Fairview Cemetery on Rt. 9W, behind the Apple Bin, is truly deserving of its name. In an open field with a long view to Hussy Hill, there are old sections that spread through the trees and where antique stones peek through the brush. The more contemporary stones in the active section are in open areas that invite walking through the monuments.

Also on 9W in the hamlet of Port Ewen is the Riverview Cemetery, the second largest cemetery in Esopus, and perhaps the oldest. This probably started out as the Van Vliet family burial ground. More compact than St. Remy Rural, with expansion limited by population density and a sharp bluff at the rear, there is more of a sense of strict organization here. A road loops through the cemetery creating an easy walking path. Old and new share space, and even though Riverview is located along a busy highway, there is still a peacefulness that settles over you once you step inside its boundaries, and many times you find that you will be alone with the crows.

I went to the Perrine Family Cemetery on Main St. in Rifton only a few days after the grass was cut. This was well timed as the warm weather had caused the grass to grow to about 3 feet, and it would have been impossible to see any of the stones. This is a very old cemetery, with many graves marked by just a roughly hewn piece of bluestone, many without carving. Again, while it was called the Perrine, and is so marked on its beautiful iron arch, there were many other families represented. Near some stones for the Hull family, there was one stone simply marked “Infant”.

What is notable about many of these early cemeteries is that they are the resting place of so many infants and young children. Life must have been very hard for the early settlers of the Town of Esopus, and infant mortality was high. It is heartbreaking to see so many names on the gravestones commemorating a year of birth and a date indicating the same life cut short too quickly. In many of the cemeteries, in some family plots there are often markers for as many as five or six children, none of whom lived past their first or second year.

An almost hidden cemetery on private property along Old Post Road is the Quaker Cemetery. A small sign indicates its location. There was a large community of Quakers in Esopus in the 19th century, but their cemetery holds only a few unreadable stones surrounded by trees and the remains of a stone wall.
Another 9W cemetery belongs to the Ascension Church, though it is located a little less than a mile away and on the opposite side of the road. The iron gate is no longer on its hinges, but the entrance to this cemetery is still impressive with its gentle downward slope and old growth trees. Again, older stones can be found mingled with contemporary ones. Here you will find members of John Burroughs family, some with stones that are so simplistic that they embody the philosophy of this famous naturalist who lived many years in our community.

At the back of the Ascension Cemetery, along the tree line, is a row of simple marble crosses dating from 1940 to 1966. These mark the graves of eight sisters from a local religious community.

Just as our cemeteries hold many young graves, they also contain the final resting place for those who achieved an impressive age, remarkable in those early, hard times. I noted one of those ancients in the Ascension Cemetery who wished to remind people of his place of birth in another land. It read: Frederich Hayward of Stowmarket, Suffolk Co. England, Died May 18, 1877, Aged 82 Years.

There are other cemeteries that are more difficult to find. The Van Wagenen is on private property, so it is not advisable to go there without permission. The Freer is located in such an area that one must pass through private property to reach it. This is also the case with the Terpening Burial Grounds off River Road. The Terpening is a large and worthwhile cemetery to visit, and the Town Assessor, Daniel Terpening, is frequently called on to give tours.

Other cemeteries are located on the grounds of the many monasteries and large religious institutions in the Town. These are private and meant for the internment of their members.

The cemeteries in the Town of Esopus have suffered from age. They have also suffered from neglect and from vandalism. The engravings on the tombstones are becoming increasingly difficult to read. Fortunately, in the 1930’s, Dr. J. Wilson Poucher made a survey called “Old Gravestones of Ulster County”. This book documents the names and dates on the stones of each cemetery. Even back then, some were illegible, but what could be read became recorded, their history preserved.

The cemeteries of the Town of Esopus are alike in that they are places that continue to fulfill their function, to be a final resting place of people we still remember, or have long forgotten. But, each cemetery is also unique and heavy with its own individual history. They are places of quiet… they are places of beauty… they are places of sadness.

What better way to prepare to see the Klyne Esopus Museum’s exhibit “Haunted Esopus”, than to pay your own visit to some of the cemeteries of Esopus. You may not find any ghosts and perhaps the scariest thing there will be the poison ivy. You will find much to see, and each time you go, you will see something different. Go at night, if you dare.

Dam Builders at Dashville, 1918: Recognize any of them?
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