Townsend Cemetery
Encyclopedia
Raynham Hall Museum
Raynham Hall is in Oyster Bay, New York. Home of the Townsend family, one of the founding families of Oyster Bay, on Long Island, New York, and a member of George Washington's Culper Ring of spies, the house was renamed Raynham Hall after the Townsend seat in Norfolk, England, in 1850 by a...
, are buried here. An old fort dating before the Revolutionary War also stood on this site.
History
Simcoe Street which leads to Townsend Cemetery was named after an enemy commander of the occupying British forces during the Revolutionary War. Lt. Colonel John Graves SimcoeJohn Graves Simcoe
John Graves Simcoe was a British army officer and the first Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada from 1791–1796. Then frontier, this was modern-day southern Ontario and the watersheds of Georgian Bay and Lake Superior...
ordered his troops to cut down the vast apple orchard which once grew here and rebuild the remains of an old fort which stood on this site.
Nothing of the old fort remains, but the hill still holds a special significance to the Townsends; it is one of their family’s early graveyards. The cemetery is now owned by the Town and is the final resting place of not only members of the Townsend family, but also the Weeks, Butler, Haviland and Stoddard families.John Townsend
John Townsend (Norwich)
John Townsend was an early settler of the American Colonies who emigrated from England about 1630. Townsend was a signatory to the Flushing Remonstrance, a precursor to the United States Constitution's provision on freedom of religion in the Bill of Rights...
is believed to have been the first buried here in 1668. His initialed headstone is greatly worn and weathered but a bronze marker has been added noting his immigration from England and his original ownership of this land. He and his two brothers Richard and Henry settled in Oyster Bay in the 1660s and their descendants have been leaders in the community for centuries.
Raynham Hall Museum
Raynham Hall is in Oyster Bay, New York. Home of the Townsend family, one of the founding families of Oyster Bay, on Long Island, New York, and a member of George Washington's Culper Ring of spies, the house was renamed Raynham Hall after the Townsend seat in Norfolk, England, in 1850 by a...
are here, as are six of their eight their children; Solomon, Robert, Sally, Phebe, David and William. The historic marker commemorates Robert and Sally Townsend and makes reference to the Culper Spy Ring, which supplied General George Washington with critical information
during the Revolutionary War. To learn more about the Culper Spy Ring, be sure to visit Raynham Hall Museum on West Main Street.
Sixteenth and seventeenth century graveyards dot the landscape of Oyster Bay, some almost invisible. There is one on Orchard Street named after the apple orchard, another on Lexington Avenue on the property of a housing development, a third on Cove Road and yet another near the Mill Pond on Lake Avenue. In the names on these fading stones we are reminded of the origins of our community, and its long and fascinating history.
Those same names often appear as street names as well such as Weeks Avenue, White Street, Burtis Avenue, Audrey Avenue (named after Audrey Townsend), Feeks Lane, McCoun’s Lane, Sugar Tom’s Lane, Anstice Street, Underhill Place, Larrabee Avenue, and Simcoe Street, to name just a few. Each of these names has a story behind it; stories of the people of Oyster Bay.
See also
- Oyster Bay History WalkOyster Bay History WalkThe Oyster Bay History Walk is a path through downtown Oyster Bay, New York that leads the walker to 30 historic sites. It is a 1 mile loop and is the first certified American Heart Association Start! Walking Path on Long Island.-Origins and Development:...
- List of Town of Oyster Bay Landmarks
- List of New York State Historic Markers, Town of Oyster Bay
- National Register of Historic Places listings in Nassau County, New York