{"nrhp_refnum":"80002635","name":"Old Gravesend Cemetery","other_names":[],"category":"site","location":{"address":"Gravesend Neck Rd. and MacDonald Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"New York","county":"Brooklyn","state":"NY","lat":40.594712429000026,"lon":-73.97450149599996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1980-09-17","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Community Planning and Development","Exploration/Settlement"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Old Gravesend Cemetery is a 1.6-acre burial ground at Gravesend Neck Road and MacDonald Avenue in Brooklyn, New York. It was in use by about 1658 and occupies the former common ground of the southwest quadrant of the 1645 town of Gravesend.","why_significant":"It is the most significant remaining site tied to Gravesend, founded in 1645 by Lady Deborah Moody and her Anabaptist followers. Gravesend was the first English-speaking settlement in the Dutch colony and had an unusually early planned town layout. The cemetery holds graves of original patentees, their descendants and several Revolutionary War militia figures.","narrative":"Old Gravesend Cemetery is a small burial ground of 1.6 acres in southeastern Brooklyn, entered from Gravesend Neck Road. It marks the site of the southwest quadrant common ground of Gravesend, a town founded in 1645 by Lady Deborah Moody and her Anabaptist followers. Gravesend was the first English-speaking settlement in the Dutch colony of New Netherland, held a charter naming a woman among its patentees, and followed a formal plan of a walled center with wedge-shaped farm strips. The burial ground existed by 1658, when a will provided money for a fence. It holds graves of many original patentees and their descendants, along with Revolutionary War militia officers such as Rutgert Van Brunt, Rem Williamson and Joost Stillwell. Brownstone headstones carry Dutch and English inscriptions, some with carved winged angel heads. The Van Sicklen family keeps a separately fenced plot in the northwest corner. The cemetery is regarded as the principal surviving remnant of the early planned community.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Condition is listed as fair; many headstones are broken or damaged by weather and vandalism, and periodic clean-ups by the Gravesend Historical Society help maintain it. Owned by the City of New York.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:50:42.110746-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/80002635.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/80002635/9cb3e6bcab-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/80002635/9cb3e6bcab-1600.webp","licence":"CC0","author":"Jim.henderson","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gravesend_Cemetery_snow_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:Gravesend_Cemetery_snow_jeh.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75318469","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Gravesend_Cemetery","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7084131"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/brooklyn/old-gravesend-cemetery-80002635/"}