Last updated: August 5, 2021
Place
Moss Street Cemetery
Photograph by William E. Krattinger, courtesy of New York State Historic Preservation Office
Quick Facts
Location:
3097 US 4 Hudson Falls, New York
Significance:
Art, Exploration/Settlement
Designation:
Listed in the National Register – Reference number 100000650
MANAGED BY:
Private
Listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 2017, The Moss Street Cemetery in Hudson Falls, New York, is a noteworthy historic resource which contains the remains of many prominent Kingsbury residents, some of whom were among the first wave of settlement in the eighteenth century, and among them several veterans who served the Patriot cause during the American Revolution. The cemetery, while modest in overall design conception, has a considerable connection to the historic development of Kingsbury. The Moss Street Cemetery is one of the oldest dedicated burial grounds in the Town of Kingsbury. The cemetery contains the final resting places of countless prominent early town residents, among them veterans of the American Revolution, the War of 1812, and the Civil War. Established around the time of the Revolution, the earliest grave within the cemetery is believed to be that of a Native American veteran of the French & Indian War, his identity unknown, but was buried there as early as the 1780s.
Although burials had been established at the site previously, it was not until 1804 that a group of Kingsbury residents, serving collectively as trustees, purchased the land from Simeon Moss for the expressed purpose of establishing a cemetery, a use which continues to the current day. This original purchase consisted of over an acre of land before it was augmented by purchases made during the 1870s, which added additional land on the south and west sides of the original core area. The cemetery is believed to be the third oldest burial yard established in Kingsbury. Settlers in this area faced tremendous tribulations during the American Revolution, particularly during the year 1780, when British raiders laid waste to much of the area, leading local residents to recall it as “The Year of the Great Burning.”
In addition to the cemetery’s historic context, the Moss Street Cemetery retains a representative collection of funerary art dating from the early nineteenth century. The earliest extant grave stones, dating to the first decade of the nineteenth century, exhibit Neoclassical-inspired design vocabulary, which found full expression in the material culture of America at this time, such as in the Roman-inspired architecture and decorative arts of the Federal style. The cemetery overall contains a characteristic array of funerary art spanning the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and continuing to the present day.
Although burials had been established at the site previously, it was not until 1804 that a group of Kingsbury residents, serving collectively as trustees, purchased the land from Simeon Moss for the expressed purpose of establishing a cemetery, a use which continues to the current day. This original purchase consisted of over an acre of land before it was augmented by purchases made during the 1870s, which added additional land on the south and west sides of the original core area. The cemetery is believed to be the third oldest burial yard established in Kingsbury. Settlers in this area faced tremendous tribulations during the American Revolution, particularly during the year 1780, when British raiders laid waste to much of the area, leading local residents to recall it as “The Year of the Great Burning.”
In addition to the cemetery’s historic context, the Moss Street Cemetery retains a representative collection of funerary art dating from the early nineteenth century. The earliest extant grave stones, dating to the first decade of the nineteenth century, exhibit Neoclassical-inspired design vocabulary, which found full expression in the material culture of America at this time, such as in the Roman-inspired architecture and decorative arts of the Federal style. The cemetery overall contains a characteristic array of funerary art spanning the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and continuing to the present day.