The Constable Burial Ground was in a state of tremendous disrepair when found on Oct. 22, 2023.

This historic burial ground in Gardiner, New York, sits on what was once the farm of Johannes “John” Constable — a grandson of Egbert Constapel, the first in our family to use the “Constable” surname.

The farm was owned by the Constable family from 1794 to 1857. Most of the land is now part of Tantillo Farm, but the burial ground is located on a smaller residential property.

The current owner of the property, Karen Wurtz, said the cemetery was completely overgrown with trees and brush when she and her late husband bought the land 37 years ago. They cleared out the brush and removed some of the trees after moving in. Initially, her husband tried to take care of the cemetery, but as stones broke or fell, he piled them against a tree.

Only four headstones are in their original locations. Google Street View imagery from 2012, while somewhat obscured, appears to show that the other headstones had already been moved by that point in time.

The cemetery used sandstone headstones for its earliest burials. Examples include Hannah Kimbark (1804), M. Constable (1806) and Joseph Masten (1810). The only other known burial during this period is Isaac Constable, but a sandstone headstone for Isaac has not yet been found.

Interestingly, Joseph Masten has two headstones — a slate headstone and a limestone headstone. Both have the same information. My belief is that his original slate headstone was replaced with a limestone headstone at a later date. This was likely the case for Isaac Constable as well.

The cemetery was catalogued in 1927, by Dr. J. Wilson Poucher and Byron J. Terwilliger for their book, “Old Gravestones of Ulster County.” Thus far, two gravestones not on their list have been found — Hannah Kimbark and a difficult-to-read headstone that appears to indicate the surname is “Decker.”

On Oct. 24, 2023, D2 Biological Solution was applied to the following headstones: Abraham Constable, Isaac Constable, John Constable, ? Decker, Abraham LeFever and Mary A. Potter.

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Catalogue of Gravestones

Headstones (Intact):

• Constable, Isaac
• Decker, ?
• Kimbark, Hannah
• LeFever, Abraham
• LeFever, Ann Bell (chipped at top right corner)
• Unknown sandstone headstone (next to Hannah Kimbark)

Headstones (Split):

• Constable, Abraham (top and bottom halves)
• Constable, John (top and bottom halves)
• Frint, Henry (top and bottom halves)
• LeFever, John (main piece, top right partially inside of tree)
• Masten, Joseph (top and bottom halves, original headstone)
• Masten, Joseph (top and bottom halves, later headstone)
• Potter, Mary A. (top half only)
• Unknown limestone bottom half with no apparent writing

Headstones (Fragments):

• Constable, M. (top left quarter of headstone intact, top right quarter of headstone missing top layer of stone with inscription text)
• Potter, John (small piece with year of death and part of age at death)
• Unknown sandstone headstone (broken in multiple pieces, leaning against a tree)
• Several medium-sized sandstone pieces with no apparent writing

Footstones:

• A. L. (possibly Abraham LeFever)
• G. H. F. (possibly a Frint)
• M. C. (possibly Margaret or M. Constable)
• Unknown footstone still in original location (possibly Ann Bell LeFever’s)