The Cemetery Belt →
The Cemetery Belt
The Queens land rush began in 1847, following the passage of the Rural Cemetery Act by the State Legislature that authorized commercial burial grounds. Cemeteries of Brooklyn and those of Queens – St. Michaels, Luthern, Calvary, Cypress Hill, Mt. Olivet and Mt. Zion – collectively, became known as The Cemetery Belt.
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- The 19-century Queens community grew rapidly. Picnicking families would come on the Astoria-Yorkville ferry, which, signs on the terminal proclaimed, was the "shortest route to St. Michaels, Lutheran, Calvary, Cypress Hill, Mt. Olivet and Mt. Zion Cemeteries." Restaurants, saloons and beer gardens flourished. The cemetery is "the principal industry of the people in the vicinity," reported Munsell's 1882 History of Queens County. The Yorkville–Astoria ferry stopped in 1936 after being replaced by the Triborough Bridge.
Cemeteries in Queens
Flushing
- Flushing Cemetery (established 1853)
- Cedar Grove Cemetery, Flushing (establish 1893; still active)
- Mount St. Mary Cemetery, Flushing (founded 1862)
- Old Town of Flushing Burial Ground
- St. George's Episcopal Church Cemetery, Flushing
Elmhurst
- First Presbyterian Church of Newtown Cemetery, Elmhurst
- Reformed Church of Newtown Cemetery, Elmhurst
- St. James Episcopal Church Cemetery, Elmhurst
Middle Village
- Fresh Pond Crematory & Columbarium, Middle Village
Maspeth
Middle Village
- All Faiths Cemetery, Middle Village ( Lutheran; incorporated 1852)
- Calvary Cemetery, Maspeth & Woodside ( Roman Catholic; established 1848)
- Remsen Cemetery, on the border of Middle Village & Rego Park
- St. John Cemetery, Middle Village
Glendale
- Machpelah Cemetery, Glendale (Jewish)
- Mount Carmel Cemetery, Glendale (Jewish)
- Mount Neboh Cemetery, Glendale
Ridgewood
Elsewhere
- St. Michael's Cemetery, East Elmhurst
- Brinckerhoff Cemetery, near Fresh Meadows, Queens
- Montefiore Cemetery, Springfield Gardens (Jewish, founded 1908)
- Maple Grove Cemetery, Briarwood & Kew Gardens
- Richard Cornell Graveyard, Far Rockaway
Brooklyn
- Maimonides Cemetery, Brooklyn, NY
- Mount Hope Cemetery, Brooklyn, NY
- Cypress Hills Cemetery, Brooklyn, NY
Cemeteries
| Year | Title | Printer | Compiler(s) |
Google Books |
HathiTrust |
Internet Archive |
Other |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1881 | The Cemeteries of New York, and How to Reach Them
|
G.H. Burton (George H. Burton; 1847–1915) (printer) |
Selden C. Judson (Selden C. Judson; 1842–1920) |
Library of Congress | Library of Congress | ||
| 1895 | The Leonard Manual of the Cemeteries of New York and Vicinity
|
J.H. Leonard (John Henry Leonard) (publisher) |
J.H. Leonard (John Henry Leonard) (compiler) |
Library of Congress | Library of Congress | ||
| 1901 | The Leonard Manual of the Cemeteries of New York and Vicinity |
J.H. Leonard (John Henry Leonard) (publisher) |
J.H. Leonard (John Henry Leonard) (compiler) |
Library of Congress | Library of Congress | ||
| 1987 | Permanent New Yorkers – A Biographical Guide to the Cemeteries of New York |
Chelsea Green Publishing Company (publisher) |
Judi Culbertson (née Charlotte Judi Chaffee; born 1941) & Tom Randall (Thomas Joseph Randall; born 1945) |
Sausalito Public Library. |
- Munsell (1882)
Bibliography
Notes
References linked to notes
- Richmond, John Francis (Rev.) (1871). New York and Its Institutions, 1609–1871 – The Brights Side of New York – A Library of Information, Pertaining to the Great Metropolis, Past and Present, With Historic Sketches of Its Churches, Schools, Public Buildings, Parks and Cemeteries, of Its Police, Fire, Health and Quarantine Departments, of Its Prisons, Hospitals, Homes, Asylums, Dispensaries and Morgue and All Municipal and Private Charitable Institutions. New York: E.B. Treat (Erastus Buck Treat; 1838–1928); San Francisco: A.L. Bancroft. Detroit: Randall & Fish (publishers). LCCN 01-14309
- Via HathiTrust (Library of Congress). 1871. Retrieved September 21, 2021.
- Richmond, John Francis (Rev.) (1873). New York and Its Institutions, 1609–1873 – The Brights Side of New York – A Library of Information, Pertaining to the Great Metropolis, Past and Present, With Historic Sketches of Its Churches, Schools, Public Buildings, Parks and Cemeteries, of Its Police, Fire, Health and Quarantine Departments, of Its Prisons, Hospitals, Homes, Asylums, Dispensaries and Morgue and All Municipal and Private Charitable Institutions. New York: E.B. Treat (Erastus Buck Treat; 1838–1928); San Francisco: A. L. Bancroft; St. Louis: H. C. Wright; New Orleans: J. H. Hummel; Chicago: W. T. Keener (publishers).
- Via Google Books (Columbia University). 1873. Retrieved September 21, 2021.