HoehmTown Happenings

Town Addresses Abandoned Cemeteries

I’m proud to announce that cleanup and restoration work is currently underway at Nanuet Cemetery. This project is part of a broader effort under my administration to preserve and protect previously abandoned cemeteries across the town. While the Town never intended to be in the cemetery business, New York State law had other plans. Whenever a private Cemetery Association becomes abandoned, ownership of the cemetery defaults to the local municipality. There is an important exception to this law, however, which dictates that religious cemeteries will always remain the legal responsibility of the religious entity or its successor. In all, Clarkstown now has legal responsibility for three cemeteries in the town. 

This burden passed on by New York State law is mostly unmitigated, but the State does have an abandoned cemetery fund, which allows for a one time disbursement to assist municipalities that have “inherited“ an abandoned cemetery. The town was recently successful in applying for and receiving financial assistance from this fund, and is working to rehabilitate two of these abandoned cemeteries.

As mentioned earlier, work is being done now at Nanuet cemetery, which is located next to the Highview Cemetery on Middletown Road and Church Street. An expert cemetery restoration company is restoring and repairing over 150 headstones and grave markers, along with doing extensive site work and improvements. The work is estimated to take approximately three weeks to complete and is fully funded by state grants. 

The ongoing work has already uncovered historic graves of veterans from the Civil War, World War I, and World War II. Headstones that have toppled or cracked over the years are being repaired and put back in place. Once that primary work is completed, the grass will be restored and the town will work with a cemetery architect to maximize the future use of the site and ensure its perpetual maintenance. 

The Town is also planning a major restoration for the Nyack Rural Cemetery, located on Route 59 behind  the Nyack Lumber property. This largely unseen site, hidden in the hillside is an expansive parcel of property with many historical burials. Unfortunately, due to the size and the effects of time and nature, the site’s restoration is expected to cost multiple millions of dollars. The town is in the midst of an extensive planning process, including applying for significant state grant funding, to fully restore this historic site and ensure its continued operation and care for generations to come. This is a massive undertaking which will take a significant amount of time in order to make sure it is done correctly. We are including state experts, cemetery architects and restoration experts, and others to bring aboard the best and brightest to implement our plans. Once complete Nyack Rural will become a national model for cemetery restoration and a beautiful final resting place for the deceased. 

Both of these projects involve complex and sensitive work. Plans call for phased work over the next three to five years. Once fully complete, both cemeteries will be places of enduring honor and remembrance for all those buried at these hallowed locations.