North Salem eyes improvements at local cemeteries

NORTH SALEM, N.Y. - Cemeteries may be places where the dead are laid to rest, but they also serve as spaces for reflection and for honoring the lives of the departed.

Themes of faith, hope, and legacies are expressed through images on gravestones and monuments.

When those are in disrepair -- whether it’s because of vandalism, acid rain, lichen, old age, or the occasional errant lawnmower or weed-whacker -- it doesn’t reflect too well on their caretakers.

That’s why North Salem folks have been focusing of late on fixing up the town’s five burial grounds: the Cat Ridge, June, Peach Pond, Peach Lake, and Mills Road cemeteries.

It started with Cat Ridge, a local historic landmark, about 10 years ago, according to town historian Susan Thompson.

The project was the first time anything had been done “seriously for many, many years,” she said at the Town Board’s April 8 meeting where funding for gravestone repairs at June Cemetery was discussed and approved.

Thanks to efforts by the North Salem Historical Society and the Landmark & Historic Preservation Commission, money was raised to pay for a professional team of headstone restorers, restoration architects, and contractors who assessed the situation and brought Cat Ridge back to “the level of care” that could make the community proud, the society said.

That included the restoration of its unique, pre-1842 underground receiving vault.

(A receiving vault is used to temporarily store bodies or caskets before a permanent interment can occur. It was commonplace in areas with harsh winters.)

Cat Ridge also includes the graves of Revolutionary War veteran Daniel Purdy; Civil War soldier Andrew Quick, a blacksmith from Purdys who died at Harper’s Ferry; and about 50 other prominent early settlers.

“It was very successful,” Thompson said.

But they couldn’t have done it without the toil of more than 28 intrepid volunteers who “cleaned and uprighted headstones, hauled away debris, shoveled, and scrubbed,” the society said on its website, adding: “They worked tirelessly for a year.”

(Unfortunately, a huge tree fell and damaged two markers at Cat Ridge during a storm in 2020.)

Thompson and the town have continued to work with Beyond the Gravestone, a restoration and maintenance service based in Storrs, Conn.

Peach Pond was next on the agenda. That work was done with the town’s approval last summer.

Two years ago, BTG also made a proposal for June Cemetery, located on June Road just north of its intersection with Route 116 (Titicus Road).

Originally a private burial ground, June has since served a number of North Salem congregations.

In 1806, it was deeded to the town for public use. In 1851, land was donated for an expansion and in more recent times, a donation allowed the cemetery to be open for the purchase of new plots.

The June Cemetery project – involving around 10 stones, initially -- was put before the Town Board Tuesday. It unanimously authorized town Supervisor Warren Lucas to sign an agreement with BTG for $8,450 in repairs there.

The money will come out of the town’s cemetery budget, which is funded through the sale of plots.

“It’s a good cause,” Lucas said.

The surnames on some of the stones to be fixed up will sound familiar: Mead, Dickerson, Vail, Chase, and Bailey.

(The June family descended from John J. June, a 19th-century farmer and a trustee of the North Salem Academy. In the 1830s, he and a brother and uncle got involved in the circus and menagerie business. They brought over and exhibited the first rhinoceros ever seen in this country, the historical society said.)

Poignantly, there’s a child’s grave on the list for repairs at June Cemetery. It’s simply marked Little Nelia.

After this project, there’s more work to be done at June and, down the road, at Peach Lake Cemetery which, Thompson said, “sadly is a real mess.”

Peach Lake Cemetery is located on Peach Lake Road just south of the Putnam County Line.

It too started out as a private burial ground and was established in 1865 by the Peach Lake Association. Some of the original graves were moved elsewhere by the kin of their occupants. Interments ceased in 1905.

Thompson plans to ask BTG for bids for those two possible projects – with input from the town’s Capital Planning Committee.

“So, this will be an ongoing thing, as long as we can afford to pay for it. Since the town owns the cemeteries, we don’t really have much choice,” she said, telling Town Board members: “It’s up to you, how much money you want to spend.”