Draft:Persons of Color Cemetery at Kinderhook

Persons of Color Cemetery at Kinderhook
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. Historic district Contributing property
Headstones in 2016
Location	E. of Rothermel Ave., Kinderhook (village), Kinderhook (town), New York
Coordinates	42.395505°N 73.704275°W / 42.395505; -73.704275
Area	.31 acres (0.13 ha)
NRHP reference No.	16000107
Added to NRHP	March 16, 2016

The Persons of Color Cemetery at Kinderhook, also known as Rothermel Park Cemetery, in Columbia County, New York, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2016.

The site is a cemetery established as an African-American cemetery by local resident's 1816 bequest. The cemetery may hold hundreds of graves, although it has just 15 surviving headstones (or gravestones?).

It was established per a bequest in the 1815 will of an Irishman named John Rogers, owner of the home now with address 24 Broad Street. The will specified that .25 acres (0.10 ha) of his land "intended as a cemetery for the people of colour".

It was individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2016.

The cemetery was restored and a rededication ceremony was held at the library "Village Historian Ruth Piwonka and members of a group of residents who have worked to restore the cemetery's headstones spoke to a full house at the library about the history of the site and the rededication ceremony that was scheduled to take place on May 13."

"The 13 legible headstones in the park are all that survives of the cemetery, which is next to the baseball fields on Rothermel Avenue. / The site is now on the National Register of Historic Places and there will be an informational sign posted next to headstones. The sign, designed by Rich Kraham, was to be unveiled at 11 a.m. during the May 13 rededication. / According to Kinderhook resident Warren Applegate, who has been involved with restoring the gravesite for many years, the group has raised about $4,000 for the restoration and sign. He said the village, which manages the donations, has received a grant from Furthermore, a program of the J. M. Kaplan Fund, as well as donations from the Kinderhook Runners Club OK5K and from anonymous private donors. / At the library presentation, Applegate said the cemetery project was not asking for donations, "but all of this costs money." / Meanwhile, Piwonka explained that there may be more than 500 people buried on the plot of land set aside in 1813 by village resident John Rogers in his will. / Rogers lived nearby on Broad Street and owned the land that would become Rothermel Park. / According to the sign that will be placed at the site, Rogers, in his will, directed that part of his land should be used 'for a cemetery for the people of colour in the said town of Kinderhook to use for that purpose and none other.' / Piwonka and Applegate both pointed out that the surviving headstones, most of which denote the graves of children, are not in their original locations having been moved over the years. / Hollis Seamon, whose property abuts the cemetery's current location, said that over the many years since the cemetery closed sometime around 1875 the stones have survived and the land has remained undeveloped. / She said there have been "a number of people who kept it that way." / The group has stressed over the years that this location was not a "slave cemetery" as some people have called it. / "That was a terrible misnomer," Seamon said. / Applegate agreed saying that the group was "producing education information. / Anyone with information may call (518) 758-9882."

Its history was remembered again in 2022 ( times-union allows access to only one article? try again later?)

An undated webpage of the Village of Kinderhook states:

Community donations of both funds and voluntary time and labor have greatly enhanced The Persons of Color Cemetery located next to Rothermel Park. Most recently The Garden Club of Kinderhook has volunteered to provide annual plantings at the cemetery. Private donations have resulted in the installation of wrought iron fencing sections and planters. Oakwood Fencing donated historically correct fencing sections. Kinderhook’s Department of Public Works has refurbished the fencing and installed the sections, mounted on surplus granite blocks. Planters have been installed between fencing sections, each containing shrubs and flowering plants. These improvements are made possible by funding from local residents.

The NRHP registration document states that "A small number of grave stones are present, although these represent only those burials which are presently marked; these markers span the period from 1816 to 1861 and are of simple conception and execution" and also states "The property in question was a narrow rectangular strip of land that formed a part of Rogers’s village holdings; a 1914 account indicated that it was used until 'every available inch was taken up' and by that date had long ago ceased active use. The nominated cemetery, a simple flat expanse of mown grass with a grouping of simply crafted grave stones aligned in rows near its center, remains an important historic resource...." It does directly not state that the stones have been moved to make that grouping.

Find-a-grave lists it as African-Americans Cemetery although notes it is also known as Persons of Color Cemetery, Rothermel Park Cemetery, and provides photos of each of 14 stones. Names and dates of birth and death, as deciphered from 14 of the deteriorating gravestones, are:

1. Harriet A. Burgel unknown – 3 Sep 1860
2. Infant Burgel unknown – 10 Aug 1861
3. Rachel M. Burgel unknown – 18 Jul 1856
4. Alfred Collins unknown – 29 Aug 1857
5. Frances V. R. Collins Birth and death dates unknown.
6. George E. Collins unknown – 1859
7. Philip Collins unknown – 10 Sep 1841
8. William G Defreast unknown – 17 Dec 1860
9. Isabel Legget unknown – 14 Jan 1854
10. Samuel A. Prine unknown – 5 Feb 1861
11. Francis O. Springsteen unknown – 3 May 1858
12. Sylvestes Springsteen unknown – Aug 1860
13. Jacob Toby unknown – 2 Mar 1826
14. Charles E Van Volkenburg unknown – 12 Apr 1849

Rubbings of two headstones, those of Charles E Van Volkenburg and of Samuel A. Prine, are included in the National Register documentation.

The nearly-adjacent Kinderhook Village District, listed on the National Register in 1974, does not include the cemetery.

External links

Media related to Persons of Color Cemetery at Kinderhook at Wikimedia Commons

Category:Cemeteries on the National Register of Historic Places in New York (state) Category:Cemeteries in Columbia County, New York Category:National Register of Historic Places in Columbia County, New York