Six historic cemeteries may be at risk from development
Map on which the Chester historian marked the positions of historic cemeteries in the 274-acre Bellevale subdivision, which will bring about 150 new houses to the neighborhood.
Chester — Every piece of land has a history. Developers may consider it unwanted baggage. But whatever your point of view, traces of the past have a way of revealing themselves, even as the forces of time bury them deeper into the ground. They are often in the middle of a struggle between reverence for the past and the economic pressures of the present.
The proposed Bellevale housing development in Chester is one such piece. It includes several historic cemeteries left over from a time when homesteaders, living in small, isolated communities within the town, buried their dead right on their own land.
The cemetery on McGuinessburg Road (spellings vary) dates to the 18th century. Its five legible headstones include the names of Colonel McGinnis and other local men who fought in the U.S. Colored Infantry during the Civil War. History texts such as Roger King’s “Silent Rebellion” note that fugitive slaves lived at McGinnisburg for more than 100 years before the Civil War. “Clinton’s Marble Book,” a history text from around 1740, mentions the intermingling of Native Americans in this remote mountain community, and the existence of a peach and apple orchard.
Clifton Patrick, Town of Chester historian, has pointed out other, more obscure burial grounds on the site. He provided The Chronicle with a map he obtained from the county (please see this page), and highlighted the parcels included in the new development. He then marked with red hexagons the rough positions of the known cemeteries from the Chester Cemeteries Protection Law, along with the recently located Frederick-Post Cemetery.
Other cemeteries that may be at risk from this project, according to Patrick, include Salem Methodist, Samuel Smith, and Galloway cemeteries, along with another spot with headstones bearing French writing. The green oval represents a foundation with a curved wall.
“The reason I say ‘may be at risk’ is because I do not know the exact locations of them all,” he wrote in an e-mail message. “The Frederick-Post Cemetery appeared to be right in the survey markings for a street when I documented the cemetery in 2006. The Salem Methodist cemetery graves were removed to the Monroe Cemetery about 1900, but if any remains were left behind, they would be protected under the cemeteries law.”
In 2002, the town passed the law to protect historic family plots from development. It prohibits building within 100 feet of a cemetery; the planning board must approve any building within 100 to 200 feet. Many towns in the county adopted the same law in the wake of public outrage over old headstones that were tipped over and buried to accommodate new houses in the Town of Goshen.
The Penal Code of New York State also has provisions against the desecration of burial sites, Patrick said.
“This very early mountain community is believed to have been populated people from native American, African and Dutch heritage,” according to Patrick. “It was also an important but mostly undocumented refuge on the Underground Railroad prior to the Civil War. Since this community was so well established as indicated in Clinton’s notes, it must be among the earliest communities established in the interior sections of Orange County. As such, it is a most important cultural location and should be carefully studied, archaeologically, before the site is destroyed.
“The Salem community, which did not develop a commercial center, was apparently a thriving group of families and farms from the 18th into the 20th centuries, and as such it should also be carefully studied, archaeologically, before any of those surviving sites are destroyed.”
Patrick said he wrote the town planning board last year with these concerns.
The scoping document for the development requires that the town historian be consulted about cemeteries on the site. Patrick said he does not believe anyone representing the developer has contacted him, but acknowledged that he gets many calls and may not always know their purpose.
He also said these old cemeteries can be extremely difficult to locate. “Several years ago, I searched for the Robert’s Cemetery near the intersection of Trout Brook and Laroe Roads,” he wrote. “I spent many hours scouring the hillside over a period of several months without finding it.”
Then a woman who used to live in the area led Patrick right to the spot.
“In those many hours on the hillside, I had been within ten feet or so of the grave markers several times, and missed them,” he wrote. “I fear that a hired consultant will walk through the site and report that nothing is there, instead of carefully and exhaustively searching for what remains of these assets documented in the historical record.”
This may not be be welcome news to the developer, who through his lawyer last week threatened to turn the place into a religious, non-tax-paying community if the town continued to chip away at the parcels allowed at the site.
Very nice article. I agree with you but what are we to do. Every piece of land has history. Deer and turkey's use to live in Manhattan. Mankind goes on, they cut down the trees in the rain forest, they kill whales in Japan, they gennisize people in Zudan. What are we as people suppose to do. I agree with you.
CHESTER — The Chester Kiwanis Club is collecting new toys for its annual Toyland Project, underway until Dec. 5.
The club will make the collected toys available to parents who cannot afford gifts for their children this holiday season.
Collection boxes can be found at the following locations:
• T.D. Banknorth — 78 Brookside Avenue
• Chester Academy — 64 Hambletonian Avenue
• Chester Elementary School — 2 Herbert Drive
• Chester Greenery and Gifts — 123 Main Street
• Chester Public Library — 1784 Kings Highway
• Chester Village Police Station — 47 Main Street
• Colonial Bowling Lanes — 78 Brookside Avenue
• Jennie’s Deli — 135 Main Street
• Key Bank — 74 Brookside Avenue
• Provident Bank — 69 Brookside Avenue
• T.M. Contracting of Orange County — 1663 Route 17M West
Parents may come to pick out gifts for each of their children at no charge from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 8, in the gym at the Chester Learning Center (the former Chester Junior-Senior High School). The entrance is located on Walnut Street. Gift wrapping will also be available free of charge.
The Kiwanis says the community has “always made this a very successful project” and “would like to thank everyone in advance for their generous donations. It is a heartwarming project, one that grows each year. And the families who receive are so appreciative.”
For more information call Rose Bono at 469-4524 or Marion Zangrillo at 469-4453.
Ring those bells
You’re sure to get a warm welcome when you stop by the Chester ShopRite on Saturday, Dec. 15. Chester’s Kiwanians will be there collecting donations for the Salvation Army.
Dream is eight years in the making for Lifshitz family
CHESTER — “There was a hill in Orange County New York. The hillside overlooked what used to be an old Indian road used before the Dutch got here and then later it became a Colonial road leading to the local iron works and forge. The road ran alongside a stream for most of its distance, the name of the stream was Trout Brook, but us kids, we used to just call it Silver Stream.’”
This is how Ken Lifshitz remembers the setting of the Silver Stream Winery, his family’s new business at 11 Kennedy Lane in Chester, one mile past the Trout Brook Fire Department on Lakes Road. The business’s Web page (www.silverstreamwinery.com) gives an “anecdotal history” of the site dating back to 1777, when “the famous local Highlands outlaw Claudius Smith accosted the son of one Jonathan Stevens who was herding his cow...and demanded ‘give me that cow in the name of the king.’”
In 1927, Ken’s grandfather Samuel Lifshitz established a 110-acres farm on that same property overlooking Trout Brook. “They raised corn in the morning and played softball late in the afternoon,” Ken writes. “Conveniently, the cornfield was right next to the ballfield and also across from the airfield where Barky Dulgarian flew his plane.... When they were not playing softball, raising corn or watching Barky buzz the rooftops, my family ran a lumberyard in Brooklyn. (We have the original cash register in the tasting room.)”
Lifshitz writes that he “never wanted to raise corn, or fly planes, or run a lumberyard,” so after college he joined the Merchant Marines. By the time he returned from the sea in 1983, all but 11 acres of the land had been sold off for development.
“I decided the hillside was a perfect spot for a vineyard,” he writes. “Luckily for me, this 11 acres was a well-drained southwest facing hillside. So in 1989 I moved my family up here, supporting us by computer programming jobs and started planting the first vines two years later.”
In 1999, he and his wife, Eva, formed a business partnership named Silver Stream Winery and began to produce wines from locally grown grapes. They had hoped to open the winery that year, but “things dragged on in front of various government agencies until 2004, when the Orange County Legislature in a 6 to 5 vote, voted to allow the winery on the property. It was a whisker-thin margin. It took another two years after that for the tasting room facility to be added because, 2003 and 2004 turned out to be disastrous years for grape producers in New York due to a number of odd weather events.”
The winery grows five varieties of grapes: Cabenet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Traminette, and an Alsatian variety known as Gewurtztraminer.
“We are producing about 900 gallons of estate grown wines and about 600 gallons of other New York State varietals,” he writes. “We also make a vinegar that will knock you socks off and then hang ‘em up on the bedpost....
“We are a tiny operation right now making a premium product. We hope to grow our volume without sacrificing quality in the coming years.”
Alleged Kidnapping........... What's the word on the street on this current event? I live extremely close to this "person of interest"! We will allow due process to play out but I found some of Collin's comments rather enlightening; "is a member of one of the condo boards". I don't think so.......... The following was "cut n' pasted" via the WHHOA website:
HOA Board Of Directors Eugene Wetzel Eugene Collins Pat Morgan Joan DeVoe Jeff Jones William Calloway Bruce Green Christine David-Collins Condo I Board Managers Eugene Collins John Felice Lorraine Johanson Christine David-Collin Phil Hilden CONDO 2 Board Managers Jeff Jones Chris Murphy Larry Diee John Stephenson CONDO 3 Board Managers Eugene Wetzel Danielle August Joan DeVoe Faith Wetzel Miriam Gomez CONDO 4 Board Managers
William D. Calloway Gregory Jackson Mary Fried Brian Griffin H. Lynn Brokenshire
Can't seem to find the alleged perp's name there! I am fully aware that he is trying to protect a member of the community and put a spin on it that would make Carl Rove proud, but I have a different perspective in dealing with this person! I truly hope that the charges are false, I wish no one harm or ill feelings.........
Bellevale gets new plan A new plan for Bellevale-An engineer representing the proposed Bellevale development in Chester presented a new plan (pictured) that he says eliminates two of the main problems that worried neighbors. This map shows only about one-third of the total property — the rest of which will remain open, including the ridge.
Chester — An engineer representing the proposed Bellevale development in Chester presented a new plan that he says eliminates some features the public has found objectionable.
The two main changes are the elimination of through streets and of houses on top of the ridge, said engineer David Zigler of Atzl, Scatassa & Zigler Land Surveyors, based in New City. He presented the revised map (pictured on page 2) to members of the Goshen Town Board at their meeting on Tuesday night.
Zigler said the county will allow an access road from Lakes Road to serve the whole area, which has eliminated the need for through roads. The road from Lakes will lead only to roads contained within the development. The project will also include access roads from Washington, Wilson, and Camp Monroe roads, he said, but they will be only for use by emergency vehicles.
Also, all houses have been taken off the ridge and clustered in one portion of the property. The new map shows only one-third of the total property, Zigler said. The houses on the left side of the map, closest to the ridge (the ridge is not shown), will be on the development’s more spacious lots of one-half acre each. The houses on the right side, near Lakes Road, will be on lots ranging from 15,000 to 30,000 square feet. There will be a maximum of 147 on the property, he said.
The plans have come a long way from an idea floated years ago, in which the abundant sporting facilities of the Camp Monroe summer camp, on which the site is located, might be reserved for “a Central Park for Chester.” The houses would have been built on other parts of the property, including the ridge. But the idea proved highly unpopular with the site’s immediate neighbors, and the town board dropped the subject.
“Nobody gave us any guidance about what to do about the park, so this forces the issue,” Zigler told the board Tuesday. He said it was still possible to provide some sort of conservation area around the lake.
Supervisor William Tully stressed that Zigler’s presentation was for informational purposes only, and that he did not want to “step on the planning board’s toes” by allowing the town board to comment on the project. The planning board is expected to take up the new plan in January, he said.
6 comments:
"The Chronicle"
Six historic cemeteries may be at risk from development
Map on which the Chester historian marked the positions of historic cemeteries in the 274-acre Bellevale subdivision, which will bring about 150 new houses to the neighborhood.
Chester — Every piece of land has a history. Developers may consider it unwanted baggage. But whatever your point of view, traces of the past have a way of revealing themselves, even as the forces of time bury them deeper into the ground. They are often in the middle of a struggle between reverence for the past and the economic pressures of the present.
The proposed Bellevale housing development in Chester is one such piece. It includes several historic cemeteries left over from a time when homesteaders, living in small, isolated communities within the town, buried their dead right on their own land.
The cemetery on McGuinessburg Road (spellings vary) dates to the 18th century. Its five legible headstones include the names of Colonel McGinnis and other local men who fought in the U.S. Colored Infantry during the Civil War. History texts such as Roger King’s “Silent Rebellion” note that fugitive slaves lived at McGinnisburg for more than 100 years before the Civil War. “Clinton’s Marble Book,” a history text from around 1740, mentions the intermingling of Native Americans in this remote mountain community, and the existence of a peach and apple orchard.
Clifton Patrick, Town of Chester historian, has pointed out other, more obscure burial grounds on the site. He provided The Chronicle with a map he obtained from the county (please see this page), and highlighted the parcels included in the new development. He then marked with red hexagons the rough positions of the known cemeteries from the Chester Cemeteries Protection Law, along with the recently located Frederick-Post Cemetery.
Other cemeteries that may be at risk from this project, according to Patrick, include Salem Methodist, Samuel Smith, and Galloway cemeteries, along with another spot with headstones bearing French writing. The green oval represents a foundation with a curved wall.
“The reason I say ‘may be at risk’ is because I do not know the exact locations of them all,” he wrote in an e-mail message. “The Frederick-Post Cemetery appeared to be right in the survey markings for a street when I documented the cemetery in 2006. The Salem Methodist cemetery graves were removed to the Monroe Cemetery about 1900, but if any remains were left behind, they would be protected under the cemeteries law.”
In 2002, the town passed the law to protect historic family plots from development. It prohibits building within 100 feet of a cemetery; the planning board must approve any building within 100 to 200 feet. Many towns in the county adopted the same law in the wake of public outrage over old headstones that were tipped over and buried to accommodate new houses in the Town of Goshen.
The Penal Code of New York State also has provisions against the desecration of burial sites, Patrick said.
“This very early mountain community is believed to have been populated people from native American, African and Dutch heritage,” according to Patrick. “It was also an important but mostly undocumented refuge on the Underground Railroad prior to the Civil War. Since this community was so well established as indicated in Clinton’s notes, it must be among the earliest communities established in the interior sections of Orange County. As such, it is a most important cultural location and should be carefully studied, archaeologically, before the site is destroyed.
“The Salem community, which did not develop a commercial center, was apparently a thriving group of families and farms from the 18th into the 20th centuries, and as such it should also be carefully studied, archaeologically, before any of those surviving sites are destroyed.”
Patrick said he wrote the town planning board last year with these concerns.
The scoping document for the development requires that the town historian be consulted about cemeteries on the site. Patrick said he does not believe anyone representing the developer has contacted him, but acknowledged that he gets many calls and may not always know their purpose.
He also said these old cemeteries can be extremely difficult to locate. “Several years ago, I searched for the Robert’s Cemetery near the intersection of Trout Brook and Laroe Roads,” he wrote. “I spent many hours scouring the hillside over a period of several months without finding it.”
Then a woman who used to live in the area led Patrick right to the spot.
“In those many hours on the hillside, I had been within ten feet or so of the grave markers several times, and missed them,” he wrote. “I fear that a hired consultant will walk through the site and report that nothing is there, instead of carefully and exhaustively searching for what remains of these assets documented in the historical record.”
This may not be be welcome news to the developer, who through his lawyer last week threatened to turn the place into a religious, non-tax-paying community if the town continued to chip away at the parcels allowed at the site.
Boss
Very nice article. I agree with you but what are we to do. Every piece of land has history. Deer and turkey's use to live in Manhattan. Mankind goes on, they cut down the trees in the rain forest, they kill whales in Japan, they gennisize people in Zudan. What are we as people suppose to do. I agree with you.
"The Chronicle"
Chester Kiwanis collecting for Toyland Project
CHESTER — The Chester Kiwanis Club is collecting new toys for its annual Toyland Project, underway until Dec. 5.
The club will make the collected toys available to parents who cannot afford gifts for their children this holiday season.
Collection boxes can be found at the following locations:
• T.D. Banknorth — 78 Brookside Avenue
• Chester Academy — 64 Hambletonian Avenue
• Chester Elementary School — 2 Herbert Drive
• Chester Greenery and Gifts — 123 Main Street
• Chester Public Library — 1784 Kings Highway
• Chester Village Police Station — 47 Main Street
• Colonial Bowling Lanes — 78 Brookside Avenue
• Jennie’s Deli — 135 Main Street
• Key Bank — 74 Brookside Avenue
• Provident Bank — 69 Brookside Avenue
• T.M. Contracting of Orange County — 1663 Route 17M West
Parents may come to pick out gifts for each of their children at no charge from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 8, in the gym at the Chester Learning Center (the former Chester Junior-Senior High School). The entrance is located on Walnut Street. Gift wrapping will also be available free of charge.
The Kiwanis says the community has “always made this a very successful project” and “would like to thank everyone in advance for their generous donations. It is a heartwarming project, one that grows each year. And the families who receive are so appreciative.”
For more information call Rose Bono at 469-4524 or Marion Zangrillo at 469-4453.
Ring those bells
You’re sure to get a warm welcome when you stop by the Chester ShopRite on Saturday, Dec. 15. Chester’s Kiwanians will be there collecting donations for the Salvation Army.
"The Chronicle"
Dream is eight years in the making for Lifshitz family
CHESTER — “There was a hill in Orange County New York. The hillside overlooked what used to be an old Indian road used before the Dutch got here and then later it became a Colonial road leading to the local iron works and forge. The road ran alongside a stream for most of its distance, the name of the stream was Trout Brook, but us kids, we used to just call it Silver Stream.’”
This is how Ken Lifshitz remembers the setting of the Silver Stream Winery, his family’s new business at 11 Kennedy Lane in Chester, one mile past the Trout Brook Fire Department on Lakes Road. The business’s Web page (www.silverstreamwinery.com) gives an “anecdotal history” of the site dating back to 1777, when “the famous local Highlands outlaw Claudius Smith accosted the son of one Jonathan Stevens who was herding his cow...and demanded ‘give me that cow in the name of the king.’”
In 1927, Ken’s grandfather Samuel Lifshitz established a 110-acres farm on that same property overlooking Trout Brook. “They raised corn in the morning and played softball late in the afternoon,” Ken writes. “Conveniently, the cornfield was right next to the ballfield and also across from the airfield where Barky Dulgarian flew his plane.... When they were not playing softball, raising corn or watching Barky buzz the rooftops, my family ran a lumberyard in Brooklyn. (We have the original cash register in the tasting room.)”
Lifshitz writes that he “never wanted to raise corn, or fly planes, or run a lumberyard,” so after college he joined the Merchant Marines. By the time he returned from the sea in 1983, all but 11 acres of the land had been sold off for development.
“I decided the hillside was a perfect spot for a vineyard,” he writes. “Luckily for me, this 11 acres was a well-drained southwest facing hillside. So in 1989 I moved my family up here, supporting us by computer programming jobs and started planting the first vines two years later.”
In 1999, he and his wife, Eva, formed a business partnership named Silver Stream Winery and began to produce wines from locally grown grapes. They had hoped to open the winery that year, but “things dragged on in front of various government agencies until 2004, when the Orange County Legislature in a 6 to 5 vote, voted to allow the winery on the property. It was a whisker-thin margin. It took another two years after that for the tasting room facility to be added because, 2003 and 2004 turned out to be disastrous years for grape producers in New York due to a number of odd weather events.”
The winery grows five varieties of grapes: Cabenet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Traminette, and an Alsatian variety known as Gewurtztraminer.
“We are producing about 900 gallons of estate grown wines and about 600 gallons of other New York State varietals,” he writes. “We also make a vinegar that will knock you socks off and then hang ‘em up on the bedpost....
“We are a tiny operation right now making a premium product. We hope to grow our volume without sacrificing quality in the coming years.”
Alleged Kidnapping...........
What's the word on the street on this current event? I live extremely close to this "person of interest"! We will allow due process to play out but I found some of Collin's comments rather enlightening; "is a member of one of the condo boards". I don't think so..........
The following was "cut n' pasted" via the WHHOA website:
HOA Board Of Directors
Eugene Wetzel
Eugene Collins
Pat Morgan
Joan DeVoe
Jeff Jones
William Calloway
Bruce Green
Christine David-Collins
Condo I Board Managers
Eugene Collins
John Felice
Lorraine Johanson
Christine David-Collin
Phil Hilden
CONDO 2 Board Managers
Jeff Jones
Chris Murphy
Larry Diee
John Stephenson
CONDO 3 Board Managers
Eugene Wetzel
Danielle August
Joan DeVoe
Faith Wetzel
Miriam Gomez
CONDO 4 Board Managers
William D. Calloway
Gregory Jackson
Mary Fried
Brian Griffin
H. Lynn Brokenshire
Can't seem to find the alleged perp's name there!
I am fully aware that he is trying to protect a member of the community and put a spin on it that would make Carl Rove proud, but I have a different perspective in dealing with this person! I truly hope that the charges are false, I wish no one harm or ill feelings.........
"The Chronicle"
Bellevale gets new plan
A new plan for Bellevale-An engineer representing the proposed Bellevale development in Chester presented a new plan (pictured) that he says eliminates two of the main problems that worried neighbors. This map shows only about one-third of the total property — the rest of which will remain open, including the ridge.
Chester — An engineer representing the proposed Bellevale development in Chester presented a new plan that he says eliminates some features the public has found objectionable.
The two main changes are the elimination of through streets and of houses on top of the ridge, said engineer David Zigler of Atzl, Scatassa & Zigler Land Surveyors, based in New City. He presented the revised map (pictured on page 2) to members of the Goshen Town Board at their meeting on Tuesday night.
Zigler said the county will allow an access road from Lakes Road to serve the whole area, which has eliminated the need for through roads. The road from Lakes will lead only to roads contained within the development. The project will also include access roads from Washington, Wilson, and Camp Monroe roads, he said, but they will be only for use by emergency vehicles.
Also, all houses have been taken off the ridge and clustered in one portion of the property. The new map shows only one-third of the total property, Zigler said. The houses on the left side of the map, closest to the ridge (the ridge is not shown), will be on the development’s more spacious lots of one-half acre each. The houses on the right side, near Lakes Road, will be on lots ranging from 15,000 to 30,000 square feet. There will be a maximum of 147 on the property, he said.
The plans have come a long way from an idea floated years ago, in which the abundant sporting facilities of the Camp Monroe summer camp, on which the site is located, might be reserved for “a Central Park for Chester.” The houses would have been built on other parts of the property, including the ridge. But the idea proved highly unpopular with the site’s immediate neighbors, and the town board dropped the subject.
“Nobody gave us any guidance about what to do about the park, so this forces the issue,” Zigler told the board Tuesday. He said it was still possible to provide some sort of conservation area around the lake.
Supervisor William Tully stressed that Zigler’s presentation was for informational purposes only, and that he did not want to “step on the planning board’s toes” by allowing the town board to comment on the project. The planning board is expected to take up the new plan in January, he said.
Post a Comment