Where History Lives: Part 19
WHERE HISTORY LIVES PART 19: HILLSIDE CEMETERY
History: Around 1750, a plot of land of about 4 acres, on Oregon Road, east of Locust Ave, was set aside for a church and burial ground. In 1770, by Royal Charter, this tract was assigned to St. Peter’s Church. The church graveyard served as a burial ground for all of the Town of Cortlandt, which included Peekskill, and it became crowded as the local population grew. Later, in the 1850’s, the cemetery expanded when Hillside Cemetery was established on land bordering St. Peter’s church as a graveyard. It was incorporated as Cortlandt Cemetery Association in 1884. Foundry owner George W. Robertson was the Association’s first president, serving from its inception until his death in 1906. He and the other first officers were all prominent men in the Peekskill and Cortlandt areas. They immediately set out to repair the roads, build receiving vaults, designed, and lay out the property. They acquired more land, eventually creating a tract of over 100 acres. Ornate monuments and mausoleums mark the graves of foundry owners and other industrialists whose factories drove the growth of the Peekskill area in the late 19th century. At Hillside rest those who worked in those factories, along with farmers and tradespeople.
Many historically important local residents that are interred at the cemetery, including
General Seth Pomeroy: 20 May 1706 – 19 February, 1777 An American Revolutionary War hero . He fought as a private soldier in the Battle of Bunker Hill. The Continental Congress later named him a brigadier general in the Continental Army.
Pierre Van Cortlandt 10 Jan 1721 – 1 May 1814 was an American politician who served as the first lieutenant governor of New York.
Philip Van Cortlandt 21 Aug 1749 – 1 Nov 1831 During the Revolutionary War, he served with the rank of Brigadier General at the battle of Yorktown. He was a delegate to the New York State convention, which adopted the Federal Constitution in 1788. Later, a Continental Congressman. He also served as the 1st Supervisor of the town of Cortlandt
Pierre Van Cortlandt Jr. 29 Aug 1762 – 13 Jul 1848 elected to the US House of Representatives as a Democratic-Republican and served one term, 1811 to 1813. Van Cortlandt was an officer in the militia, rising to the rank of Major General and seeing service in the War of 1812
Chauncey Mitchell Depew 23 Apr 1834 – 5 Apr 1928 United States Senator, President and Board Chairman of the New York Central Railroad, and notable Public Speaker. In 1886 he delivered the principal address at the dedication of the Statue of Liberty; six years later he was chosen to speak at the laying of the cornerstone of Grant's Tomb; and in 1892 he presented the dedicatory oration at the Chicago World's Fair.
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James William Husted 16 Mar 1870 – 2 Jan 1925 He practiced law in Peekskill, was president of the Village of Peekskill (1903-04) and treasurer of the board of park commissioners (1909-15). In 1915, he was elected as a Republican to the Sixty-fourth Congress and to the next three succeeding Congresses, serving until 1923.
George Robertson
Today, Hillside Cemetery remains a non-sectarian, not-for-profit cemetery drawing from a wide cross-section of the local population. Descendants of old local families still find their final resting place here, as do those who are more recently arrived.
-Richard H Becker
