Among 11 other properties scattered across New York, Gov. Kathy Hochul nominated the Van Scoy Burying Ground in Northwest Woods for both the State and National Registers of Historic Places on Monday.
The cemetery, “a small, isolated family burial place dating from 1782-1884,” is in the woods east of Northwest Road in the town’s Grassy Hollow Nature Preserve. The preserve, a 113-acre tract of land across the road from the Grace Estate, was officially protected in 1997.
“The site is the most significant surviving evidence of the early East Hampton colony,” according to a press release from the governor’s office, featuring “sandstone, marble, and zinc markers typical of the 19th century.”
An unassuming cemetery and easy to miss, it’s part of the East Hampton Trails Preservation Society’s Old Ghost Town hike, listed as stop number 13. “This little cemetery contains the graves of Isaac and Mercy Van Scoy and other early settlers. Isaac lived to be 84 years old,” it says on the preservation society’s website.
“By adding these sites to our historic registers, we are recognizing the critical role that they play in telling our state’s story. I hope these landmarks will inspire, educate, and entertain future generations and help connect New Yorkers to our past,” read a statement from Ms. Hochul’s office.
