The Cutchogue-New Suffolk Historical Council & Museums is pleased and honored to announce that we have been awarded a $10,000 grant from the Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation. The funds will be used to restore monuments at the Council’s Cutchogue Old Burying Ground located at Main Road and Harbor Lane. The restoration will include monuments of the ten Revolutionary War veterans buried at the site, as well as other monuments in need of repair, some of which date back to the early 1700s. Work at the site is expected to start in the Fall. “The Cutchogue Old Burying Ground is in full view of the public on the Main Road. We know that many people in the community care about the condition of this site, as evidenced by the fact that many stop and comment when they see us working there,” said Gloria Groocock, Council president.
On April 19 of this year, the Sons of the American Revolution donated a plaque commemorating the ten Revolutionary War Veterans buried at the site. The event was a celebration of the 250th Anniversary of the first battle of the American Revolution, at Lexington and Concord, and included reenactors giving a musket salute for each veteran as Southold Town Supervisor Albert Krupski read their names.
The Old Burying Ground is among the oldest found on the North Fork and is a sacred and historic site where the remains of Cutchogue’s early settlers were laid to rest. The land was part of the property that early settler William Wells had purchased from the Corchaug Indians in 1661. The earliest marked gravestone bears the date 1717, but the 1661 founding date indicates that it’s likely burials had been going on there for almost 50 years. As a municipal burying ground, its burials were non-denominational. Still, the site eventually became the property of the Cutchogue Presbyterian Church, which in 1960 sold it to the Council for $1. The Council contracts with experts to survey, repair, clean, and otherwise maintain the site, making it available to the community for tours, education, and workshops, which it pays for through grants and donations. This is also done through the efforts of Council volunteers. Recent preservation work includes a condition survey of the headstones, cleaning, and ongoing repair.
In the early days, the men of the community would meet at the site for an annual clean-up. Now, the Council takes full responsibility for site maintenance. The details and images connected with the monuments the council has collected through multiple site surveys have been uploaded to the searchable database on Billiongraves.com.
“Long Island’s historic cemeteries are an incredible historic resource. Each graveyard stone carving offers information for multiple levels of research. The art of the stones physically represents societies’ changing attitudes and also speaks to early trade networks. The information on those interred offers genealogy and community information. Cemeteries are important documents to a region’s history.” said Kathryn M. Curran, Executive Director of the Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation.
The Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation, established in 1987, primarily supports the study of Long Island history and its role in the American experience. Robert David Lion Gardiner was, until his death in August 2004, the 16th Lord of the Manor of Gardiner’s Island, NY. The Gardiner family and their descendants have owned Gardiner’s Island since 1639, obtained as part of a royal grant from King Charles I of England. The Foundation is inspired by Robert David Lion Gardiner’s personal passion for New York history.
The Cutchogue-New Suffolk Historical Council & Museums is a 501(c)(3) non-profit educational organization dedicated to preserving and interpreting the history of Cutchogue and New Suffolk, LI. It maintains the Cutchogue Village Green and Old Burying Ground as living memorials to the original founders and all residents of Cutchogue and New Suffolk
