Name: Sparta Cemetery
Other Name(s): Sparta Burying Ground
Location: South Highland Avenue and Revolutionary Road
Date of Establishment/Historic Era: 1764
Characteristics: Two acres in size; surrounded by a low fieldstone wall; contains over 100 gravestones.
Significance: Historic and Cultural

Sparta Cemetery is National Register-listed as part of the Scarborough Historic District. It is historically and culturally significant for its association with early Sparta and Sing Sing Village and the Sing Sing Presbyterian Congregation (today known as the First Presbyterian
Congregation).

Narrative: Sparta Cemetery, established in 1764, was created on land deeded to the Presbyterian Church of Mount Pleasant by the State of New York for use as a church and cemetery. The property had formerly been part of the Philipsburg Manor estate until its seizure by the State after the Revolutionary War. The cemetery was built on the Old Albany Post Road, today known as Highland Avenue and Route 9. The church, erected on the site around 1768, was heavily damaged during the American Revolution but was later repaired and remained in service until 1800, the year in which the congregation moved into the Village and became the First Presbyterian Congregation. Accounts of the church’s fate vary; some sources indicate that the building was demolished and sold for scrap, while others state that it was moved across Highland Avenue and used first as a tavern and later as a school for a time until it was taken down later in the 19th century. In 1939, the newly formed Ossining Historical Society, with financial support from the First Presbyterian Congregation, took on the responsibility of maintaining the cemetery grounds and began the process of restoring the property, which had become thick with undergrowth due to neglect.

The Cemetery contains over 100 gravestones, many of which are for settlers who were among the first arrivals to Sing Sing and Sparta.

The Cemetery is also the final resting place of the renowned Leatherman.

• Acker
• Agate
• Birdsall
• Boorman
• Fowler
• Hunt
• Ladew
• Losee
• Merritt
• Miller
• Orser
• Sherwood
• Smith
• Storms
• Van Wart

Many other gravestones belong to soldiers killed in the Revolutionary War, American Civil War, and World War I, as well as other individuals who played a role in the civic, business, and institutional life of Sparta and Sing Sing (later Ossining) Village.

Village of Ossining Significant Sites and Structures Guide, Page 13.

Taken with a Sony A7IV and Tamron 28-300mm f/4-7.1 Di III VC VXD lens.

Sparta Cemetery, or the Presbyterian Burying Ground at Sparta, is a two-acre (0.81 ha) burying ground dating to 1764, making it the oldest cemetery in Westchester County. It is the only contributing property outside Briarcliff Manor; the Ossining Historical Society has maintained the cemetery since 1984. As of 1984, the cemetery is still owned by the First Presbyterian Church of Ossining; its original church building was built c. 1768 and was moved towards the center of Ossining in 1800. The grounds hold 34 known Revolutionary War veterans. Many of the area’s earliest residents are buried in the cemetery.

In September 1780, HMS Vulture fired a cannonball into the gravestone of Abraham Ladew, Jr., who died in 1774, at the age of 7. The Vulture was traveling south from Croton Point to pick up Major John André, a rendezvous that never occurred; Andre was captured in Tarrytown on his way to the vessel.

That’s all I have to say about Sparta Cemetery. I’ve done many posts on this cemetery (you can look them up) and on this occasion, I had been walking for around two hours, it was almost noon, and it was getting hot and humid. So, I didn’t stay long. Just a few shots taken from near the entrance, and I was off.

Taken with a Sony DSC-H50

Adjacent to “The Abbey Inn and Spa” mentioned in the previous post stands St. Mary’s Convent Cemetery.

An article titled: “Peekskill’s Historic Community of St Mary” on the New York Almanac mentions the cemetery:

In addition to the historic convent and chapel structures, the site includes a cemetery where the remains of former sisters and workers at the former school are interred. The cemetery is not maintained, and its gravestone markers are uprooted and stacked in a corner of the cemetery. Only the grave monument of CSM founders, Sister Harriet Starr Cannon and a few dozen unmarked cement crosses remain. Another developer bought the school and converted it into an apartment building.

While it may have been true in 2016 that the cemetery was in a state of disrepair, it certainly isn’t now. As you’ll see from the pictures it’s now in excellent condition. In fact, it’s one of the nicest small cemeteries I’ve come across in my area.

Taken with a Panasonic Lumix GX85 and Lumix G Vario 14-140 f3.5-5.6