Rockville Cemetery and Bristol and Mexico Monument is a historic

cemetery A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite or graveyard is a place where the remains of dead people are buried or otherwise interred. The word ''cemetery'' (from Greek , "sleeping place") implies that the land is specifically designated as a buri ...

located at Lynbrook in

Nassau County, New York Nassau County ( ) is a county in the U.S. state of New York. At the 2020 U.S. census, Nassau County's population is 1,395,774. The county seat is Mineola and the largest town is Hempstead. Nassau County is situated on western Long Island ...

. The cemetery started as a small local burial ground in 1799. It subsequently came to be the final resting place of many early Near Rockaway settlers. The cemetery features a monument to two nearby shipwrecks, the ''

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

'' and the ''

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

'', in the winter of 1836–1837. The Bristol and Mexico Monument marks the mass grave of the 139 passengers, mostly Irish immigrants fleeing famine. The shipwrecks resulted in changes to

New York Harbor New York Harbor is at the mouth of the Hudson River where it empties into New York Bay near the East River tidal estuary, and then into the Atlantic Ocean on the east coast of the United States. It is one of the largest natural harbors in t ...

approach practices. ''Note:'' This includes an
''Accompanying photographs''
/ref> In 1953, a 20-year-old Ruth Bader wrote an article in ''New York Folklore Quarterly'' about the memorial. She described the poor condition of the memorial at the time, and the very negative opinion of the memorial from Nathaniel Prime, author of ''History of Long Island'', which was published five years after the memorial was completed. She also included a brief history of the ships' voyages from Liverpool in October 1836, and their losses off of Long Island in late November 1836 and early January 1837. The monument was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 2015. Two notable persons are buried in Rockville. They are blues musician

Reverend Gary Davis Reverend Gary Davis, also Blind Gary Davis (born Gary D. Davis, April 30, 1896 – May 5, 1972), was a blues and gospel singer who was also proficient on the banjo, guitar and harmonica. Born in Laurens, South Carolina and blind since infancy ...

(1896–1972) and B&B/doo-wop musician James "Shep" Sheppard of

Shep and the Limelites Shep and the Limelites was an American doo-wop trio of the early 1960s, composed of James "Shep" Sheppard (September 24, 1935 – January 24, 1970), Clarence Bassett (March 13, 1936 – January 25, 2005) and Charles Baskerville (July 6, 1936 – J ...

(1935–1970).

References

External links

* {{National Register of Historic Places in New York Cemeteries on the National Register of Historic Places in New York (state) 1799 establishments in New York (state) Buildings and structures in Nassau County, New York National Register of Historic Places in Nassau County, New York