There is a statue outside of All Saints on 96th Street - the patron saint of gardening. And look, he comes with his own shovel! He would appreciate the good work the volunteers have done on this project so far and will continue to do on the 2nd Saturday of every month, starting at 9 AM. The next scheduled cleanup is Saturday, September 13th. Volunteers are welcome and needed. Note: All Saints will be holding an International Food Fair this Saturday, August 23rd from 10 AM until 5 PM (click here for the flyer). There will be foods prepared from close to 20 countries. If you stop by you might even get a quick tour of the cemetery - a treat for any Woodhaven resident who has never seen this historic location! Anyway, here is the patron saint of gardening -- Saint Fiacre.
On July 12th, the Woodhaven Cultural & Historical Society, the students of St. Thomas the Apostle's Woodhaven History Club, and All Saints Church on 96th Street along with some enthusiastic volunteers came out and took part in a cleanup of the historic colonial era cemetery - the Wyckoff-Snedicker Family Cemetery. Click here for a recap of Cleanup # 1. When we started, the southwest corner of the cemetery was a mess, as you can see here --
But the group worked hard and by the end of the first cleanup, that corner now looked like this - what a nice difference eh? We left, very encouraged by our progress in the cemetery overall, but this corner in particular.
This Is What We Found When We Arrived for Cleanup #2
You can imagine the frustration volunteers felt when they arrived for the second cleanup only to find that someone had dumped a bunch of crap back in that corner. Luckily, two different neighbors heard it being dumped (coincidentally, just the night before) and said it came from that apartment building, that the debris came crashing down from one of the fire escapes. In any event, we knew where this debris came from and our team sent it right back. People who have been using this land to get rid of their crap will learn that this cemetery is a dump no more. It is protected.
In all, it took just a few moments to chuck the garbage back where it came from and we'll make sure the building's super tells the tenants to discard their trash properly - and legally. After that little bit of a bad start we got right to work. The ground we cleared last time was still in good shape though we're probably going to eventually need to get a lawn mower back there to stop the ground we've cleared from growing back.
You could tell at a glance where we had left off the last time - right where the big weeds start! And this time, Patti Eggers and her husband John (below with daughter Vanessa and son Sean), brought a weed whacker - and that got us off to a fast start.
The dead wood and sticks have started to pile up - we'll have to deal with them at some point but for now we keep adding to it.
This was how the east section of the cemetery looked at the start of Cleanup Part 2. Take note of the 2 gravestones in the center of the picture.
Flashing forward to the end, here is the same section as above - the ground cleared and reclaimed. Overall we are making great progress - and since we plan to keep meeting on the 2nd Saturday every month we expect to have the entire cemetery cleaned out by end of the year. Then the real fun work begins!
Here is some video from the second Woodhaven Cemetery Cleanup.
There in the center of the picture you can see a cenotaph dedicated to the Eldert family. Might be kind of had to see. It's about at the midpoint of the cemetery.
There are beautiful contrasts of light and darkness in our cemetery. This is the southwest corner - the group that worked there was in the sun all day, they did a great job.
The work mostly consist of raking up weeds, sticks, branches, rubbish, etc. But it's a great feeling as land gets clear and you see the overall results.
This is a project for people of all ages, as you can see from our pictures.
The older dead trees are a problem - but not to Eddie Gardiner who, along with John Eggers, led the way to cut a number of them down. Here he sizes up one of the trees to come down and determines how to do it safely.
With all of the weeds all over the place it's very easy to lose sight of the gravestones sitting there - so you need to be careful walking through the weeds, you don't want to get whacked in the shins by a tombstone!
Woodhaven Historian Allan Smith surveys the work being done. Having Allan onsite while we work is like having a walking encyclopedia - it is a great learning experience for the young students. If you have young ones who are interested in history - or ones you'd like to encourage an interest in history - then this here is the project for you! Email us at projectwoodhaven@gmail.com if you have questions.
John Eggers makes sure a tree being cut down by his son Sean is going to fall the right way.
Father Whitmire, Pastor of All Saints, got in the act by cutting some of the higher branches.
The toughest corner to work right now, due to the sun. Can't wait to see this when it's completely clear.
There's no shortage of interesting things you find in a cemetery!
Little by little, the dead branches and trees are being bundled up and added to the pile.
We had a nice sized crew and they spread out all over the cemetery, working hard.
President of the Woodhaven Residents' Block Association Martin Colberg chops away at the growth.
A tombstone for a pair of Elderts - down at the bottom it looks like it says Twins.
There were a lot of dead branches mixed in with the living trees, strangling them -- here, our team - WRBA Vice-President Giedra Kregzdys, Vanessa Eggers and Marge Aguilera team up to cut down a thick branch.
The people who come out for these cleanups might not all know each other at the start of the day, but there's something about working on a project together that forms a bond. Did we mention the next cleanup on Saturday September 13th at 9AM? Meet us at 85-45 96th Street. No need to register if you don't want to - just show up!
The group paused for a few pictures - it was good to rest for a few moments. Afterwards, we had juice and sandwiches (made by my Mom).
There are a lot of old, old stones there - markers, really --
As noted by Allan Smith, the numbers on the old ones usually aren't dates, it's how old the person was when they died. And there's no names on some of these really old ones, just initials. You can guess the last name -- a D is likely a Ditmars.
By the late 1700s the stones were much more sophisticated - this one for a young boy, John Lott, who died at 15 months and 20 days.
There was a tree at the North end of the cemetery that was badly listing and was going to come down on its own sooner or later. The problem with trees like this is that they may end up destroying a gravestone or a neighboring fence. This was a bigger tree and it was tied up and secured before it was brought down. Here, John Eggers eyes the tree while Eddie Gardiner makes sure it is tied down properly while Susan Sweeney and Elizabeth Sweeney prepare to let it down gently.
And here it is coming down - it now lays on the ground, ready to be cut up next time we're there.
Here is Allan Smith with Mr. Arthur Miele, two veterans of the previous cemetery restoration back in the 90s.
By the end of the afternoon, the cemetery is starting to shape up -- you can actually see some space!
The Eldert cenotaph is at the right - the Eldert family is buried there. We've got a good story about that which we can't reveal right now, but very soon you'll be revisiting this spot.
This entire area was a wall of weeds when we first started.
A few days later we went back to take out some of the garbage bags (a dozen every collection day will get rid of all of them before the next scheduled cleanup). And we made a friend who lives in the cemetery - this nice little cat who was unafraid and enjoyed being spoken to and scratched behind the ears. As he was sitting near the Eldert family we christened him Fuzzy Eldert.
Then, before we left, we took one last shot - a panorama of the grounds as it appeared after Cleanup #2. Still a long way to go, but we've made great progress in a short period of time. Click here to view the panorama much, much larger!
Related:
STA History Club Visits Historic Cemetery
If you have any comments, or would like to suggest other projects, drop us a line at info@projectwoodhaven.com or projectwoodhaven@aol.com.
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Photos by Joey Wendell
