Place

Squirrel Lane Trail: Floyd Family Cemetery

Tombstones are lined up in a field and framed through a bush with pink flowers
The Floyd family cemetery is the resting place of generations of Floyd Family members

NPS/Sucena

"We have buried dear little Dick to-day under the shade of a walnut tree in the graveyard near the hedge, commencing a new line of graves, to lie so we shall all of us, Father & Mother & children rest side by side till the resurrection morn."

- Nicoll Floyd III to John Gelston Floyd, Jr., December 6, 1863 

The family cemetery was established in 1755 after the deaths of William Floyd’s parents Nicoll and Tabitha Floyd during a typhoid epidemic. Roughly ¼ acre in size, it is the burial ground for over 60 Floyd family members and 3 family servants, Ellen Craven and Eleanor and James S. Clark.  

Visitors are encouraged to walk through the graveyard, though you are asked to be respectful, exercise caution, and check yourself later for ticks. To start you might look for little Richard “Dick” Thornton Floyd’s stone. Or, you may want to look for the large table stone that originally marked William Floyd’s grave near his home in Westernville, NY. In 1895, the Floyd family decided to honor their ancestor’s birthday by erecting a monument in place of the more conservative table stone which lays here today. 

Fire Island National Seashore

Last updated: May 27, 2021