{"nrhp_refnum":"01000126","name":"New Utrecht Reformed Church Complex (Boundary Increase)","other_names":[],"category":"site","location":{"address":"8523 16th Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Brooklyn","county":"Brooklyn","state":"NY","lat":40.61064052000003,"lon":-74.00604217253388,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2001-03-05","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Exploration/Settlement"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A cemetery of about one acre at 8523 16th Avenue in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, New York, added as a boundary increase to the New Utrecht Reformed Church Complex. Burials began around 1653 in the early Dutch settlement of New Utrecht.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the cemetery is an integral part of the church's history and one of the earliest Dutch settlement-era cemeteries in New York City. It is significant under Criterion A for Exploration/Settlement. The period of significance runs from the c. 1653 founding to 1950, when most burials had occurred.","narrative":"About an acre in size, this cemetery sits at the west end of a Bensonhurst block in Brooklyn, two blocks from the New Utrecht Reformed Church listed in 1980. Burials began around 1653, when New Utrecht's Dutch settlers buried their dead near their houses. The ground later became the churchyard of a stone church built in 1700 and replaced in 1828. The cemetery holds roughly 1,220 known burials, including 23 veterans and the monument of General Nathaniel Woodhull, who died in 1776 after the Battle of Long Island. Headstones face east and progress from red sandstone to marble and then polished granite. Two unmarked areas are recorded: one for African American burials, partly lost beneath 16th Avenue, and a mass grave of American soldiers. Its period of significance runs from about 1653 to 1950, and it is recognized as one of the earliest Dutch settlement-era cemeteries in New York City.","period_of_significance":"c. 1653-1950","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":null,"criteria":["A"],"status_note":"The cemetery is closed to new burials apart from a few reserved spaces for urns. A chain link fence replaced the original iron fence in the 1960s.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:51:50.907872-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/01000126.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/01000126/0dc7610017-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/01000126/0dc7610017-1600.webp","licence":"CC0","author":"Jim.henderson","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:New_Utrecht_parish_house_jeh.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Jim.henderson</a>, <a href=\"http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/deed.en\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:New_Utrecht_parish_house_jeh.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75318457","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Utrecht_Reformed_Church","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q12063902"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/brooklyn/new-utrecht-reformed-church-complex-boundary-increase-01000126/"}