Buried beneath the grass and weeds and overturned stones of Southeast Queens is a history that reaches back through the heroes of wars, fame of office, and the wealth of a century until it reaches a U.S. Senator, candidate for president and signer of the Declaration of Independence, Rufus King.

And in many cases buried with them is the respect for their final resting places, according to local community activists. In African culture and throughout the Diaspora, the dead were revered and their burial places treated like holy ground, yet the historical figures of Southeast Queens and the hundreds of less-than-famous buried besides them under weeds and crumbling monuments, diminished in death by the carelessness of others, local activists told the PRESS.

At the Grace Episcopal Church on Jamaica Avenue, Rufus King (1755-1827) rests amidst fallen head stones and his son, John King, joins him in the Church yard. John King was the first Republican Governor of New York.

But despite the fallen stones, Grace’s cemetery is otherwise fairly well kept, local historians report.

At Prospect Cemetery,
located on 159 Street between Liberty and Archer Avenues, the scene is drastically different. Some graves are completely obscured by the overgrowth of weeds. Taller stones can be seen jutting out from amongst the weeds, trees and debris that have become a haven for rodents.

The four-acre Prospect Cemetery, which dates to the 1600s is the final resting place for people with names like Lefferts, Sutphin, Baisley, Brinkerhoff, Van Wyck, Harriman and Egbert Benson, New York State’s first Attorney General and a New York State Supreme Court Justice.

But the rich and famous are not the only ones interred at Prospect Cemetery. According to Cate Ludlam, president of the Prospect Cemetery Association and a descendant of the Ludlam family which is buried there, there are soldiers buried from almost every war from the Revolutionary War to modern times.

She added that the state of disrepair at the cemetery is also recorded in the analogs of history. Ludlam told the PRESS that diaries were found with a 1915 entry that alludes to the overgrowth in the cemetery.

Ludlam learned about the cemetery and the adjacent historic St. Monica’s Church several years ago when someone found her name in the phone book and called to tell her she might have family buried in the old cemetery.

At Grace Episcopal Church, the cemetery is clean but many headstones are in disrepair or fallen. PRESS Photos by Ira Cohen

Some research showed that not only was the old cemetery the final resting place for her ancestors and many of Old Queens’ founding fathers, but slaves had been buried at the site as well.

"Jane Lyons is buried there too," Ludlam said with the enthusiasm of a historian. "Jane Lyons worked 65 of her 75 years for the Harriman family and when she died, they buried her there."

The Harriman’s were Presbyterians and they believed in their slaves getting married and having family units, Ludlam said. When their slaves died, the Harriman’s would see to it that they were buried in the church cemetery. Now the factors of time and neglect have relegated the Lyons family and their owners, the Harrimans, to an equally sad last memorial. They lie under the same muck and overgrowth.

"It is a shame," said Yvonne Reddick, district manager of Community Board 12. "It is a shame to see the way the dead are treated. We’re supposed to respect the dead, and if we don’t the same thing could happen to our graves when we die."

Reddick added that in 1996, the National Guard had to be called in to clean up the cemetery. They had some unexpected help when a nearby Police Precinct brought in some troubled teens to help the cleanup.

Ludlam said that what Prospect cemetery needs is volunteers.

"It can be a community project," she suggested, "One year some Boys Scouts actually earned their merit badges by helping to clear the place."

"It’s good for the young people to know that this is part of the history of their town," Ludlam said "When I’m finished with this, this will belong to the community, so getting them involved makes it theirs."

Her organization occasionally receives small grants from agencies such as the Urban Resources Partnerships and the Jamaica Development Corporation. With the latest grant they were able to remove and store the few remaining good windows in the tiny chapel built by Nicholas Ludlam around 1857 in honor
of his three deceased daughters. He called it "The Chapel of the Sisters." They boarded up the building to save it from further deterioration.

According to Ron Thomas, a York College official, the school occasionally gets access and cleans the property too.

"It’s a long-standing issue," said Thomas. "With our limited resources we can only do some cleaning. We cannot do restoration of the cemetery ourselves, but we recently received some funds that we’ll use to help restore the church for possible use as a daycare center."

Community members who wish to become a part of bringing new life to this history of Prospect Cemetery can call Cate Ludlam at 212-463-0833 or email her at catel@aol.com .