North Hempstead honors 12 Revolutionary War-era patriots, their break from Loyalist Hempstead

The line that divides North Hempstead and Hempstead can be traced all the way back to the American Revolution.

On Tuesday, North Hempstead officials honored 12 patriots buried at Monfort Cemetery in Port Washington who helped draw that line, and who declared their independence from British Loyalists to their south. 

"As we approach Independence Day and America 250, we honor these first veterans, not only with our words, but by remembering the values they fought for: courage, sacrifice and the enduring promise of freedom," North Hempstead Town Supervisor Jennifer DeSena said at a ceremony at the cemetery Tuesday.

As the Revolutionary War started in 1775, so too did a movement in Hempstead.

On April 4 of that year, days before armed conflict broke out in Massachusetts, the Hempstead Town Board declared its allegiance to King George III and declined to send a delegation to the rebellious Provincial Congress in New York City, according to the North Hempstead Town website.

In response, on Sept. 23, 1775, 15 leaders of Great Neck and Cow Neck — later known as Port Washington and Manhasset — declared independence from Hempstead.

Their declaration said the Loyalists’ "general conduct is inimical to freedom, we be no further considered as part of the township of Hempstead ... we shall consider ourselves as an entire, separate and independent beat or district." 

Those 15 men "from this peninsula boldly declared in writing that they would no longer be Loyalists. They chose liberty over comfort, conviction over convenience, and formed their own militia," DeSena said. "In many ways, they were writing North Hempstead's first chapter before America had officially written hers." 

On Tuesday, officials read aloud the 12 names of those patriots buried at Monfort Cemetery and a bugler played taps.

Lessons from a once-forgotten cemetery

The cemetery is tucked away behind a high school athletic field and a parking lot, surrounded by a chain-link fence and designated by a historical marker. For years, it had fallen into disrepair. After a $20,000 restoration project, gravestones have been reassembled, and markers announce those with Revolutionary history.

Town historian Ross Lumpkin said Tuesday the cemetery tells a story about the Colonial history of the area. "What you have here is evidence of a very active and vibrant Dutch community," he said. "They weren't really loyal. They were for independence."

One of those buried there is Adrian Onderdonk, who, Lumpkin said, was involved in efforts to train a militia to fight the Crown. "That made him a bitter enemy to the British right away," Lumpkin said.

"The provincial Congress had asked all the towns in New York to get militias together," Lumpkin said. "This was a part of Hempstead at that time, and Hempstead refused, and that's what prompted this resolution."

In 1784, a year after the war ended, bitterness over the British occupation of Long Island led to the New York State Legislature creating North Hempstead as a separate town. The first governor of New York, George Clinton, signed the act into law.

"These people deserve to be remembered," said Chris Bain, president of the Cow Neck Peninsula Historical Society, which spearhead the fundraising for the restoration. "We have a responsibility going forward to care for old houses, to care for old districts, to care for old cemeteries."

'Resurrecting the site'

The town hired Joel Snodgrass, principal of Huntington-based Steward Preservation Services, to survey and restore gravestones in the cemetery.

"Typically they all suffer from damage that can be from any number of forms, including tree limbs falling, things bang into them, lawnmowers, people fall on them," Snodgrass said. "They can just fall on their own if they're tilted over too far."

"As an architectural conservator, whenever you're working on this stuff, you're trying to give the item more life or slowing down the decay process," Snodgrass said. "Literally ... and you're trying not to do things that might cause additional harm."

Snodgrass said the stones are typically embedded about a third of their length into the ground, making some of them very heavy. Some had to be lifted using a system of pulleys on a tripod, he said. 

The restoration began with a site survey, and then stones were cleaned. In some cases, they were reinforced with stainless steel pins and structural adhesive. 

"It's really been sort of resurrecting the site," Snodgrass said. 

DeSena pointed out that the revolutionaries were ordinary people. 

"These weren't famous generals or celebrated statesmen," she said. "They were neighbors, farmers, fathers, community leaders; yet their willingness to stand up for the cause of liberty helped lay the foundation of our nation.

"The promise of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness weren't just words written in Philadelphia," she said.