Constable Burial Ground (Gardiner, New York)

Scattered headstones in a largely abandoned cemetery. — The Constable family burial ground in Gardiner, New York. The cemetery, located on the site of an historic Constable family farm, was in use from the late 1700s to the mid 1800s. *Photo by Kyle Constable*

Abandoned for decades and almost lost to time, the Constable burial ground contains our family’s oldest gravestones still in existence.

There were at least eighteen people buried at the site, with the known dates ranging from 1799 to 1857. This includes at least five Constables: John, Abraham, Isaac, Margaret and “M.”

The oldest Constable buried here is John Constable, son of Benjamin Constapel and Margariet Maul in 1754. He was a grandson of Egbert Constapel, the first in our family to use the “Constable” surname.

John is the father of the Ohio branch of the Constable family.

Also buried here is Isaac Constable, a son of John Constable who died as a child in 1799. This is currently the only known Constable grave that dates back to the 1700s.

A number of other Constables closely related to these are buried in the cemetery at the New Hurley Reformed Dutch Church, about 1.5 miles south on Route 208. The home of John Constable’s grandson, also named John, is still standing in the New Hurley neighborhood.

The cemetery was catalogued on August 25, 1927, by Dr. J. Wilson Poucher and Byron J. Terwilliger for their book, “Old Gravestones of Ulster County.” Interestingly, two gravestones not on the list have since been discovered.

The condition of the cemetery is dire, and it is at risk of being lost completely. Preliminary preservation and restoration work is currently underway as of October 2023.

The cemetery is located on the property of Karen Wurtz at 141 Marabac Road, Gardiner, New York 12525.