Elsewhere in the County and Here in Hudson

This week, Gossips received the following press release from the Lebanon Valley Community Corporation.

With support from the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution (NSDAR), the Lebanon Valley Community Corporation was awarded one of NSDAR's Historic Preservation Matching Grants to fund the restoration of gravestones of Revolutionary War veterans in the Cypress Hill section of the historic Cemetery of the Evergreens located on Cemetery Road in New Lebanon, NY.

This project will give life to the headstones and will restore the stones before they fall into further disrepair and are lost forever. In September, Albany Gravedigger Genealogical Services and Cemetery Conservation began work on the stones most in need of repair. To date, eight gravestones have been successfully repaired. During the repair process, five additional gravestones were uncovered and earmarked for future evaluation and restoration along with other restoration work to be done on the remaining 35 Revolutionary War veteran graves in this historic cemetery.

Recognizing and honoring these patriots of the American Revolution is most fitting and proper as the United States heads toward the 250th Anniversary of our founding. We heartily thank the NSDAR for their partnership and support.    

The news about this restoration project in New Lebanon reminded me that there are graves of Revolutionary War veterans in the Hudson City Cemetery as well. To confirm this and learn more, I contacted Kelley Drahushuk, who knows more about the cemetery than anyone I know and annually, around this time of year, gives a wildly popular tour of the Hudson City Cemetery. 

Drahushuk told me records show there are forty-three Revolutionary War veterans buried in the Hudson City Cemetery, but only thirty-six of the graves have been located. Some years ago, the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) and the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) collaborated to restore many of the Revolutionary War graves. In this project, new markers were added behind the original tombstones when the original stones were too weathered to be legible. The tombstone of Samuel Mansfield is an example of this treatment.

Mansfield was one of seven of the original Proprietors of Hudson who served in the Revolutionary War. The others were Stephen Paddock, Seth Jenkins, Alexander Coffin, Nathaniel Greene, John Thurston, and Hezekiah Dayton. They all survived the war and lived to found Hudson as soon as it was over.

COPYRIGHT 2024 CAROLE OSTERINK