Commack History: Final Resting Places

Most residents in Commack are familiar with the graveyard behind Commack Methodist Church and the that surrounds it. There’s also the noticeable Burr Family Cemetery located in the parking lot of the shopping center. However, there are smaller cemeteries sprinkled throughout the area that are easy to miss if you aren’t aware of their existence.

A few of these family cemeteries may be stumbled upon while driving around the area or brought to light when talking to a history buff like Robert Saal, who created the Commack History website.

One of the cemeteries belonging to the Wicks family can be found on Harned Road slightly south of the Sunken Meadow Parkway exit. The Wicks once owned the property that is now known as . According to Colonel Rockwell’s Scrap-book published by the Smithtown Historical Society in 1968, Elnathan Wicks first obtained the land in the early 1740s and it remained in the family until 1910.

Another Wick’s cemetery dating back to the mid 1700s is on New Highway across from the Harned Saw Mill and behind the Valmont Village Park. A small path leads to it where visitors will find among the graves a monument for Francis Wicks who was born in 1815 and died in 1867. According to the Brentwood Library’s website, Francis Wicks was a postmaster in Brentwood. He was also a county treasurer and justice of the peace in his lifetime.

On Burr Road across from Burrwood Court locals will find Brown Cemetery. According to Saal, the oldest stone is of a Daniel Brown who died in 1806, and this cemetery was used by the family for 80 years. A housekeeper and mid-wife named Cathy Brown was known for delivering many Commack babies in the late 1800s. Even though she is buried in the Commack Cemetery, it is believe she was related to the Browns in this graveyard.

Driving east down Scholar Lane to where the road meets Old Commack Road is a graveyard that holds members of the Smith Family, as well as those who married into the clan. According to Saal, descendants of Smithtown’s founder farmed land extending from the small cemetery to Indian Head Road.

Saal said when visiting these small cemeteries to take note of the stones that are the only indication of the graves of slaves. One example is the front row of the New Highway Wicks Cemetery. Many of the graves also have foot markers to show where they end, which is especially noticeable at the Brown Cemetery.

While the majority of the headstones in these graveyards are weather-beaten, broken and too faded to read the inscriptions, the cemeteries still stand today in respect of early Commack families.