A radar survey of the Allen family cemetery, a historic gravesite located adjacent to private homes in the Village of Great Neck Plaza, confirmed the location of six family graves last week, in what Town of North Hempstead historian Howard Kroplick said was the next step in the site’s eventual restoration.
The survey, contracted out to ground-penetrating radar company Geomodel using archive preservation funds from the office of Town of North Hempstead Clerk Leslie Gross, did not locate one grave believed to belong to an unrelated baby, Kroplick said, but confirmed a 1981 survey of the graveyard.
“It was probably too small for them to locate [the child’s grave,]” Kroplick said. “It was just confirmation that yes, this was the burial site.”
“Now we know exactly where they were and know which headstones were in the right location,” Kroplick said.
Kroplick’s report on the graveyard in October last year detailed changes to the site, including the movement of headstones and structures being built above the graves. Discussions between the town, the village, members of the Allen family and adjacent property owners are ongoing as stakeholders seek a way of preserving the site without jeopardizing the privacy of homeowners.
Town officials, members of the Allen family, the owner of the adjacent home and the village met in late May to discuss the future of the site and means of preserving the graveyard without infringing on the homeowner’s privacy. They agreed in principle that the cemetery should be restored, and the details of that restoration – including provisions to protect the privacy of adjacent property owners while allowing for public access – will be discussed at a future meeting.
That meeting was scheduled for July 10 but delayed as the town prepares to conduct a survey and title search of the grave site.
At a meeting on Thursday, the town board approved up to $5,500 to have Mineola-based Sidney B. Bowne and Son to survey the property and up to $3,000 to have Advantage Title Agency conduct a title search.
Kroplick’s October 2012 report, which detailed displaced headstones and construction on the centuries-old grave site, sparked a town investigation of the site’s ownership, which is yet to be completed.
The May 22 meeting included six members of the Allen family, whose antecedents owned Saddle Rock Grist Mill from 1715 through the 1820s, Village of Great Neck Plaza Mayor Jean Celender, Kroplick, Town of North Hempstead Supervisor John Kaiman, town attorney John Riordan, town Councilwoman Lee Seeman, the adjacent property owners, members of the Great Neck Historical Society and other municipal officials.
The group met at Great Neck Plaza Village Hall, toured the burial ground and plotted a path forward for the cemetery.
“Everybody in the room was in agreement on [the need to preserve the cemetery,” Kroplick said in May.
“After recently meeting with the Village of Great Neck Plaza and members of the Allen Family, we are committed to working together to ensure that the cemetery is preserved and the neighbors privacy is protected,” said Kaiman in a statement after the May 22 meeting.
Celender echoed the sentiment that the cemetery was worth restoring.
“We felt it was just good to have everybody in the same room,” Celender said. “Basically, we’re in agreement. It’s a historically significant cemetery.”
Kroplick’s report to town officials details the investigation of the cemetery, which began on July 25 when Kroplick said he received an anonymous phone call reporting possible desecration of the graveyard.
Located between 15 and 17 Pearce Place in Great Neck Plaza, the cemetery holds the remains of six 19th century members of the Allen family. An unrelated infant is also interred in the graveyard.
According to descriptions and photographs in the report, Kroplick found the cemetery overgrown with weeds and used for storage, with a storage shed erected on the property.
According to Kroplick’s report, the village is listed in county books as the owner of the plot and has paid taxes on it in recent years. Photographs from the report also show the removal of structures from the graveyard in October, after the publication of a Newsday article on the state of the cemetery.
The report also points to another quirk in the graveyard’s history: a $500 bequest left to Nassau County by Richard Allen for the maintenance of the plot. Deputy County Treasurer Beaumont Jefferson said the money had never been used and there was no documentation about the account, according to the report.
The report also tracked changes to the cemetery since 2000. A Great Neck Plaza historic survey from summer 2000 shows the headstones in a different location from their current placement, according to the report.
