Cemetery

My report is on the Sloatsburg Cemetery. The cemetery is located on Eagle Valley Road. There are over 1200 headstones on 5 acres of land. The cemetery is over 220 years old. John Sloat was the first person buried in the cemetery in 1781. In 1832 this became the Sloat family burial plot. In 1852 other families started being buried there. The Sloatsburg Cemetery Association was formed in 1878 until 1936. Since 1936 no one has owned the cemetery. Since there was no association or owner the cemetery was a mess. The older part was mostly overgrown with weeds. Some headstones were broken and some were not where they were supposed to be. The Historical Society has been trying to restore the cemetery and take an inventory of the headstones. When the headstones are inventoried they want to make a complete directory. The cemetery is better now than it was. The cemetery is still being used today. According to the records less than 12 people are being buried a year in the cemetery. There are many important people in the cemetery. One person is Jacob Sloat. Jacob Sloat is one brother of Stephen Sloat who Sloatsburg is named after. Many people from the Sloat family are buried there. There is a historical marker at the cemetery. I think it is there because there are some people that founded our town buried there. The cemetery gives us a history of the early families who lived in Sloatsburg and the surrounding communities.