Oyster Bay Town cleans up old cemetery

Diane Melograne assumed that the Town of Oyster Bay would agree to tidy a long-abandoned Baptist cemetery near her church.

But not like this.

Warped, rusted fencing was replaced at a cost of $22,000. Overgrown shrubs and old tree stumps were removed. Lilac bushes, forsythia and grass seed were planted around the faded headstones of historic town figures.

The driveway leading to the burial ground -- tucked behind a backyard in downtown Oyster Bay -- was even restored with new gravel and cement.

"They've gone all out," Melograne said appreciatively.

What's left is trimming some trees and researching the names of the deceased for a new entryway plaque, which the town also will purchase.

Sometime after Memorial Day, officials expect to hold a rededication ceremony at the Orchard Street lot, which holds the remains of 36 mostly early settlers of Oyster Bay hamlet, including the Rev. Marmaduke Earle, who headed its first schoolhouse, and Molly Cooper, who kept a famous diary of her pre-Revolution life on a local farm.

The town learned of the cemetery's condition in January when Melograne and her husband, Raymond -- co-pastors of nearby North Shore Assembly of God -- spoke about it at a public meeting.

Under state law, local municipalities are responsible for abandoned cemetery maintenance, but officials said prior work there had been minimal.

The Melogranes detailed how many headstones had been toppled, the fencing ripped and trees overgrown.

"I guess you can say we made up for lost time," said Oyster Bay Supervisor John Venditto. "This is a great example of the good things that can happen when residents are concerned about their community, and in turn, the local government is responsive."

As a result, Venditto said the town would soon begin an abandoned cemetery adoption program -- a resolution will be considered at tomorrow's town board meeting.

But there remains one issue to resolve at the old Baptist burial ground.

The Melogranes would still like to clean and reset some headstones, including those weather-beaten to the point of being illegible.

The town will provide guidance to the couple as they attempt to raise money for the effort, but probably won't be the primary source of funds.

"I think repair of stones goes beyond the custodial maintenance nature of what governments do at old cemeteries," said Town Historian John Hammond. "But this one happens to be historically very significant."

Regardless of work yet to be done, Melograne is satisfied.

"It does not look like the same place," she said.
 

Who's there

Among the historic figures buried at Oyster Bay Village's Old Baptist Cemetery:

Marmaduke Earle

Pastor of the state's first

Baptist church and leader of

the town's earliest schoolhouse

Molly Cooper

Resident who wrote a diary

of her life on a local farm

from 1769 to 1773; it later

became a book

Abraham Van Wyck

Captain in the

Revolutionary War