White Plains CitizeNetReporter - Give Us Back Our Heritage, Harrison, Asks Mt. Hope Church

WPCNR SUNDAY TIMES. By John F. Bailey. September 15, 2002: The Mt. Hope A.M.E. Zion Church held a rally at Delfino Park Saturday to dramatize the impasse between the church and the Town of Harrison in the church efforts to have Harrison turn over ownership of Stoney Hill Cemetery.

A GRAVEYARD OF LOST HERITAGE: THE 1750 STONEY HILL CEMETERY: The Mt. Hope church, having been put off for six months by the Harrison Town Board in their quest for a deed to the cemetary that is the last resting place for African-American slaves and black Revolutionary and Civil War veterans, staged the rally to build political support for Harrison to deed the property to the church.

Photo by WPNCR

The gathering was supported by the presence of a contingent of political celebrities, including, County Legeslator, Loiz Bronz who emceed the festivities, Legislator William Ryan, and White Plains Councilpersons Rita Malmud, Tom Roach, Benjamin Boykin and Glen Hockley.

RYAN, ROACH, MALMUD, BOYKIN, HOCKLEY and Candidate for the 88th Assembly District, Tony Sayegh, rallied behind the Mt. Hope contingent. Here, County Legislator William Ryan addresses the group of about 40 persons. He said the cemetary "needs to be put into the hands of the people who will care the most for it. The Town of Harrison needs to "recognize the history that went into the ownership. Over a century, it's very clear the people now caring are the descendents of the rightful owners." He implied that he would work with the County Legislature to facilitate Harrison deeding the property to the church. Lois Bronz who emceed the meeting, implied she would work to bring about the transfer, saying "isn't that what being a public official is for?"

Photo by WPCNR Hal Fitzpatrick, head of the Stoney Hill Cemetery Corporation said the Town of Harrison has been presented with a petition of about 1,000 residents from Harrison and White Plains appealing for the transfer, and that the granting of the deed is supported by six Harrison spiritual leaders. He said the new Harrison Town Board had said six months ago to check back with them in six months, and that they had been waiting for action a year before that.

A flyer handed out at the rally, listing Harrison objections to granting the deed. Harrison, according the Stoney Hill Cemetery Corporation literature, maintains that Mt. Hope abandoned the property, thereby, "relinquising ownership."

The flyer says Harrison fears Mt. Hope will develop on the property, and that granting the deed to Mt. Hope would "set a precedence for requests from other parties requesting property in the Town." The Town, it further reports, fears Mt. Hope acquisition of the deed would result in Mt. Hope receiving monies which they fear will be "misused and misappropriated."

The flyer counters these arguments, saying Mt. Hope "has not been able to afford renovations to the cemetery," that real estate zoning and designatin as a National Historic site would prevent development, and that their claim is "the legacy of slavery and reparation by the Quakers who gave theproperty to freed slaves."

The flyer remarks that the Cemetery Corporation would be bonded and the Town of Harrison would be able to inspect financial records on a regular basis, and that the church has neither the inclination nor the funds to relocate the Cemetery.


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