Old Burying Ground Cemetery - Cutchogue

A Brief History: Old Burying Ground is located on State Route 25 Cutchogue, NY 11935 and was established in 1661, as part of the property that Mr. William Wells bought from the Corchaug tribe. He set aside the land to be used as a cemetery, and many gravestones on the property date back over 200 years. The earliest and still standing gravestone is dated 1717, for an infant named Phoebe Wells. Many early settlers of Cutchogue and the surrounding areas were buried there. There are also unmarked graves, from the 1700’s. It was not uncommon to use wooden crosses or small boulders with carved initials as headstones.

Old Burying Ground, as well as Cutchogue, is full of history. Two men who fought in the French and Indian War, Major Silas Horton and Lieutenant Simeon Benjamin, are buried there. Another man, Erastus Tuthill, died as a prisoner in Richmond, Virginia during the Civil War and was brought to Old Burying Ground by his family. There are slaves buried there, Elymus Reeve and Keturah L., their headstones still intact. Many of the headstones or markers have been worn down or disintegrated due to the elements.

Haunted History: People have reported feeling a sudden chill while walking through the cemetery at night. There are also claims of hearing voices talking but when you go to the location where you here them they disappear. Investigators have claimed to have seen shadows walking amongst the tombstones.