fell into a long period of neglect and it was eventually inherited by the City of New York which, as you might have guessed, did not improve matters. Finally, in the 1960s, the city worked out a deal with St. Matthew’s and the cemetery was turned over to their care. Sadly, that did not improve the situation, and the cemetery fell into even worse condition with many of the tombstones removed from their rightful spots and members of the church using them to create a patio. In the 1990s, members of the Woodhaven Cultural and Queens Historical Societies— led by Allan Smith and Arthur Miele—undertook a major reconstruction of the cemetery, using the 1919 survey (which is accurate to the square foot) to place as many tombstones as they could find back to their original locations. However, the good results were short-lived and the cemetery soon became a jungle as attendance at the church 23 • TIMES, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2014 A view of the Wyckoff-Snedicker Cemetery behind All Saints (nee St. Matthew’s) Episcopal Church in Woodhaven. dwindled and by May 2011, St. Matthew’s was deconsecrated and closed. There were many who feared that once the church was closed, the land would be sold and the cemetery would be lost forever, but that’s when the story took a turn for the better. All Saints Episcopal Church in Richmond Hill found themselves in need of a new home and the Diocese of Long Island moved them into Woodhaven, and reconsecrated the church under the new name with Rev. Dr. Norman Whitmire Jr. at the helm. Whitmire sees the cemetery as an asset, not a burden, and an opportunity to create a beautiful space for the entire community to enjoy. When he opened the gates to the Woodhaven Cultural and Historical Society and members of the community on that first day in July, the weeds were chest-high, from one end of the cemetery to the other. Forty volunteers soon cleared out areas while other volunteers began taking down some of the dead, and in some cases dangerous, trees. Much progress has been made in 5 months and, with a committed cadre of volunteers, we expect that the weeds will never have a chance to grow this next summer. Then, the real planning for the cemetery’s future can begin. Along the way, the students of St. Thomas the Apostle’s Woodhaven History Club, led by teacher Patti Eggers, has not only been taking part in the physical-side of the cleanup, they’ve been digging into the histories of the people who are buried in the cemetery. A few times, they’ve come across tombstones that were buried in the dirt and the students get their brushes out and gently remove the dirt from the face of the stone, excitedly reading the words, wondering just whose grave it was that was discovered. This is a history project with involvement from a wide variety of people, a diverse crew of individuals, and it is being played out in real-time. * * * If you have any remembrances or old photographs of Our Neighborhood that you would like to share with our readers, please write to the Old Timer, c/o Times Newsweekly, P.O. Box 863299, Ridgewood, NY 11386, or send an email to neighborhood@timesnewsweekl y.com. Any print photographs mailed to us will be carefully returned to you. Over the last several months, volunteers working with the Woodhaven Cultural and Historical Society held numerous cleanups of the cemetery, revealing tombstones dating back many decades. Preeseenteedd This WWeeeekk BByy Thee WWooooddhaaveen CCuultuuraal aandd HHistooriccaal SSooccieetyy
RT12042014
To see the actual publication please follow the link above