Mount Moor Cemetery
Site Brief:
Founded: 1849
Location: West Nyack, NY
Additional name(s): Mount Moor African-American Cemetery
Affiliate group(s): N/A
History:
Mount Moor Cemetery is a “burying ground for colored people” that was deeded on July 7, 1849 by James and Jane Benson to three African Americans, William H. Moore, Stephen Samuels and Isaac Williams, trustees. Spanning more than a century of active use (1849-ca. 1957), the cemetery is a rare surviving example of a burying ground established for the area’s African American population by African Americans. The last interment in the cemetery occurred in 1986. The cemetery has provided burial space for colored people, including veterans of the Civil War, the Spanish-American War, World War I and II, and the Korean War. In 1940, the cemetery was formally incorporated as the Mount Moor Cemetery Association, Inc.
During the 1960s and early 1970s, the cemetery fell into disrepair. A major refurbishment of the grounds was undertaken in 1977 and again in the 1980s. Although surrounded today by modern commercial development, this once isolated burying ground retains an outstanding degree of integrity. On September 15, 1988, the Clarkstown Town Board voted unanimously to designate Mount Moor Cemetery as a local historical site. Friends of Mount Moor Cemetery was founded in 2021 to protect and preserve this sacred burial ground.
BCN Contact Information:
Friends of Mounty Moor Cemetery
friendsofmountmoorcemetery@gmail.com