First Shearith Israel Graveyard | |
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| Location | 55-57 Saint James Place,Manhattan, New York, US |
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| Coordinates | 40°42′45″N73°59′54″W / 40.71250°N 73.99833°W /40.71250; -73.99833 |
| Area | Less than 1 acre (0.40 ha) |
| Built | 1682 (1682) |
| NRHP reference No. | 80002689[1] |
| NYCL No. | 0091 |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | April 17, 1980 |
| Designated NYCL | February 1, 1966 |
First Shearith Israel Graveyard, also known asChatham Square Cemetery, is a tinyJewish graveyard at 55-57 St. James Place in theTwo Bridges neighborhood ofLower Manhattan, New York City, United States. It is the oldest of three Manhattan graveyards currently maintained byCongregation Shearith Israel (Hebrew, "Remnant of Israel"), which is itself the oldestJewish congregation inNorth America.[2][3] (The Congregation was formed by Spanish and PortugueseSephardic Jewish immigrants in 1654.) Today, the cemetery is a mere fragment of its original extent. Only about a hundred headstones and above ground tombs can still be seen in what remains of the old burial ground, which rises slightly above street level. It is the only remaining 17th century structure in Manhattan.[4][5]
What is now called the "First Shearith Israel Graveyard," nearChatham Square inLower Manhattan, was in use from 1683 to 1833. An older cemetery called "Beth Haim," dated to 1656 — two years after the community arrived, was located around the corner of Madison and Oliver Streets.[6] The site for First Shearith Israel Graveyard was originally on a hill overlooking theEast River in an open area at the northern periphery of the British-Dutch colonial settlement. The plot was purchased in 1682 by Joseph Bueno de Mesquita, and its first interment was for his relative, Benjamin Bueno de Mesquita, the following year. The cemetery expanded in the 1700s so that at one point it extended from Chatham Square over what is now the upper part of Oliver Street down toBancker (now Madison) Street.[7][8][3][9]
In a letter in 1776, a staff officer of GeneralGeorge Washington recommended emplacing an artillery battery "at the foot of the Jews' burying ground" to help secureLong Island Sound. American prisoners of war were buried en masse in entrenchments beyond the graveyard.[10] In 1823, a city ordinance prohibited burials south ofCanal Street, compelling the congregation to rely on its second burial ground, consecrated in 1805 at West 11th Street inGreenwich Village.[11] (Notwithstanding this, a few more burials took place at Chatham Square up to 1833.) Much of this burden was alleviated in 1829, when Shearith Israel's third cemetery was consecrated at 21st Street just west of 6th Avenue.[3][12]
Encroaching development and erosion necessitated several instances over the years in which the congregation was forced to reduce the size of the Chatham Square Cemetery and disinter bodies, which were moved to their three other graveyards. In 1851, city public health officials prohibited burial south of 86th Street and in partnership with other synagogues, the congregation purchased a large plot of land inRidgewood, Queens as a fourth cemetery. The most notable of these instances was in 1855, when a large portion of the cemetery was seized byeminent domain. This accommodated expansion of theBowery — including the cut-through of today's St. James Place — and some 256 graves were removed.
Today, access to the cemetery is by appointment only.
From 1656 until 1825, all of the practicing Jews of New York City belonged to the Shearith Israel congregation and were buried here, including 22 who fought in the Revolutionary War. Among the notable burials (which may include those whose bodies were later removed) were:
Media related toFirst Cemetery of the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue Shearith Israel at Wikimedia Commons
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