History of the Pelham Cemetery
Blake A. Bell, Pelham Town Historian, has written...
City Island retains the feel of a quaint New England fishing village. For more than a century, City Island was part of the Town of Pelham. Before that, for more than a century, it was part of the Manor of Pelham. Many Pelham pioneers lived on -- or visited -- City Island. Its history is part of Pelham's history.
At the west end of Reville Road on City Island is a lovely cemetery named "Pelham Cemetery". It is the only waterfront cemetery in the five boroughs of New York City. Next to the gate of the cemetery
is a bronze plaque that says, in part, the following:
"THIS IS PELHAM CEMETERY... Lives are commemorated -- deaths are recorded . . . This is a cemetery... A cemetery is a history of people -- a perpetual record of yesterday and a sanctuary of peace and quiet today. . ." These words certainly ring true. Pelham Cemetery was established in the 1880s. There are, however, older gravestones within its grounds. The cemetery is filled with the gravestones of well-known Pelham families and early settlers. The grave sites of veterans of the Civil War and virtually every War since may be found in the cemetery."
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