Brinckerhoff Cemetery. Credit: LPC

Property owners want to develop site; claim cemetery no longer contains human remains. On May 15, 2012, Landmarks held a public hearing on the potential designation of the Brinckerhoff Cemetery at 69-65 182nd Street in Fresh Meadows, Queens as an individual City landmark. Landmarks held a public hearing to consider the site in December 2000, but never voted on the proposed designation. The family cemetery is named for the Brinckerhoff family, who were among the first Dutch settlers in Queens. According to Landmarks, the cemetery was used from 1736 to 1872, and accommodated at least 76 burials. There are no visible grave markers, and it is unclear whether human remains are still buried at the site.

The City in the 1950s foreclosed on the cemetery site and sold it to Joseph DeDomenico. Problems arose when the DeDomenico family considered developing the property and it was discovered that the site had been used as a cemetery. In 1999, the Queens Historical Society and descendants of the Brinckerhoff family sued to reclaim the site, (read more…)