Hinchey burial site 'natural place for him to be'
MOUNT TREMPER, N.Y. » Former U.S. Rep. Maurice Hinchey spent his life as a champion of the environment and the Catskill Mountains. So it was only fitting that at the end of his life, he be laid to rest in the shadow of the mountain range he loved.
Hinchey died Nov. 22 at age 79 at his home in Saugerties. He was buried in a private ceremony Nov. 30 on the grounds of the Catskill Interpretive Center, which is named for him, in Mount Tremper.
“There have been ongoing conversations for a while,” said Jeff Senterman, executive director of the Catskill Center, which owns the 60-acre site. “... Given his legacy and the site of the interpretive center in the Catskills that he called home and fought so hard for, we (the center’s staff, the state and the family) just felt it was a natural place for him to be at rest.”
Hinchey, an assemblyman from 1975 until the end of 1992 and a congressman from 1993 until his retirement at the end of 2012, fought tirelessly for funding for the interpretative center, which is formally known as the Maurice D. Hinchey Catskill Interpretive Center. “He believed the Catskill Park was one of the great parks that exist in the nation, and he believed it was a disservice to not have an interpretive center,” Senterman said.
There is no state law prohibiting burials on private lands, and Senterman said the center worked with the state Department of Environmental Conservation, which leases the land, to ensure burying Hinchey on the site wouldn’t violate the terms of the lease.
“He was an environmental leader before there were environmental leaders,” Senterman said. “We are so lucky to have had him as our congressman for so long.
“Our board of directors agreed that this was an acceptable thing to have happen at the site, and New York state agreed it wasn’t a problem with the lease,” he added.
Senterman said Hinchey is buried “in a quiet corner of the site,” near some walking paths and adjacent to a small private cemetery where members of the Winne family, which farmed the area in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, are buried.
Hinchey’s grave is surrounded by logs and marked by a temporary headstone. In the spring, the family will have a permanent headstone erected and a small reception will be held to give the public an opportunity to see Hinchey’s final resting place.
“We envision it to be a quiet place for contemplation,” Senterman said.