Cemetery Holds American, Local History

Commack Cemetery isn't just old, it's historic.

The circa-1850 burial ground holds the descendants of Aaron Burr – the third vice president of the United States who's most famous for shooting Alexander Hamilton in 1804. A branch of his family ended up in Commack and ran Burr Hotel, on Burr Road, Bill Heberer, a volunteer at the cemetery said. The Burr history in this town is also connected with horse racing and breeding, according to Lucille Rosen, author of Commack, A Look Into the Past. 

The cemetery is run by a volunteer board of trustees of which Herberer is a member. His wife also serves on the board and he grew up on Burr Road – down the street from the Burrs. The Burr family, according to the headstones, merged at one point with the Carlls and Smiths – of the Richard "The Bull" Smith or Smythe, the founder of Smithtown.

The Burr family plot is still in the cemetery, along with the extensions of the family, including one of the approximately 160 veterans that are buried in the cemetery.

Herberer said that every memorial day, 160 flags are placed on all the graves of the veterans, from the Civil War straight through to 9/11.

The cemetery has 14 Civil War veterans, many of whom survived the war to settle in this area. They also have 5 9/11 victims, which Herberer said is a lot for this size cemetery.

Herberer said that the history of the cemetery begins earlier than 1850s as he has seen some marble headstones dating back to the 1840s. The marble headstones, Herberer said, have been lost due to the fact that marble is not as sturdy as granite. Herberer said that vandalism is not a problem for this cemetery, it is more the weather, similar to the Commack United Methodist Church cemetery.

Walking through the cemetery you can see the headstones that have fallen, and were overrun with shrubs, grass and tree branches. Herberer said that the cemetery is one of the only ones to have sprinklers, allowing the plants and grass to be lush and green. The only problem with this is that the plots without headstones – or with headstones buried under the grass – are unknown members of Commack society. The cemetery knows there are graves in the large open spots of the developed land, but they don't know who is buried there.

Many Carll and Smithtown Smiths are also buried in this cemetery, including the late Marion Carll herself, whom Heberer knew personally.