Rockville Cemetery, Bristol & Mexico Monument added to register, official says

The historic Rockville Cemetery and the Bristol & Mexico Monument have been listed in the National Register of Historic Places, a New York State Parks and Historic Preservation official recently announced.

Jennifer Betsworth, the Historic Preservation Specialist with the state agency, sent the news to local historians and officials late last month.

The Rockville Cemetery holds the graves of the founding families of Lynbrook, Rockville Centre and East Rockaway, along with a monument to the victims of two maritime disasters.

The monument, named for two ships wrecked in the winter of 1836-37 near Long Beach and Rockaway Beach, was placed in the center of the cemetery by East Rockaway, Lynbrook and Rockville Centre residents in 1840. The monument, an obelisk, was paid for partially by money found in the pockets of some of the 139 unclaimed bodies from the disasters’ victims, who were mostly Irish.

Lynbrook Mayor William Hendrick congratulated those behind the achievement, “especially village historian Art Mattson.”