New York Central College Cemetery

While the tremendous history of New York Central College could never be forgotten, its tiny student cemetery nearly was.

Little was known about smallpox in 1850. The faculty feared the illness might still pass through the soil, so the students of NY Central Collage were buried along the furthest reaches of campus, atop the crest of a hill, on the edge of a dark and tangled forest. Those who claimed this small cemetery as their final resting place often had no family nearby to tend to their graves. So, when the school closed a few years later, the buildings were sold and dismantled – the forest quietly and steadily spread over the tombs, hiding them from living memory.

It wasn’t until more than a hundred years later that a curious history teacher at McGraw High School rediscovered the lost cemetery and set in motion its slow renewal that would take a few dedicated volunteers and historians 30 years to restore.

*To find the New York Central Collage Cemetery, park in the upper lot of McGraw High School, and walk to the far edge of the adjacent baseball field where you will find the start of the self-guided cemetery trail, in the southeast corner.

*To find the New York Central Collage Cemetery, park in the upper lot of McGraw High School, and walk to the far edge of the adjacent baseball field where you will find the start of the self-guided cemetery trail, in the southeast corner.

“The coffin was borne by those only who attended the sick and set down some distance from the unfinished grave, while we stood nearby. Twas a beautiful spot, selected some days ago, and destined for the Collage Cemetary, on the brow of a hill overlooking a delightful county, the Village, Collage and building. The sunlight was on the misty hilltop, the music of birds, and stirring of leaves, in the bordering wood. The sound of moving wasters below us and the mournful peeling of the bell- these, together with the voice of our President in solemn speech and earnest prayer, as he touchingly alluded to the circumstances under which we had met, made it indeed a strange and affecting scene… As I looked around the pale faces of those worn out with weary watching, I know not what hour might bring to a bed of sickness to many now in apparent health.” N.Y. Central College Student Edith Phillips.

Six students and one local boy contracted smallpox, during the outbreak of 1850. Sadly, two students were lost, Homer Haskell and Erskine Spring. Despite the fact the school had been ordered closed, many of the students refused to leave, staying instead to nurse their fellow classmates. Some of those who fell ill while attending New York Central College were able to travel home. However, other students journeyed from too afar, or had no family awaiting them. These souls were buried at the NY Central College Cemetery. They share their final resting place with their fellow classmates, faculty, and those who sadly remain unnamed, as their grave markers have been lost to time.

Erskine Spring, died of smallpox (1850)
Joseph Purvis of Ohio, died of meningitis (1851)
Elliot Blake of Connecticut, cause of death unknown (1851)
Anna Pierce, died of meningitis (1851) Ezekial Wood of Vermont, cause of death unknown (1856)