{"nrhp_refnum":"98000133","name":"Harrison Meeting House Site and Cemetery","other_names":["Germantown Church Site and Cemetery"],"category":"site","location":{"address":"Co. Rd. 416, S of jct. of NY 211 and Co. Rd. 416","address_restricted":false,"city":"Montgomery","county":"Orange County","state":"NY","lat":41.51089239400005,"lon":-74.25209416899997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1999-03-09","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Exploration/Settlement"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"An archeological site and inactive cemetery of under one acre on the east side of County Route 416 in Montgomery, Orange County, New York, containing the site of a church founded around 1727 by German settlers and its burial ground.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the site is a rare survivor of the area's early German settlement, known as Germantown. It holds the remains of many of the first European settlers and the site of their short-lived church. Because activity ended by about 1790, it has high potential to yield information on settlement patterns, lifeways, religious activities and funerary customs.","narrative":"Beside County Route 416 in Montgomery, New York, a parcel of less than one acre holds the site of a German settlers' church and its burial ground, both dating from about 1727. Johannes Miller and his wife Jemima Schoonmaker settled the area that year, and other German families followed, creating a community called Germantown. The log church was later lost, possibly around 1784, and burials ended around 1790. Graves are marked by rough, unfinished fieldstones. In 1989 the county, which owns the land as part of its airport, cleared trees, removed some stones and added a foot of fill, burying many markers. A 1990 town effort located stones, raised several, replicated the only known inscribed marker, and added fencing, a wall, a plaque and a flagpole. The site is significant for its potential to yield information about early settlement, religious life and burial customs, since its remains appear to have stayed undisturbed until 1989.","period_of_significance":"ca. 1727 - ca. 1790","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":null,"criteria":["D"],"status_note":"Inactive cemetery on county-owned land near the Orange County Airport; markers were partly buried under fill in 1989 and partly restored in 1990, with a replica marker, boundary fencing and a stone wall added.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:51:50.406004-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/98000133.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/98000133/32efc72521-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/98000133/32efc72521-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"The original uploader was Daniel Case at English Wikipedia.","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Harrison_Meeting_site.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">The original uploader was Daniel Case at English Wikipedia.</a>, <a href=\"http://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:Harrison_Meeting_site.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75320662","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harrison_Meeting_House_Site_and_Cemetery","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5665748"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/orange-county/harrison-meeting-house-site-and-cemetery-98000133/"}