A deed of land was given in 1718, for the use of the inhabitants of Poughkeepsie for a burial place, and plot for a meeting-house, wherein the worship of God was to be conducted in the Low Dutch language. The deed bears date December 26, 1718, and was acknowledged before Leonard Lewis. The ground deeded was on the corner of Main and Market Streets.

The first Reformed Dutch Church edifice was built on the opposite side of Main Street.

Early Churches in Poughkeepsie

This cemetery, Old Reformed Dutch Cemetery, actually represents two cemeteries: The first one was located on the southeast corner of Main and Markets Streets, at the site of the first church building. It was used for burials from 1723 up until about 1795. The burials were reportedly placed inside a 12' X 14' buried concrete vault at the rear of the property (described as, 260 Main Street, as of 1924) in 1831. The status and exact location of the vault is currently unknown, by all reports, despite much construction that has taken place at the southeast corner of Main and Market Streets. The fate of the cemetery's grave markers is also unknown. However, there is presently an entrance-way addressed 268 Main Street, adorned with no less than three tiny vault-like objects among the decorative designs above the entrance, leading to a corridor that ends at a roughly 9' by 24' niche in the otherwise rectangular footprint of what is known as the Church Office Building, a commercial building built by the church in 1934 over the footprint of the cemetery. The specifications for the vault called for it to be covered with "at least two feet of soil."

The only headstones from the cemetery presently accounted for are those of Dr. Peter Tappen d. 1792, his infant daughter Elizabeth d. 1783, and Mary Carpenter d.1793. These three burials/headstones were probably moved directly to the North Road Cemetery (Cem. #3) before the construction of the vault. From there, the stones were moved once again to the North Road lot (Section X, lot #70) at Poughkeepsie Rural Cemetery in 1957-1958.

The second cemetery was located across the street on the north side of Main, at the site of the second church building, built in 1760. Burials there dated from 1795 to 1816. Some burials/headstones, mostly infants and children, were apparently moved to the North Road Cemetery sometime between 1810 and 1877. Five other stones are documented to have been moved to Poughkeepsie Rural Cemetery to arbitrary plots. The remaining stones numbered 33 as of 1877. Several of those 33 stones are also known to be at Poughkeepsie Rural, in the North Road Section; notably: John Swartwout d. 1813, Addriann Swartwout d. 1807, and John W. Williams d. 1806. Others may be there, of course, but have become unreadable. –DC M#51700262 7/1/25

Srcs:

"Old Gravestones of Dutchess County, 1924, J. Willson Poucher, Helen Wilkinson Reynolds.

Poughkeepsie Journal Oct 28, 1911, page 3: "Dutch Church 100 year leases."

Poughkeepsie Journal, Aug 24, 1931, page 5, article under: "In 1831 When the Savings Bank Was Chartered."

Linda Silkworth: Poughkeepsie Rural Cemetery. 

Mary Linge: Vice President of the Consistory of the Reformed Church of Poughkeepsie.

Findagrave.com pages for Old Reformed Dutch Cemetery, Dutch Church Cemetery (North Road) and Poughkeepsie Rural Cemetery