Pelham Cemetery Association, Inc.

Post Office Box 76

City Island Station

Bronx, New York 10464



Historic Pelham Cemetery on the Eastern shore of City Island is a most desirable site as a final resting place for Island residents. Gently sloping toward the water, the cemetery creates a sense of serenity to those visiting it. An occasional boat passing by adds a pleasant nautical atmosphere to the surroundings. A walk through the cemetery is like a trip back in time to a New England burial ground. Here, on quaintly carved tombstones, are names that are found on the Island's streets, with military titles dating back to all the wars this country has been in, and seafaring ranks that harken long ago voyages.



Blake A. Bell, Pelham Town Historian, has written...



City Island retains the feel of a quaint New England fishing village. For more than a century, City Island was part of the Town of Pelham. Before that, for more than a century, it was part of the Manor of Pelham. Many Pelham pioneers lived on -- or visited -- City Island. Its history is part of Pelham's history.



At the west end of Reville Road on City Island is a lovely cemetery named "Pelham Cemetery". It is the only waterfront cemetery in the five boroughs of New York City. Next to the gate of the cemetery is a bronze plaque that says, in part, the following:



"THIS IS PELHAM CEMETERY... Lives are commemorated -- deaths are recorded . . . This is a cemetery... A cemetery is a history of people -- a perpetual record of yesterday and a sanctuary of peace and quiet today. . ." These words certainly ring true. Pelham Cemetery was established in the 1880s. There are, however, older gravestones within its grounds. The cemetery is filled with the gravestones of well-known Pelham families and early settlers. The grave sites of veterans of the Civil War and virtually every War since may be found in the cemetery."