National Cemetery in Cypress Hills

Betty Cooney

While there are many cemeteries in New York City, the National Cemetery in Cypress Hills, Brooklyn, on Jamaica Avenue, is the only national cemetery in the entire city. It is a burial ground for many war heroes. This is the highest point in the borough on the border of Brooklyn and Queens. It sits on a sloping hill at the foot of the Ridgewood Reservoir, which is being restored by the Parks Department next to the Highland Park. There is a beautifully covered garden area in the rear of the cemetery and a beautiful wooded area surrounding the site with historical significance. Additionally, there is a Revolutionary War burial ground situated to the north east of the cemetery where British soldiers were buried having been displaced from the Navy Yard many years ago. The historic area also has a roadway—The Cypress Hills Street (known as Snake Hill to locals)—next to which it is said that George Washington charged after the British during the Revolutionary War.There is fear that the Ridgewood Reservoir will become another park, disturbing the cemetery that sits at its foot. If the reservoir would become a ball field, it would destroy the natural setting that overshadows this historic cemetery where our heroes rest.