Almshouse Cemetery

A Brief History: The Almshouse Cemetery aka Suffolk County Potter’s Field is located south of the Long Island Expressway at exit 67 in Yaphank NY. Before 1870 all of the towns in Suffolk County managed a “poor house.” There was also a farm associated with the Almshouse. Across from the house was a children’s home for ages two to sixteen. The superintendent (William Jones Weeks) of the Almshouse set up the numbering system for the head stones to be able to record and register deaths occurring at both the Almshouse and the orphanage.

Residents of Almshouse were required to perform job duties on the farm for eight hours a day every day except Sunday. (In 1938, it wasn’t mandatory for residents to work on the farm but many chose to work anyway.) They used the crops they grew to feed the residents. It had changed its name in 1929 due to the welfare reform law and became known as the Suffolk County Home. It housed the homeless as well as the elderly and infirmed. In 1937 a new home was built close by on Yaphank Avenue. In 1994 they opened the “John J. Foley skilled nursing facility” and the home became Suffolk County offices.

Haunted History: There have been many claims through the years of paranormal activity occurring here. There have been claims of seeing apparitions in the middle of the cemetery and then just disappear. There have been sounds of children playing in the woods. Shadow people have also been known to be seen here. People that have visited the cemetery have said to have had extreme feelings of “get out”. Paranormal investigators have had evidence of EVPs caught here as well as seeing a phenomenon called “will o the wisp”.