Preserving New York: Olde Towne of Flushing Burial Ground

This essay is part of a student series for the Centre of Publishing and Applied Liberal Arts (PALA) at NYU SPS. We will be showcasing four student papers written in Spring 2022, for Kelly Carroll’s course Behind The Scenes In New York: Preserving A City Of Historic Neighborhoods. Students were asked to pick a historic site in New York City and make the case for why it should be granted Landmark status.

Janet Caraisco chose Olde Towne of Flushing Burial Ground. Read an excerpt from their informative essay below:

“I respectfully nominate the Olde Towne of Flushing Burial Ground for consideration as a NYC Scenic Landmark.  This historic and culturally significant site needs the protection of NYC Landmark Preservation laws to prevent future destruction.  Established in 1840, the “Colored Cemetery of Flushing” was an important final resting place for the citizens of Flushing for more 50 years.  Unfortunately, the cemetery fell into disuse and disrepair in the 1890s and was paved over in 1931 to create a park.  The burial grounds vanished from the narrative history of the neighborhood until no one remembered a cemetery had been there.  An archaeological dig in the 1990s revealed human remain under the playground. 

Many involved citizens, led by the Olde Towne of Flushing Burial Ground Conservancy, petitioned to reconstruct and re-designate this site from a park to burial ground to commemorate the African American and Native American people buried there.  (Old Town of Flushing Burial Ground n.d.)  Mayor de Blasio spoke about the Olde Towne of Flushing Burial Grounds in 2018 at the design ceremony, ‘…we’re commemorating an important part of our history and the vision of this community, which worked hard to get recognition for this site.’ (Mohammad 2018)”

Janet Caraisco’s full paper can be read here: Olde Towne of Flushing Burial Ground- Janet Caraisco

Behind The Scenes In New York: Preserving A City Of Historic Neighborhoods is a continuing education course that any member of the public can register for and is also one of the required courses in the Certificate in Historic Preservation. The course will be running again in the fall, click here to register.