The Smallest Cemetery in New York
Two weekends ago I spent a wonderfully beautiful Saturday wandering around Manhattan. I've mentioned before that these ambling days usually turn out to be some of my favorites, and this was no exception. After starting off my day at the Square Diner, in TriBeCa, I made my way to Greenwich Village to see the smallest cemetery in Manhattan.
In case you haven't noticed, I've been on a cemetery kick lately, so it was only a matter of time before I made it to the tiny, triangular cemetery on West 11th Street. Unfortunately, the gates were closed, but it's such a tiny piece of land that you can pretty much see it all just from peeking through the fence.
The Congregation Shearith Israel was America's first Jewish Congregation and was founded in 1654. The 11th Street Cemetery is actually its second, and was active from 1805-1829. It was used "primarily to bury victims of communicable diseases like yellow fever and malaria, as well as for those Jews who passed away in New York but were not members of the Congregation [source]"
Over the years, the expansion of the neighborhood has forced many of the remains to be re-interred elsewhere, but a few worn tombstones remain. Most of the stones have been fastened to the brick wall surrounding the cemetery — notable residents include the painter Joshua Cantor (that's his obelisk in the middle) and Revolutionary War hero Ephraim Hart.
It's probably quite easy to walk right by the cemetery without even noticing it, which I'm sure I've actually done a few times in the past. I am very familiar with the area, and I have no idea why I didn't visit it sooner. A co-worker of mine said she took a ghost tour that started in this cemetery, so I'm wondering if I'll ever be able to get inside of the gates — I would love to take a closer look at some of the headstones and feel what it's like to be in such a tiny oasis in the middle of the city.
As I was walking away I noticed that I could get an overhead view of the entire cemetery by climbing a few steps up to the stoop of a neighboring apartment building. While I was standing there, I noticed a flyer posted on the door of the building advertising an available apartment: a two-bedroom, two-bath apartment (cemetery adjacent!) could be yours for the "low" price of nearly $7k/month, if you want to be neighbors with the quiet residents of the smallest cemetery in New York.
