Restoration Committee To Dedicate New Civil War Headstones

The Cemetery Restoration Committee of Patchogue will dedicate new headstones for six Civil War veterans buried at cemeteries on Waverly Avenue in a ceremony on Saturday at 11 a.m.

According to the committee's announcement, the stones were either damaged or went missing and the new stones will be paid for by the U.S. Veterans Administration.

The program is coordinated locally by CRC member and former Patchogue Village Trustee Lynn Davis. The ceremony will be conducted by the Richard J. Clark Camp 210, Sons of Union Veterans of Patchogue with Ms. Davis as the opening speaker.

According to the committee, "reenactors of the 67th NY Infantry will render funeral honors with a rifle salute in period uniform. Patchogue area Veterans from VFW Jayne-Lattin Post 2913, American Legion Patchogue Post 269 and AMVETS Hammond Biggs Post 111 will be present, each providing a Color Guard for the ceremony."

The Cemetery Restoration Committee of Patchogue is an independent organization of volunteers first started in May 22 to restore five historic and sacred cemeteries near the corner of West Main Street and Waverly Avenue in Patchogue.

The cemeteries include the Lake View, Rice, Old Episcopal, Union, and Gerard Cemetery.

The committee works to promote history, monuments and "the natural beauty of the cemeteries in a park-like setting, for the benefit of the descendants of those who rest in these cemeteries and for the residents of and the visitors to the Village of Patchogue," according to the committee's website. The committee also preserves and restores the burial ground and provides new landscape and architectural features.

Photos: Cemetery Restoration Committee of Patchogue