Oak Hill Cemetery
Why it's listed
Oak Hill Cemetery occupies 5.6 acres of rolling land on the south side of NY 81, just west of the Greene County hamlet of Oak Hill. It began as the family burial ground of Lucas and Deborah DeWitt, early settlers who died in 1820 and 1822 and were buried on a hilltop of their farm. It soon became a community cemetery. Roughly six hundred markers record more than one thousand burials, with the largest decade total, seventy-one, in the 1890s. Early stones are plain limestone slabs, while later nineteenth-century sections include large monuments and obelisks. Burials include members of the Utter, Plank, Tripp, Flower and Thorp families, veterans of several wars, and local industrialists, merchants and an artist, Olive Cheritree. The cemetery is listed for its link to the settlement and growth of Oak Hill and Durham and for the record it keeps of the community. It remains in use, set against farmland, oak trees and Catskill views, and retains a tool shed as a contributing building.
Significance in brief: The cemetery is significant for its association with the settlement and growth of Oak Hill and the town of Durham. It grew from the DeWitt family plot into a community cemetery holding many settlement families, industrialists, merchants and veterans. Its markers record the origins, intermarriages and ethnicity of residents from settlement to the mid-twentieth century, and its setting remains intact.
Machine-generated summary. This summary was generated by a language model from the official nomination document and has not been reviewed line by line by an editor. It may contain errors. Check the source document before relying on any detail. Source: nomination document (PDF) · National Archives catalog entry. NRHP reference 13000627, listed August 23, 2013. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-sonnet-5-5, prompt v1.0-2026-10-29, confidence high).
Key facts
| Address | W. German St., Herkimer |
|---|---|
| County | Herkimer County |
| Listed | August 23, 2013 |
| Reference number | 13000627 |
| Resource type | District |
| Period of significance | 1820-1960 |
| Criteria |
|
| Areas of significance | Landscape Architecture, Social History |
| Level of significance | Local |
| Status (as stated in the nomination) | Still in active use for burials, mainly in the northwest section; it contains one contributing tool shed and one non-contributing modern shed. |
| Acreage | 37 |
| Coordinates | 43.02136, -75.00694 (NPS GIS) |
What listing means for this property
This is a historic district. Buildings within its boundary are either contributing (they add to the district's significance) or non-contributing. Owners of contributing income-producing buildings can claim the 20% federal rehabilitation tax credit; homeowners should look at state credits. National Register districts impose no design review by themselves; a local historic district ordinance, if one exists, does (the difference explained).
General information, not legal or tax advice. Rules change; confirm with your State Historic Preservation Office or a qualified adviser.
Sources and further reading
- National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places database (snapshot May 2026), reference 13000627.
- Nomination form (PDF, National Archives) — catalog entry
- This listing as JSON
Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.