Tom Paine Died Here.
This site is awesome, and brings back very old memories, especially this exploration of hidden cemeteries.
Like my parents, I was born in New York City: we left by the time I was 3, when my father got a job at IBM. My grandparents on my mom’s side, Fred and Frieda, had immigrated here from Germany and Switzerland respectively before the onset of the Second World War. My mom grew up at 3453 Leverich Street, in Jackson Heights, and I have very vivid (yet vague, since the memory is so old) of visiting the house and being terrified of the basement, where my grandparents had a collection of weird old stuff they brought over from Europe. The cuckoo clocks were the worst, scared the bejesus out of me, somethign about how angular they were, and then of course that horrid little bird which popped out when you least expected it. I remember one incident where I wandered into the basement and someone turned out the lights, which was scary enough, until those clocks went off. My terrified shrieks had my parents dashing down the stairs.
Even more eerie was the backyard. What memory I have depicts a small patio area made up of flagstones, leading up to the lawn and a small copse of trees. Following the stone path toward the back was a very tiny cemetery. Again, scared the crap out of me.
Did I mention that my mother’s maiden name is Thoet, which translates to “death”? Well, I’m mentioning it now.
Anyway, i wrote to the Queens Historical Society to see if there was any more information available. Hopefully they’ll get back to me sometime this week.
Next time I’m in New York, I will make a point of visiting.
Update: When I asked the site-owner of Forgotten NY what happened to the cemetey in my grandparents’ backyard, I learned “That cemetery has now vanished….Just got buried under development.” Well, that’s sad.
7 Responses to “Tom Paine Died Here.”
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August 15th, 2006 at 2:58 am
holy shit, i was actually laughing out loud picturing you in the basement there.
August 15th, 2006 at 3:54 pm
Check out the Boston Stone, and nearby Boston Stone Pub, next time you’re in Boston. We discovered this one Thanksgiving weekend, and spent the afternoon drinking in history with some of the finest Bostonians I’ve had the pleasure to meet.
August 15th, 2006 at 3:55 pm
Whoops….got the html code wrong. Well, here was the site I was trying to reference:
http://www.forgotten-ny.com/STREET%20SCENES/forgottenboston/boston.html
August 15th, 2006 at 6:35 pm
Daisy, that is wicked cool (as we say in Massachusetts and RI, where I grew up).
I have to explore the Boston site a bit more: does he mention The Rat?
That was a rock club that was closed down about a decade ago by BU, when they bought up the whole Kenmore Square area: The Police played there first US show there, as did U2 if memory serves.
August 15th, 2006 at 11:36 pm
I did not see The Rat mentioned on that site, but do know the place well, from my college days. Though I went to school in Northampton, Boston (and New York) were never too far away. I just took my husband to Boston (for a day - we were flying thorugh to Maine) for his first time, and we will have to return to check out all my old haunts (and check out some new discoveries). I was looking at Big Dig photos this morning, and there are a lot of changes to be found, to be sure!
August 16th, 2006 at 2:26 am
daisy,
when were you in Northampton?
I went to UMass from 1993-1996, lived and worked in Northampton until 1998.
August 16th, 2006 at 3:26 pm
I was Smith College class of ‘90 (from 86-87) took some time off, and graduated ‘95, so lived there again from 94-95. I was somewhat of a regular at Ye Old Watering Hole and late night breakfasts at Jakes.