{"nrhp_refnum":"01001438","name":"Prospect Cemetery","other_names":[],"category":"site","location":{"address":"159th St. and Beaver Rd.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Jamaica","county":"Queens","state":"NY","lat":40.70156658700006,"lon":-73.79944431874387,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2002-01-11","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Exploration/Settlement","Art"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Prospect Cemetery is a four-acre, wooded burial ground at 159th Street and Beaver Road in Jamaica, Queens, New York, founded in 1668 by the village of Jamaica. It includes the 1857 Chapel of the Sisters and about 240 family plots.","why_significant":"The nomination argues it is the oldest cemetery in Jamaica and a rare survivor of late seventeenth-century development on Long Island, tied to the settlement and growth of Jamaica (Criterion A). It also holds a collection of funerary architecture and art, including gravestones from 1728 onward and a Romanesque Revival chapel, reflecting changing religious and social customs (Criterion C).","narrative":"Prospect Cemetery is a four-acre burial ground in Jamaica, Queens, established in 1668 by the village of Jamaica and used for burials until 1988. It holds roughly 240 family plots and about 2,100 burials, including many Revolutionary War soldiers. Gravestones range from a simple brownstone marker dated 1728 to later obelisks, with carved skulls, angels and neoclassical urns. The grounds grew in stages: Isaac Simonson added land to the west in 1841, and merchant Nicholas Ludlum added three acres to the east in 1856. In 1857 Ludlum built the Chapel of the Sisters, a Romanesque Revival fieldstone building with brownstone trim, as a memorial to his three daughters. The Prospect Cemetery Association took over the cemetery in 1879. The site is recognized as the oldest cemetery in Jamaica and for its funerary art, though weeds cover many stones and the chapel has deteriorated.","period_of_significance":"1668-1951","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Romanesque Revival (Chapel of the Sisters); Section 7 classification listed as N/A","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Inactive since its last burial in 1988. The land is overgrown, and the chapel is damaged by moisture, neglect and vandalism, with its entrances and windows sealed.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:51:53.739883-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/01001438.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/01001438/412a364a98-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/01001438/412a364a98-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Peter Greenberg","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Prospect_Cemetery_Jamaica_02.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Peter Greenberg</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Prospect_Cemetery_Jamaica_02.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75321131","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prospect_Cemetery_(Queens)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7250729"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/queens/prospect-cemetery-01001438/"}