WHERE HISTORY LIVES PART 3: Old St. Peter's Church and Old Cemetery

Old St. Peter's Church and Old Cemetery, also known as St. Peter's Church of Cortlandt is a historic Episcopal church and cemetery at Oregon Road and Locust Avenue in Van Cortlandtville, Westchester County, New York. The church was built in 1766 and measures 28 feet by 36 feet. It is a wood-frame building sheathed in clapboards and was restored in 1964. 

This cemetery is located at the intersection of Locust Ave and Oregon Road in Cortlandt Manor. There are several historic roadside markers around this old graveyard. Located in the cemetery is a small red clapboard building The Old St Peters Episcopal Church. Services in this building were attended by General George Washington at times when he stayed nearby. This building was also used as an Army Hospital from 1781–1782 by French General Rochambeau before and after The Battle of Yorktown Virginia 1781-2. The property was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973 with reference number 73001292. Buried beside the church are unnamed graves of French troops of General Rochambeau and 44 unnamed soldiers of the Revolution. In the churchyard there is an anvil monument dedicated to Major General Seth Pomeroy. The monument is constructed of black granite, is 5' 8" high, and weighs over 6.5 tons. When the American Revolution ended, the great pioneer migration to the West began. The Pomeroy Anvil Trail commemorates the westward migration of the American people through the movement of the Pomeroy family. His burial site in the graveyard is unmarked.

The property was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973 with reference number 73001292. The documentation itself, dated 2003, describes one contributing site (the cemetery) and one contributing object, in addition to the already listed one contributing building of the property.

-Richard H. Becker, M.D.
Supervisor,
Town of Cortlandt