Moravian Cemetery

The Moravian Cemetery is a cemetery in the New Dorp neighborhood of Staten Island, New York City. Located at 2205 Richmond Road, the Moravian is the largest and oldest active cemetery on Staten Island, having opened in 1740. The cemetery encompasses 113 acres (46 hectares) and is the property of the local Moravian Church congregation of Staten Island.[1] To the cemetery's southwest is High Rock Park, one of the constituent parks of the Staten Island Greenbelt.

Moravian Cemetery
Mausoleum of the Vanderbilt family
Details
Established1740
Location
New Dorp, Staten Island, New York
CountryUnited States
Coordinates40.584°N 74.119°W / 40.584; -74.119
Size113 acres (46 ha)
Find a GraveMoravian Cemetery

History

In what was a purely farming community, the 113-acre (46 ha) cemetery was originally made available as a free cemetery for the public in order to discourage families from using farm burial plots. The Moravian Cemetery is the burial place for a number of famous Staten Islanders, including members of the Vanderbilt family.[1]

After the closure in the 1880s of the South Reformed Dutch Church in Richmondtown the graves of that church's graveyard were reinterred at Moravian.[2]

In the 19th century, Cornelius Vanderbilt gave the Moravian Church 8 1⁄2 acres (3.4 ha). Later, his son William Henry Vanderbilt gave a further 4 acres (1.6 ha) and constructed the residence for the cemetery superintendent. The Vanderbilt mausoleum, designed by Richard Morris Hunt and constructed in 1885–1886, is part of the family's private section within the cemetery. Their mausoleum is a replica of a Romanesque church in Arles, France. The landscaped grounds around the Vanderbilt mausoleum were designed by Frederick Law Olmsted. The Vanderbilt section is not open to the public.[1] The Vanderbilt mausoleum was made a New York City designated landmark in 2016.[3]

A monument to Robert Gould Shaw, a Union soldier who led the first all-black regiment in the American Civil War and died in the Second Battle of Fort Wagner, was erected here by his family.[4] The director Martin Scorsese also has a burial plot here.

The cemetery is the burial place for a great many Italian-American Catholics even though it is a Protestant cemetery. This is due to the efforts of Father Ettore Barletta who was in charge of the Italian Mission congregation at the nearby Moravian Church in the early 1900s, spoke fluent Italian and welcomed newly arrived Italian immigrants in the area to attend services.

Notable burials

In the novel It's Superman: A Novel, the mother of the character Lex Luthor is buried here.[5] Moravian Cemetery was also seen in Friday the 13th (1980 film) and the 2009 reboot.

See also

References
  1. "About Us". Moravian Cemetery Website. Retrieved October 4, 2013.
  2. Site of Reformed Dutch Church Accessed February 11, 2018
  3. Dunlap, David W. (April 12, 2016). "Pepsi-Cola Sign in Queens Gains Landmark Status". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved September 8, 2020.
  4. O'Grady, Jim (November 14, 1999). "Neighborhood Report: New Springville; Here Lies Ichabod Crane, But You'd Hardly Know It". The New York Times. Retrieved September 1, 2018.
  5. De Haven, Tom. It's Superman. Random House, 2011, page 116

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