Cemetery for black war vets may become historical site

1988-08-21

Cemetery for black war vets may become historical site
By Pati Nash
Staff Writer

More than 150 years old, Mount Moor Cemetery is the resting place for black war veterans and local black families. Now, the people who care for the West Nyack burial ground are looking to preserve that heritage.
The cemetery is on the side of a granite mountain on land owned by Pyramid Cos. of Syracuse, the site of the proposed $100 million Palisades Center Mall.
The Clarkstown Town Board has scheduled a Sept. 15 public hearing to determine whether the one-acre site should be designated a town historical site.
The developers proposed moving the graves to a cemetery in
Nyack and placing $100,000 in a fund to provide permanent upkeep.
The offer was rejected by the Mount Moor Cemetery Association.
The historical site designation sought by the association would
place the resting ground for many of Rockland's black war veterans under the jurisdiction of the Historical Review Board, which would review any site change plans.
New York State law on cemeteries also governs the property, and requires permission of next-of-kin for removal of a grave or an "ex-haustive search" to locate relatives if none are readily available.
Eleanor Fitch, chairwoman of the town Historical Review Board,
said the board voted unanimously in July to designate the site after researching the land.
"It is significant, especially in black history, which we want to
maintain," she said. "If made a town historic site, it means the
cemetery cannot be destroyed and any changes have to come back to the board.... That is not likely to happen. It will be up to them (Pyramid) to alter their plans."
Beatrice Fountain, treasurer of the cemetery association, said that Pyramid offered to match any donations that the organization raises for fixing up or maintaining the cemetery.
"There was no problem once we told them we are not selling,"
she said. "But there are only a few of the old-time Nyack people left and we were not sure our children would be involved
enough to stop it (from being sold). If this goes through, we are
hoping it will not come up again."
Hezekai Easter, a member of the cemetery association and a
county legislator from Orangetown, said he was "delighted" the
historical designation was being considered.
Easter said that the Building Trade Council has begun to clean
up the brush-covered hillside. Fitch hopes to have the hillside
cleared by October.
"Once we get it started, people' will see we are serious and we'd get more help," she said. 'We are starting from scratch."
"Our main concern is to get it cleaned up and make it
presentable," she said. "It's a nice spot. If we fix it up, people will want to go visit."
Easter said that Pyramid has been very helpful, offering to help
secure tax-exempt status. "They have cooperated with the
association wherever possible," he said.
A partner for Pyramid said his company is no longer looking to
relocate the estimated 100 graves at the property.
"They turned it down, and that was fine," said Thomas Valenti,
sponsoring partner of the project. "That was the end of it."
Martin Cohen, the Clarkstown town historian and head of the
Clarkstown Bicentennial Committee, recently helped open an exhibit about the cemetery in the lobby of Town Hall in New City. "There are alot of people who served in the Revolutionary War and the Civil War buried there," he said. "There are not that many in Rockland County. From that point of view alone, it is a very historical site."

[photo] The Journal-News/Diane Stevenson
Gravestones more than 100 years old sit on the granite hillside of Mount Moor Cemetery in West Nyack.

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