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Small Cemeteries

This is a collection of the smaller burial places that dot the landscape of the five boroughs. They are family burial plots and church graveyards, some full of 300-year-old grave markers and some with no monuments at all, some squished between storefronts and major thoroughfares and others hidden behind homes and walls. While most remain extant (if not always accessible), some have been lost to time and development.

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St. George's Episcopal Church (Flushing)
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St. George's Episcopal Church (Flushing)

The cemetery at St. George's was established at the parish's founding in 1746, but ran out of room in 1887.
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Way-Mott Cemetery
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Way-Mott Cemetery

Also known as the Furman family burial plot (likely established in the early 19th century), the Way-Mott Cemetery had its surviving 13 grave markers moved to the Quaker Cemetery in Prospect Park in 1950.
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Grace Episcopal Church and Cemetery
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Grace Episcopal Church and Cemetery

Burial began here in 1734 and the cemetery's most famous permanent resident is Rufus King.
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"Indian Graveyard"
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"Indian Graveyard"

This "Indian graveyard" was lost when Northern Boulevard was widened in the
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Zion Episcopal Church Cemetery
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Zion Episcopal Church Cemetery

The burials from the site on Northern Boulevard were moved to the graveyard at Zion Episcopal Church which dates to 1830.
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First Presbyterian Church of Newtown (1787)
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First Presbyterian Church of Newtown (1787)

When the congregation moved to a new church across the street in 1985, the graveyard next to the old church remained until the land was sold in 1958. The graves were removed to Evergreens Cemetery in Brooklyn.
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Bayside Cemetery
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Bayside Cemetery

Established in 1865, Bayside Cemetery is one of the oldest Jewish cemeteries in the city that is still active.
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Bethel Methodist Episcopal Church
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Bethel Methodist Episcopal Church

The Bethel Methodist Episcopal Church Cemetery dates to the 1840s.
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St. John's Evangelical Lutheran Church
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St. John's Evangelical Lutheran Church

The small cemetery that sits on the land in front of this church has a tombstone written entirely in German dating from the 1860s.
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Protestant Episcopal Church of the Ascension
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Protestant Episcopal Church of the Ascension

Though the church that stood next to this graveyard is long gone, the cemetery remains.
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Trinity Church and Graveyard
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Trinity Church and Graveyard

The most famous permanent resident of Trinity Church graveyard is Broadway star Alexander Hamilton.
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Quaker Meeting House and Graveyard
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Quaker Meeting House and Graveyard

An unknown number of Quakers are buried here without headstones as that was the custom for some time.
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Gravesend Cemetery
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Gravesend Cemetery

This cemetery dates from 1643 and according to local lore, Lady Deborah Moody, the founder of Gravesend, is buried somewhere in the cemetery in an unmarked grave.
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First Shearith Israel Graveyard
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First Shearith Israel Graveyard

The Chatham Square Cemetery is the oldest cemetery of the Shearith Israel Congregation and the second oldest cemetery in Manhattan.
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Flatlands Dutch Reformed Church Cemetery
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Flatlands Dutch Reformed Church Cemetery

The Flatlands Reformed Church was established in 1654 and is the resting place of generations of Brooklyn's founding families with names like Lott, Schenck, and Wyckoff.
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Old West Farms Soldiers Cemetery
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Old West Farms Soldiers Cemetery

The graveyard next to the (no longer standing) West Farms Presbyterian Church includes burials of soldiers who fought in four American wars: the War of 1812, the Civil War, the Spanish-American War and World War I.
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Third Cemetery of the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue
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Third Cemetery of the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue

Congregation Shearith Israel established this 21st Street cemetery in 1829, but had to cease burials here in 1851 when Manhattan banned burials below 86th Street.
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New York Marble Cemetery
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New York Marble Cemetery

Founded in 1830 by wealthy merchants, the New York Marble Cemetery was the city's first non-sectarian burial place.
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New York City Marble Cemetery
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New York City Marble Cemetery

Established in 1831, this cemetery was the final resting place for President James Monroe, but only for 27 years.
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Our Lady of Mount Carmel Cemetery
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Our Lady of Mount Carmel Cemetery

An unexpected sight on the busy thoroughfare of 21st Street: a tiny, well-kept cemetery (established in the 1840s) among the houses and commercial storefronts.
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St. Marks African M.E. Church and Cemetery
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St. Marks African M.E. Church and Cemetery

Once the church and burial ground of a community founded by former slaves, the cemetery here had its graves disinterred in 1930, though... not all of them.
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Lent-Riker Cemetery
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Lent-Riker Cemetery

Sitting next to the oldest house in city still functioning as a private residence, the Riker-Lent Cemetery is the final resting place of generations Riker family members.
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St. Monica's Cemetery
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St. Monica's Cemetery

This cemetery dates to the mid 19th century and remains extant.
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St. Luke's Cemetery
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St. Luke's Cemetery

According to some sources this is the oldest burial grounds on Staten Island, with its oldest stone dating to either 1746 or 1751.
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Moore-Jackson Cemetery
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Moore-Jackson Cemetery

Once the family burial ground, cemetery dates to 1733, when the first burial was made. The final burial was in 1867.
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Lawrence Cemetery
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Lawrence Cemetery

Hidden behind two fences, the 1707-established Lawrence Cemetery in the final resting place of war heroes and college namesakes!
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New Lots Reformed Church and Cemetery
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New Lots Reformed Church and Cemetery

The older section of this church cemetery dates to the 18th century. The newer section was established in 1841 and continues to be an active place of burial today.
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St. Matthew's Episcopal Church
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St. Matthew's Episcopal Church

The church hides behind it a small colonial cemetery. The Wyckoff-Snedicker Family Cemetery long predates the church building and is the resting place of many of Woodhaven's early settlers.
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St. John's Lutheran Church and New Utrecht Dutch Reformed Church Cemetery
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St. John's Lutheran Church and New Utrecht Dutch Reformed Church Cemetery

The New Utrecht Dutch Reformed Cemetery was established in the 1654 on Main Street of the recently founded village of New Utrecht.
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