I’m proud to announce that cleanup and restoration work is currently underway at
Nanuet Cemetery. This project is part of a broader effort under my administration to
preserve and protect previously abandoned cemeteries across the town. While the
Town never intended to be in the cemetery business, New York State law had other
plans. Whenever a private Cemetery Association becomes abandoned, ownership of
the cemetery defaults to the local municipality. There is an important exception to this
law, however, which dictates that religious cemeteries will always remain the legal
responsibility of the religious entity or its successor. In all, Clarkstown now has legal
responsibility for three cemeteries in the town.
This burden passed on by New York State law is mostly unmitigated, but the State does
have an abandoned cemetery fund, which allows for a one time disbursement to assist
municipalities that have “inherited“ an abandoned cemetery. The town was recently
successful in applying for and receiving financial assistance from this fund, and is
working to rehabilitate two of these abandoned cemeteries.
As mentioned earlier, work is being done now at Nanuet cemetery, which is located next
to the Highview Cemetery on Middletown Road and Church Street. An expert cemetery
restoration company is restoring and repairing over 150 headstones and grave markers,
along with doing extensive site work and improvements. The work is estimated to take
approximately three weeks to complete and is fully funded by state grants.
The ongoing work has already uncovered historic graves of veterans from the Civil War,
World War I, and World War II. Headstones that have toppled or cracked over the years
are being repaired and put back in place. Once that primary work is completed, the
grass will be restored and the town will work with a cemetery architect to maximize the
future use of the site and ensure its perpetual maintenance.
The Town is also planning a major restoration for the Nyack Rural Cemetery, located on
Route 59 behind the Nyack Lumber property. This largely unseen site, hidden in the
hillside is an expansive parcel of property with many historical burials. Unfortunately,
due to the size and the effects of time and nature, the site’s restoration is expected to
cost multiple millions of dollars. The town is in the midst of an extensive planning
process, including applying for significant state grant funding, to fully restore this historic
site and ensure its continued operation and care for generations to come. This is a massive undertaking which will take a significant amount of time in order to make sure it is done correctly. We are including state experts, cemetery architects and restoration experts, and others to bring aboard the best and brightest to implement our plans. Once complete Nyack Rural will become a national model for cemetery restoration and a beautiful final resting place for the deceased.
Both of these projects involve complex and sensitive work. Plans call for phased work
over the next three to five years. Once fully complete, both cemeteries will be places of
enduring honor and remembrance for all those buried at these hallowed locations.
