Revolutionary graves rehabbed as Oyster Bay eyes Colonial Williamsburg status 

Nearly all the graves at  Baptist Church Cemetery, a small plot hidden in the hamlet of Oyster Bay, are unreadable. The tombstones on the 0.14-acre patch of land — up a driveway on Orchard Avenue — have been worn down by the passage of time.

After a dedication ceremony on Wednesday, five Revolutionary War soldiers buried among the tombstones now have their names inscribed on a new plaque outside the cemetery. The tombstones are now adorned with a small American flag and a rose to commemorate their service.

The effort, led Wednesday by the nonprofit Sons of the American Revolution, is part of a townwide push to establish and promote destinations of historical tourism. The Town of Oyster Bay is preserving sites that are vulnerable to decay. Officials are focusing on the properties which recall pivotal moments in history to drive tourism in Oyster Bay. 

"Anything that reminds us of the foundation of our nation is important, especially these days when people tend to forget civics," said Harriet Gerard Clark, executive director of the Raynham Hall Museum, the home of the Townsend family, early settlers on Long Island.

When historical sites fade into obscurity, "we lose a little piece of the fabric of our town," Clark said.

The soldiers recognized during the ceremony — Dr. Justus Storrs, Ephraim Townsend, Capt. Abraham Van Wyck, John Wright and William Wright — died in the late 1700s and the early 1800s.

Oyster Bay Supervisor Joseph Saladino said historical tourism "is a part of our economics."

He aims for the town to be a draw similar to Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia, which is known for its deep historical connections. Oyster Bay is undergoing "a redevelopment" as a "enormous historic destination," Saladino said. 

The town recently established walking tours centered on historic sites and boasts a Theodore Roosevelt-themed augmented reality app that puts users face-to-face with a 3D electronic likeness of the 26th president. The app can be used at the Oyster Bay Railroad Museum and the Theodore Roosevelt Sanctuary and Audubon Center.

Matthew Moshen, a volunteer at the Oyster Bay Historical Society and a member of the Long Island Sons of the American Revolution, led the research into the graves and said four of the five were new discoveries. Officials knew Van Wyck had been buried there. Identifying the graves helps connect the town to the wider story of the nation's founding, he said.

"They’re physically here, and it puts Oyster Bay in the larger context in the continuum of American history," Moshen said.

The country’s complex history is reflected in the men who were the subject of last week's ceremony. Census records show three of the men owned slaves at some point, Moshen said.

"These are human beings, we don’t idealize them," he said. "That’s part of the history as well."

The cemetery’s earliest readable stone dates to 1749. The town is home to other significant cemeteries, including Fort Hill Cemetery, which contains the grave of a Revolutionary War spy, and Pine Hollow Cemetery — the burial site of Black Civil War veterans.

The town recently dedicated a historical marker on Carll Hill Road honoring its namesake, David Carll — a Black Civil War veteran whose family still lives where he settled after his military service. Denice Evans-Sheppard, executive director of the Oyster Bay Historical Society, said the town is guiding visitors through influential moments in the country’s history.

She said the establishment of specific sites — as small as the Baptist Church Cemetery and as significant at Theodore Roosevelt’s grave site at Youngs Memorial Cemetery — "gives you an understanding as to the development and who played a part in creating the town."

By Joseph Ostapiuk

joseph.ostapiuk@newsday.com@OstapiukJ