Exhibiting the Pride of Esopus

To Preserve, Interpret and Disseminate
the History of The Town of Esopus

The Klyne Esopus Museum, located in Ulster Park, New York, is housed in a former Dutch country church built in 1827. The museum offers a variety of exhibits about the culture, commerce and history of The Town of Esopus.
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Haunted Esopus
GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN
By Deborah Silvestro

The cemeteries of the Town of Esopus are filled with names that are still with us today. What started as burial grounds in which to place family members, soon became a location that welcomed neighbors out of necessity and convenience. Whether along the main road and next to the homestead, or further along a quiet back lane, these local spots are bordered by stone walls, or left open to the fields. Some remained small, while others spread out with separate and distinct sections.

I recently took a tour of the local cemeteries. Some I had never noticed before. Tucked away, to preserve their solitude, many have succeeded too well. They have been forgotten, and neglect has taken its toll. Each cemetery is unique, but they all share the same purpose. It is the responsibility of the living to find a place for the dead.

When one thinks of the location of country cemeteries, the image of the churchyard with ancient and newer gravestones surrounding the church building comes to mind, like the Old Dutch Church in Kingston. But in the Town of Esopus, the cemeteries have evolved separate from the churches.

The earliest settlers traveled to worship in churches in larger towns like Kingston The first church in the Town of Esopus, the Klyne Esopus Reformed Church, was not built until 1827. With the absence of consecrated grounds, families put aside land for relatives, and these cemeteries are referred to by the family name, such as Terpening, Beaver, or Perrine.

There are larger cemeteries that are governed by associations that still accept burials. But so many more cemeteries are abandoned, and have the feeling of being lost in time.

The first thing one realizes in trying to do a survey of the cemeteries of the Town of Esopus, is that there is a question about the number that exist. One reference book lists ten burial grounds, but there are far more than that as can be discovered in the “Town of Esopus Story”, known as the “Red Book”. Also, in talking to long time residents, stories are heard about burial grounds that have just disappeared. Will we ever know the exact number?

Of the known cemeteries, some are easy to reach and to explore. However, without explicit directions, many are difficult to find. It is a challenge to locate and visit them all.

On Black Creek Road, up a steep hill, across the road from the Swartekill, sits the Beaver Family Burial Grounds, a place of calm and quiet. Thirteen steps lead up to the entrance that once had an iron gate that spanned two marble slabs. Surrounded by a low stone wall bordered with old growth trees, grass does not grow here. The ground is covered with moss and ferns that prefer the dark and the damp. The isolation has not prevented vandalism, unfortunately, and time has also claimed its share of damage. This place is my personal favorite, and well worth a visit if you have never been there. While the setting is quite beautiful, it must have been a difficult place to carry the departed to.

St. Remy Rural Cemetery is the largest burial ground and the one in closest proximity to a church, St. Remy Reformed Church built in 1864. However, the oldest section of this cemetery is far below a hill, out of sight of the church yard, and here the stones predate the church. There is juxtaposition of old and new, where the oldest section on the far perimeter is not as well maintained as the part of the cemetery in current usage. From tiny 19th century infants, to Vietnam Veterans, simple stones with just initials, to elaborate marble monuments, the iron gates which are dated 1892 remain open to the past and to the future in this final resting place.

On the edge of St. Remy is another burial ground, tiny in comparison. There are no engraved stones, just a few pieces of bluestone placed in the ground to mark the graves of some of the slaves who lived in the Town of Esopus. This could have been one of the lost cemeteries if not for the efforts of Chris Donahue and his Boy Scout Eagle Project. It is now enclosed with a fence and marked with a wooden plaque. An American flag flies over this small plot of land.

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.

 
 


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2010 Event Calendar

Open June 6th-Nov 21st
Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, 1-4pm

Saturday, September 18, 2010 at 4pm
Roger Mabie Speaker's Series at the Museum, Linda Zimmerman, "Hudson Valley Haunts: History and Legends"

Saturday, October 23, 2010
Turkey Dinner, Details to be announced.

Saturday, November 20, 2010 at 4pm
Roger Mabie Speaker's Series at the Museum, Juanita Leisch Jensen, "Armed with Needles: Women in the Civil War"

Sunday, November 21, 2010 at 1-4pm
4pm Museum Closes for the Season.

Board Meeting Schedule:
Feb 13, March 13, April 10, May 8, June 12, Sept 11, Oct 9, Nov 13.

 

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