Smithtown, A History: Gravestones Mark Our Past

A walk in the Smithtown Cemetery on North Country Road is far from scary. Surrounded by the headstones of Smiths, Blydenburghs and others who have contributed to our town, a visit becomes a trip through our town’s past.

According to Smithtown Historian and Smithtown Cemetery Association president Brad Harris, began selling lots for burial on his property in 1880. Smith died only a year later and became the first one to be buried in the graveyard.

On the west side of the cemetery visitors will find the family plot of the Lawrence family slightly up a hill. Buried here are the sisters who were both married to , original owner. Smith married Anna Lawrence who died four years after their marriage, and then he married her sister Sarah Amelia who passed away seven years after their wedding day.

The Turrell family plot can be found on the east side of the property. The family once owned the , and daughter Virginia Turrell was instrumental in preserving many structures in our town.

The grave of can also be found at the cemetery. Rockwell was responsible for gathering the majority of the information and photos that led to the book that was named in his honor, Colonel Rockwell’s Scrap-book.

According to the cemetery’s brochure, James Henry Fouke was the first African-American to be buried in the cemetery in October of 1895. Fouke was a servant of and for 17 years, and James Clinch approached the board to ask if Fouke could be buried there. Five out of nine trustees agreed that a portion of the graveyard was to be used for the burial of African-Americans and 40 years later an additional section was added.

In the eastern part of the woods, scattered headstones hidden in the trees and bushes mark the graves of the first African-Americans, while north of the back entrance many plots are without headstones and only locust stakes mark the graves.

Through the years the Smithtown Cemetery Association acquired more land, according to their brochure. The Reading Room that is now found on the property of the Smithtown Historical Society once stood next to the cemetery. It was originally used as a library in the town and in 1896 the structure as well as the land around it was obtained by the cemetery association. The small building was first used as a meeting room for the board of trustees and then as a tool shed until it was eventually moved to its current location.

According to Harris, in 1942 the cemetery obtained a small graveyard of the that sat just south of the association's property. An open area separates the Huntting headstones from old abandoned gravestones that are now maintained by the Town of Smithtown.

Not just a representation of the past, the Smithtown Cemetery remains an active burial ground, where today’s residents can one day rest with those who made our town what it is today.