History: The Town of Southampton, NY was first settled in 1640 as an English community and contains several of the earliest burial grounds in America. In 2004, the Town undertook a survey of the town-owned burial sites at the suggestion of Henry W. Moeller, then Town Historian.
Zach Studenroth, an architectural preservation consultant to the Town, documented 48 historic cemetery sites within the Town--ten of which are town-owned. The University of Pennsylvania's Architectural Conservation Laboratory and Research Center were enlisted to document the cemeteries, their gravestones, the condition of the stones and to set up a database.
The Historical Society is steward of the three town-owned cemeteries in Hampton Bays. Since the cemeteries are a community-wide concern, the Historical Society contacted other civic organizations to participate on a Task Force to determine future preservation and maintenance plans for the cemeteries.
The Cemetery Task Force first met in November 2007 with representatives from the Hampton Bays Beautification Association, Shinnecock Maritime Center, Native American Ministries, American Legion, Town of Southampton, Inter-Tribal Historic Preservation and the Historical Society.
The members were informed of the history of the three local cemeteries: the Fournier, the Hubbard and Reverend Paul Cuffee's grave. ''While each site is unique and possesses distinctive characteristics due to geography and other factors, they collectively illustrate common 18th and 19th century customs and burial practices…'' University of Pennsylvania.
The minutes from the most recent meetings list the three sub-committees that have been formed to address maintenance, education and preservation/restoration concerns. The committees are seeking interested persons to volunteer their services in this important project. Please contact Barbara Moeller, 631-728-6291 for additional information.
