{"nrhp_refnum":"94001001","name":"Mount Moor African-American Cemetery","other_names":["Mount Moor Cemetery"],"category":"site","location":{"address":"Dexter Rd., off NY 54A","address_restricted":false,"city":"Clarkstown","county":"Rockland County","state":"NY","lat":41.09642028900004,"lon":-73.95864365199998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1994-08-29","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Art","Black"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A 3-acre African-American burying ground on Dexter Road in West Nyack, town of Clarkstown, Rockland County, New York, established in 1849 on a hillside parcel.","why_significant":"The nomination argues it is a rare, largely intact mid-nineteenth century rural burying ground created by African-Americans for the area's Black community. It is also valued for its collection of grave markers from the mid-nineteenth to mid-twentieth century, including marble tablets, a cast zinc monument and homemade concrete markers. It is the only survivor of three Black burying grounds established in Clarkstown.","narrative":"Mount Moor African-American Cemetery occupies a three-acre wedge of steep hillside off Dexter Road in West Nyack, in Clarkstown, Rockland County. In 1849 three African-American men, William H. Moore, Stephen Samuels and Isaac Williams, bought land from James and Jane Benson as a non-denominational burying ground for the area's Black population. Trustees added an acre in 1855. The earliest marked burial dates to 1848, and the last took place in 1986. About 90 graves can be identified, including those of veterans of the Civil War, the Spanish-American War, both World Wars and the Korean War. Markers range from carved marble tablets and a cast zinc catalogue monument to wood crosses, piled cobblestones and hand-lettered concrete stones. Of three Black burying grounds once established in Clarkstown, only this one survives. Although a shopping mall development now surrounds it and a blasted rock cliff marks its west edge, the cemetery keeps a high degree of integrity and records a century of burial customs.","period_of_significance":"1849 - 1947","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":null,"criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Still a cemetery, maintained by a cemetery association; surrounded by modern commercial development but described as virtually intact. The last burial occurred in 1986.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:51:51.430175-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/94001001.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/94001001/e410dee935-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/94001001/e410dee935-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"User:Magicpiano","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:WestNyackNY_MountMoorCemetery_01.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">User:Magicpiano</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:WestNyackNY_MountMoorCemetery_01.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75321468","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Moor_African-American_Cemetery","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6922247"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/rockland-county/mount-moor-african-american-cemetery-94001001/"}