State funding will allow for three abandoned cemeteries in the Town of Clarkstown to get some much-needed repairs.

 

The cemeteries that will be getting the repairs are Nyack Rural Nanuet Rural and Mount Moor Cemetery.

 

"Many of the people that are buried in these cemeteries are founders of the town, founders of the county, members that served in the Armed Forces," says Clarkstown Supervisor George Hoehmann.

 

Some of the graves are broken, defaced and have been abandoned for decades.

 

"Some still have funds and volunteers, others, their boards have died off, the funds have been exhausted and they are sitting there abandoned," says Assemblyman Ken Zebrowski.

 

Hoehmann says that under New York law, when a cemetery, particularly a nonprofit cemetery, becomes abandoned, it defaults to the local municipality. 

 

"It's literally it's a mandate that we have to take care of these cemeteries," he says. 

 

The newly signed legislation from Gov. Kathy Hochul allows the town to access state funding to restore and repair three of its abandoned cemeteries.

 

They also plan to clean the cemeteries up, create pathways that have long become overgrown and restore broken headstones.

 

 

"And give the proper respect to the people that lived and worked and died and are buried here," says Hoehmann.

 

 

And once they do, some family members are hoping to be buried in their family plot in these cemeteries.