Town could take over Stone Church Cemetery

The property has been plagued by poor maintenance that has left some grave sites unidentifiable.

The Stone Church Cemetery on Route 9, which has been plagued by poor maintenance, could be taken over by the town.

Dennis McGuire, the local American Legion commander and a former town supervisor, told the Town Board on Monday that the state of the 200-year-old cemetery was so poor during a recent funeral that it was disrespectful to the Korean War veteran who was being buried.

“The cemetery is in deplorable condition,” he said, noting uncut grass in particular. “When I say you can make hay up there, the hay is above your knees; the mortuary up there, you can’t even see the bricks.

“The family was very upset,” McGuire said of the veteran’s relatives. “Even where they mowed ... it should have been raked, but it’s all this dead grass.”

McGuire said conditions have deteriorated to the point where some plots cannot be identified.

Town of Rhinebeck Supervisor Elizabeth Spinzia said the Stone Church Cemetery isl privately owned but that there have been discussions with the association that is responsible for the maintaining the property.

“State law mandates that a town or municipality has to take over a cemetery that has been abandoned by a church,” she said Monday. “We expect that it could be abandoned by the church, and I will reach out to someone ... at the church to let them know [McGuire] made us aware ... that it’s time.”

Spinzia said there have been “informal conversations with people involved at the Stone Church. There is an awareness that at some point it may have to be turned over to the town.”

Representatives for the cemetery, which is overseen by the St. Peter’s Lutheran Church Cemetery Association, said Tuesday that the grounds have been maintained under agreements with pastors who were hired to oversee the church. Association member Bill Cotting said arrangements have been made to get the site back to a state of good repair.

“As we’re speaking now, it has been cut,” he said of the long grass. “Half of it has been done so far.”

Association member Thomas LeGrand acknowledged that care of the site, which dates to the early 1800s, has become too expensive, but he said turning it over to the town would be complicated because the church is part of the property.

“The town can’t take the church but it can take the cemetery,” he said. “The problem is that it’s a small parcel and ... the church is not separated out of it.”