The history of Hyde Park’s St. James Church and its churchyard cemetery is filled with prominent names of visionaries who helped shape both Dutchess County and the United States.
The church was established in 1811 by Samuel Bard, the founder of Bard College. Interred in the cemetery are members of prominent clans such as the Roosevelts, Livingstons, Astors and Pendeltons and the second governor of New York State, Morgan Lewis.
Buried in the center of this illustrious churchyard is a man named Richard Jenkins, as well as members of his family. This is noteworthy because Jenkins was the church’s first sexton, the person in charge of maintenance, as well as an African-American.
When the church was founded, slavery was still legal in New York, not to be abolished until 1827. According to church records both slaves and freed blacks were baptized and attended St. James from its inception.
Approximately a mile away, on the site of what is now Hackett Hill Park, about 60 freed blacks lived in a community called Guinea Hill. The community existed from the early 19th century until the 1860’s.
For years at St. James, the lore was the members of this community were buried in unmarked graves in the southeast corner of churchyard. Church records indicate that members of this community were confirmed as members of St. James. The fall, four students and a professor, Brian McAdoo, from Vassar College’s Field Geophysics class, sought to find whether there was evidence of graves at the site.
McAdoo, who has taught the class for 6 years, has previously led classes that had investigated historic sites, including the cemetery at the old Dutchess County poorhouse. That class found the cemetery to be much more extensive than previously thought.
McAdoo had read about the church, as well as the Guinea Hill community through the work of Bard College archaeologist Christopher Lindler, who has done extensive work at the former site.
“There had just been this lore in the church that free blacks were buried in the southeast corner of the churchyard and I thought it would be interesting for the class to try to find out,” he said.
To accomplish this task, the class used several sophisticated geophysics instruments to determine disturbances in the soil that could possibly correspond to potential graves. The instruments allowed the class to make a determination without breaking ground.
“All we’re doing is retrieving patterns in the soil properties, not so much detecting rotten bodies, because those things have probably been long decayed. We’re talking about things that are 200 years old,” said McAdoo.
High-tech gear
The class mapped out two sites in the southeast corner using a total station surveyor, a computerized unit that is mounted on a tripod and gives off a laser pulse, which is reflected off a mirror at a point of interest. The information gained included distance and elevation between points and allowed the class to assemble a basic map of the property.
The electrical resistivity meter measured any blockage of electrical flow through the soil. A cesium-vapor magnetometer measured the magnetic field in the soil. The device is handy in picking up metallic buried objects and subtle soil disturbances. Also used was a ground-penetrating radar device that detected changes in electrical properties in the soil and geographic information systems (GIS), which allowed the students to analyze the data they had found.
Many of the students had no prior experience using these tools. Wilson Salls used the GIS extensively.
“Basically, I took the various pieces of geophysical data from the field, along with a map of the graveyard and overlaid them onto each other in order to analyze them all in the context of our site. This was crucial in determining whether or not there were burials at our site, and I had a lot of fun doing it. More importantly, I gained a great deal of knowledge on this very important and pertinent skill,” he said.
In addition to doing scientific research, the students pored over church records and other historical research of the church, Guinea Hill and the Hyde Park community. This was a satisfying aspect of the project for student Abby Kreitler.
“I think the most successful aspect of this project is that it allows us to interact with and learn about the community outside the walls of Vassar. I’m not originally from the area, so it was fascinating to learn about the rich history of the Hudson Valley and the importance of its community members,” she said.
McAdoo said the class met twice a week. One session would concentrate on learning the techniques used to operate the geophysical devices and one session would go to the site and conduct research. McAdoo left the planning and execution of the project in the hands of his students.
“They make the decisions and they make a lot of mistakes. It’s hard for me to sit back and watch them make mistakes, but it’s part of the learning experience. They always exceed my expectations. They did a remarkable job. They were very thorough and they asked questions,” said McAdoo.
In the end, as the students stated in their report, “there was no definitive evidence for graves at the sites in the southeast corner of the St. James Churchyard.” McAdoo said there was between an 80 percent and 90 percent certainty that there were no graves in the portion of the churchyard that the class studied.
“That’s not to say that free blacks associated with the church are not buried throughout the churchyard. If that’s the case, we’re never going to find them because it’s just too complicated,” he said.
The students presented their findings at the church several weeks ago.
“I’m disappointed, but I appreciate the work they did,” said church archivist Gloria Golden.
Lorraine Roberts of the Dutchess County Historical Society also praised the project.
“It brings together facts that we needed to know,” she said.