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Olde Towne of Flushing Burial Ground

Memorials	:	0
Location	:	Flushing, Queens County, USA
Coordinate	:	40.7543490, -73.8023790
Description	:	The Olde Towne of Flushing Burial Ground 46 Ave. Bet. 164 St. And 165 St. Queens Acres: 3.47 Once known as the "Pauper Burial Ground", "Colored Cemetery of Flushing" and "Martin's Field", this site was renamed in 2009 "The Olde Towne of Flushing Burial Ground". The Queens Department of Parks acquired this property on December 2, 1914 at which time the land served as a ‘town commons' or ‘green' for the neighborhood. In 1936, under the leadership of Parks Commissioner Robert Moses (1888-1981), a portion of the park was developed for the purpose of creating a more active recreation site for children. At that time,... Read More	The Olde Towne of Flushing Burial Ground 46 Ave. Bet. 164 St. And 165 St. Queens Acres: 3.47 Once known as the "Pauper Burial Ground", "Colored Cemetery of Flushing" and "Martin's Field", this site was renamed in 2009 "The Olde Towne of Flushing Burial Ground". The Queens Department of Parks acquired this property on December 2, 1914 at which time the land served as a ‘town commons' or ‘green' for the neighborhood. In 1936, under the leadership of Parks Commissioner Robert Moses (1888-1981), a portion of the park was developed for the purpose of creating a more active recreation site for children. At that time, Moses—who commanded thousands of Works Progress Administration (WPA) workers—built a modern playground here. During the excavation, WPA workers came upon evidence of the site's previous use as a burial ground, including pennies placed upon the eyes of the dead—an archaic burial practice that was also observed in excavations of the African Burial Ground in lower Manhattan. By 1938, the new playground, complete with a wading pool, baseball field, and swing sets, opened to the public. Meanwhile the WPA's historical division interviewed local citizens about the site's history as a burial ground. George W. Pople, a local historian who was 80 at the time, explained that the town of Flushing suffered a cholera epidemic circa 1840, and a smallpox epidemic in 1844. Afraid that the bodies of the victims would contaminate church burial grounds, the town purchased this land from the Bowne family to create a separate public burial ground for this express purpose. In 1854, medical scientist John Snow discovered a link between cholera and contaminated water, and in the following decades improved hygiene helped to ward off such diseases. As the incidence of such epidemics diminished, the burial ground fell out of use for a time. The burial ground entered a new chapter in the later decades of the 1800s, when it was set aside for use by the African American community. During this time the site appears to have been used more intensively than at any other. As it happened, in the 1850s the Flushing Journal published editorials saying that the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church had run out of burial space, and urged the town of Flushing to reserve a public burial ground for their use. From the 1880's (and possibly earlier), until the cemetery was closed in 1898, the site was used for the burial of African Americans and Native Americans. The Bunn family—whose names appear on the only marked gravestones we know of from this site—were parishioners of the AME Church. The ‘re-discovery' of burial grounds within our municipality is an experience shared by many cities world-wide. The City of New York has buildings and parks that stand on former burial grounds. In the 1990's, when Parks began a renovation of the site, local activist Mandingo Tshaka drew attention to its previous history. In response, Parks commissioned a $50,000 archaeological study in 1996. Archeologist Linda Stone concluded that the site served as the final resting-place for between 500 to 1,000 individuals. Death records for the town of Flushing exist for the period 1881 until 1898, and show that during this period, 62 percent of the buried were African American or Native American, 34 percent were unidentified, and more than half were children under the age of five. In 2004, Borough President Helen Marshall and Council Member John Liu allocated a combined $2.667 million in funding making this the largest improvement here since 1938. A paved area bears a central stone inscribed with the site's history, and an historic wall was recreated and engraved with the names from the only four headstones remaining here in 1919. Mature oaks, as well as new trees and shrubs, serve as the natural link between past and present, providing shade for the burial ground as well as the newly installed toddler's playground. The cemetery is identified as the Colored Cemetery of Flushing on pages 42-43 of The Graveyard Shift: A Family Historian’s Guide to New York City Cemeteries, Carolee Inskeep, Ancestry Publishing (Orem, Utah) © 2000.

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Where is Olde Towne of Flushing Burial Ground?
Olde Towne of Flushing Burial Ground is located at 46th Avenue Flushing, Queens County ,New York , 11358USA.
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Latitude: 40.7543490
Longitude: -73.8023790

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Nearby Cemetories:

1. Martin's Field Cemetery
Flushing, Queens County, USA
Coordinate: 40.7555340, -73.8021280

2. Flushing Cemetery
Flushing, Queens County, USA
Coordinate: 40.7522011, -73.7994003

3. Mount Saint Mary Cemetery
Flushing, Queens County, USA
Coordinate: 40.7406006, -73.8016968

4. Old Bowne Family Burial Ground
Flushing, Queens County, USA
Coordinate: 40.7640970, -73.8255210

5. Old Methodist Burial Ground
Flushing, Queens County, USA
Coordinate: 40.7618050, -73.8294590

6. Quaker Meeting House Cemetery
Flushing, Queens County, USA
Coordinate: 40.7627800, -73.8301850

7. Saint George's Episcopal Church Graveyard
Flushing, Queens County, USA
Coordinate: 40.7603100, -73.8315590

8. Brinckerhoff Cemetery
Queens County, USA
Coordinate: 40.7319590, -73.7884050

9. Colden Family Cemetery
Flushing, Queens County, USA
Coordinate: 40.7426830, -73.8352600

10. Lawrence Burying Ground
Bayside, Queens County, USA
Coordinate: 40.7632990, -73.7668130

11. Cedar Grove Cemetery
Flushing, Queens County, USA
Coordinate: 40.7353060, -73.8311640

12. Mount Hebron Cemetery
Flushing, Queens County, USA
Coordinate: 40.7355995, -73.8317032

13. Grace Episcopal Church Columbarium
Whitestone, Queens County, USA
Coordinate: 40.7892100, -73.8111700

14. Immaculate Conception Monastery Cemetery
Jamaica, Queens County, USA
Coordinate: 40.7142400, -73.7861400

15. Thorne-Wilkins Cemetery
Bayside, Queens County, USA
Coordinate: 40.7944220, -73.7803700

16. Saint Fidelis Church Cemetery
College Point, Queens County, USA
Coordinate: 40.7848660, -73.8442450

17. William Lawrence Family Burial Ground
College Point, Queens County, USA
Coordinate: 40.7909680, -73.8388130

18. Johnson Burial Ground
Bayside, Queens County, USA
Coordinate: 40.7380112, -73.7451394

19. Zion Episcopal Church Cemetery
Douglaston, Queens County, USA
Coordinate: 40.7661110, -73.7427770

20. Maple Grove Cemetery
Kew Gardens, Queens County, USA
Coordinate: 40.7092018, -73.8238983

21. Burroughs Family Burial Ground
Elmhurst, Queens County, USA
Coordinate: 40.7431570, -73.8668310

22. Grace Episcopal Churchyard
Jamaica, Queens County, USA
Coordinate: 40.7041660, -73.8016660

23. Immaculate Conception Center Cemetery
Douglaston, Queens County, USA
Coordinate: 40.7469300, -73.7333100

24. Prospect Cemetery
Jamaica, Queens County, USA
Coordinate: 40.7013880, -73.7994440

Olde Towne of Flushing Burial Ground

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