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Beneath the Lawn: the Locust Lawn Burial Ground Project
Brian McAdoo, Professor of Geophysics, Vassar College
This summary was constructed from transcripts of McAdoo's
presentation and the Locust Lawn Burial Ground Final Report
submitted to the Huguenot Historical Society by McAdoo's Field
Geophysics Class at Vassar College in Fall, 2000. A copy of this
report is available at the Huguenot Historical Society Library.
During the fall of 2000, the Vassar College Field Geophysics
class conducted a detailed survey of the Locust Lawn Burial Ground
[Locust Lawn is an historic site located in the town of Gardiner,
just south of New Paltz]. Using a combination of laser surveyor,
electrical resistivity, magnetometry, ground penetrating radar,
digital image analysis, and good old-fashioned historical research,
the group believes that 15 members of the Terwilliger family were
buried in the plot. These members include: Evert Terwilliger (1),
Sarah Freer, Joseph Terwilliger, Jonathan Terwilliger, Maria Freer
(Jonathan's wife), Evert Terwilliger (2), Jan Terwilliger, Maria Van
Wagen, C. Terwilliger, Jannette Terwilliger, Evert Terwilliger (3),
Mary Freer, Sarah Terwilliger, and another woman named Sarah
Terwilliger.
The class initially began the project looking for evidence of
marked or unmarked slave burials. Both the Terwilligers and the
Hasbroucks kept slaves on the property, however neither the
geophysical nor historical research leads the group to conclude that
there were any slaves buried at this part of Locust Lawn. Where the
slaves of the New Paltz region were buried is still open to
question. According to McAdoo, "this was a class project and they
[the students] did all the workÖthe students varied from physics
majors, sociology majors to Africana Studies majors to geology
majors in this group so we had a broad array of students that really
worked well together in understanding the technology and the
research that went into doing the archival work."
The group's objectives were to determine whether or not there are
slaves buried at Locust Lawn, and if so, how many. If it was
determined that there are so slaves buried at Locust Lawn, then the
group would postulate where they may have been buried. The work of
the scientific portion of the group included using four geophysical
tools to identify changes in the physical properties of the soil
that would have been associated with disturbing the soil. The
techniques use included a topographic survey, ground penetrating
radar, electrical resistivity, and magnetometry. Then McAdoo gave
brief descriptions of these techniques (1). At the end of the
project, the group would compare the results of each of the studies
and the historical data to determine the number of graves located on
the site.
The surveying team measured the locations of rock walls, trees,
rocks, holes, and other objects that might change the resistivity
measurements. They specifically noted lines of rocks and gravestones
that were lined up in a North/South orientation. From this study,
the team identified sixteen possible graves based on the location of
obvious gravestones and aligned unmarked rocks. Using ground
penetrating radar, the group looked for pattern recognition of soil
disturbances and found twelve to sixteen possible graveyards. Twelve
anomalies were found in the main graveyard, while four additional
anamalies were located in an area just to the north of the main
site. Electrical resistivity showed 21 possible graves. Four of the
anomalies matched with known graves, and five were located in the
Northern grid area. In overlaying the magnometric with the data from
the electric resistivity study, the group found that the anomalies
did not match up directly, although there were sixteen possible
graves identified.
The group also conducted an analysis of the gravestones using
digital imaging technology in order to read the badly faded markings
on the stones. The group's final report discussed in detail the
findings of this examination, which greatly helped the historic
research team to identify the individuals buried there. Below is an
excerpt from this report.
"The most obvious clues to identifying who is buried at Locust
Lawn are the gravestones. While some remain upright and partially
legible, others have fallen and are badly eroded. Connecting names
with stones helps indicate which relatives or cohabitants might have
been buried there. Ö Different lighting sources, including a mirror
(reflected sunlight) and a flashlight, enhanced the legibility of
the writings on the stones. Ö The gathered writings were compiled
and used as a reference for tracing onto a larger image of the
stone."
These images viewed with zoom lenses, collectively revealed
writings that had prior been illegible. On one stone, the markings
read "1781 APR MTW." Subsequent historical research uncovered a
record for a Maria Terwilliger, who died in April 1781. Another
stone read "In memory of Mary Freer wife of Evert Terwilliger died
Dec 6 aged 72 years 11 mos 13 days." And yet another read "In memory
of Evert Terwilliger died Nov 15 1836 aged 77 years 1 month & 20
days." Finally, on one triangular stone was found the inscription
"AG ITW BORN IN 1722 D1779 M 29" and is believed to be the grave of
Jan Terwilliger. Analysis of another stone proved inconclusive due
to the heavy erosion of the carving.
The historical team set out to match up the scientific findings
with archival data and find answers to the questions of whether
there are there any slaves or Hasbrouck family members buried at
Locust Lawn, or if the burial site an exclusive Terwilliger family
plot? The project final report discusses the findings of the team's
work in considerable detail. Below are some excerpts from this
report.
"The first step in determining if slaves were likely to have been
buried on Locust Lawn was to draw up a brief and general history of
slave life in the Mid-Hudson Valley. This assisted us in making
assumptions of when slaves could or would have been buried on
personal property, and on determining the likelihood of their being
buried alongside masters in a family plot. Africans were first
arrived at the Hudson Valley under the control of the Dutch, and a
later flux came with the American Revolutionists and the British.
However, it was the French Huguenots who founded New Paltz in 1677
that brought the first Africans into the specific area around New
Paltz. As slaves, these Africans helped with the construction of
farms as well as assisting in the maintenance of these farms as farm
hands. In 1848, the institution of slavery ended in the state of New
York. However, the Manumission Ledger, a document written to
facilitate the gradual emancipation of slaves, was first scripted in
1799. It stated that boys born between 1799 and 1812 had 27 more
years of service until they were freed, and girls had 25 years. It
was later amended to say that children born between 1817 and 1827
would have 21 years of servitude before being freed. This meant that
by 1948 all slaves should have been freed by law.
A brief history on the inhabitants of Locust Lawn from the early
1700s onward lays the groundwork for what we researched and the
subsequent conclusions we made about who may or may not have been
buried on the site. In 1732, the original landowner Hugo Freer died
and bequeathed the land now known as Locust Lawn to his daughter,
Sarah Freer, wife of Evert Terwilliger (Evert I). When Evert
Terwilliger died, he left the land to his first-born son, also named
Evert Terwilliger (Evert II). Because Evert II died without having
children, we presume that the land then went to the next son of
Evert I, Jan. We later discovered that Jan and his son Johannes
changed their names to John and John JrÖ.
Jan (John) had a child named Evert (Evert III) to whom he
bequeathed the land upon his death in 1797. At this point, the land
left the Terwilliger family. In 1813, Josiah Hasbrouck bought the
land from Evert III for $8500, quite a substantial sum of money for
the time. By 1814 Josiah had moved his family onto Locust Lawn and
into the new federal-style mansion he had constructed, which is the
predominant white house now overlooking the property.
Also critical in determining possible grave inhabitants is the
history of slaves on the land. At the time of Evert I, there is no
record in either the slave census or family wills of Evert I having
slaves who might have lived on the land with his family. Jan is the
first of the Terwilligers on Locust Lawn with known slaves.
According to the 1790 census, Jan had six slaves. The 1799
Manumission Ledger contains no mention of any Terwilliger slaves.
However, once Josiah Hasbrouck took over, this document shows that a
number of slaves lived on the land under Josiah.
[After a thorough examination of local historical sources such as
wills, tax lists, cemetery records, genealogies, and even interviews
with Terwilliger descendants, the historical team came to the
conclusion that]:
Our research suggests that there were not slaves buried in this
plot at Locust Lawn. Due to the lack of records for Terwilliger
slaves this is an assumption going off of census analysis. The only
record of slaves ever being at [Locust Lawn under Terwilliger
ownership] was in the 1790 census where six slaves were mentioned,
but by 1800 they were gone, and no more records were able to be
located. Prior to 1790 there are no records identifying slave
ownership to the Terwilligers, so it is assumed that there are slim
chances of slaves being buried on Locust Lawn prior to this point.
Sometime between 1790 and 1800 the slaves disappeared so there is
the possibility that they were sold or by 1800 were in another area
altogether from Locust Lawn. It seems highly unlikely that they were
buried on Locust Lawn but there is still the chance. The historical
team, however, highly doubts Terwilliger slave burial [at] Locust
Lawn.
Following the same principles for the Terwilligers, we also doubt
that the Hasbroucks buried [their] slaves there. If the Terwilligers
remained in control of the Locust Lawn Burial site then why would
the Hasbroucks have buried their slaves there? Also, it may have
been considered a social insult to the Terwilligers to bury anyone,
especially slaves, in their traditional family burial grounds. We
believe that the most likely place that slaves were buried is on the
Huguenot Street Burial ground that was marked in October 2000. If
the slaves were not buried there then they may have been buried
somewhere else on the Locust Lawn property, just not in the
Terwilliger plot."
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