National, state historic status comes for South Farmington Friends Cemetery
FARMINGTON, NY — Looking back, it sure seems like a whirlwind success story: Rural cemetery damaged by tornado has now achieved state and national historical significance.
Between 2015 — when the tornado touched down and caused damage to the South Farmington Friends Cemetery and nearby properties, the formation two years later of a citizens group to save it and now inclusion within a newly designated historic district in town — and today came an awful lot of work.
Hope, Farmington Historian Donna Hill-Herendeen asked? Instead, action, which paid off.
“We tried not to ‘think’ about what couldn't be done,” Hill-Herendeen said in an email. “We planned and accomplished our goals along the way and continue to do so today.”
The South Farmington Friends Cemetery and chapel on the south side of Shortsville Road between County Road 28 and Payne Road, and the Meetinghouse Park across from the cemetery, in December were selected for listing on the New York State Register of Historic Places as the South Farmington Historic District.
The register is the official list of the state’s sites worthy of preservation.
Earlier this month came word of national recognition, which “is the ultimate confirmation that what we set in motion over seven years ago was the right decision,” Hill-Herendeen said.
“When we organized in 2017, we only knew that there was a building in the southeast wedge of Farmington that was damaged by a tornado in 2015 and needed some TLC or it would be lost forever,” Hill-Herendeen said.
Soon enough, extensive research into property ownership and 19th-century handwritten manuals proved the cemetery itself, the chapel on the site and nearby Meetinghouse Park represent much more of a historical significance to a broader community.
About the South Farmington Friends Cemetery
Many early settlers of Farmington and other notables are buried in the cemetery. The cemetery is the resting place of more than 80 veterans including two who served in the American Revolution.
The state’s designation of this district in Farmington recognizes two centuries of historic significance since the first three-quarters of an acre of land were deeded to the Farmington Quaker Monthly Meeting in 1823 for a cemetery, Hill-Herendeen said.
“In 1895, the cemetery was transferred to a newly incorporated cemetery association,” Hill-Herendeen said. “The chapel was to be nonsectarian where temperance classes and religious practices were held for people of all ages, no matter what their religious beliefs. The chapel symbolizes one of the first times that the Farmington community came together to work on an ideal for the good of the entire community without regard to individualism.”
What does the South Farmington Cemetery Historic District entail?
The South Farmington Cemetery Historic District is the second historic district selected for listing on the state register in the town.
The first is the Farmington Quaker Historic District, which includes the North Farmington Cemetery, the 1816 Quaker Meetinghouse and the Farmington Friends Church at the intersection of County Road 8 and Sheldon Road.
Deed research connects the two historic sites together, but unlike the North District, an unusual codicil in the old land deeds guarantees that the land within the South District will be “for community use only or will revert back to the original landowners,” according to Hill-Herendeen, who provided much of the history that follows.
The new historic district is part of the original lot number 21 purchased in 1790 from the Phelps Gorham territory by Nathan Herendeen from Adams, Massachusetts.
Prior to the construction of the chapel, Quaker women taught temperance classes to juveniles of the Quaker faith at the 1813 South Farmington Hicksite meetinghouse. They followed the Women’s Christian Temperance Union doctrine that “their only safety lay in total abstinence from alcoholic drinks.”
By the early 1880s, the classes held in the meetinghouse ended. Led by Hannah Jeffries, temperance classes resumed for people of all ages without regard to their religious affiliation. Until chapel construction began, classes were held in the open during warm months near the cemetery.
In 1906, the small vacant Hicksite preparative meetinghouse was torn down, and a bronze plaque was installed on a large boulder to mark the site. In 1976, the site was deeded to the town of Farmington. Meetinghouse Park is the smallest park in the town.
The chapel at the cemetery was built in 1889 for $748.08, including furnishings and books. After prohibition ended in 1932, the chapel was deeded to the South Farmington Cemetery Association.
Then in 2015, tornado damage threatened the chapel's future.
The following year, a nonprofit 501.c.3 organization was established with community volunteers who believed restoring the historic building would be beneficial for the community.
South Farmington Friends Cemetery chapel's future
The main chapel area has been completely restored. Recently the organization’s board received town approval to open the building for public viewing.
“We still have a ways to go yet,” said member Cathy Post. “The board continues to seek funds to install a water system and bathroom facilities.”
The end goal for the historic chapel is to have it accessible for public use while providing sustainability and support to the cemetery for future generations, Hill-Herendeen said.
“With that in mind, once we raise the funds to cover the costs of a public restroom, the building will hold interpretative displays and will be available as a gathering location for meetings and small events,” Hill-Herendeen said.
A sign noting the historical significance has been ordered, with plans for a public unveiling.
Reaction to South Farmington Friends Cemetery's designation
The inclusion of the South Farmington Friends Cemetery, its chapel and the Meetinghouse Park on the State and National Registers of Historic Places is a momentous occasion for historic preservation in Farmington and Ontario County and an important benchmark for the all-volunteer South Farmington Friends Cemetery Association preservation group, said its former president, Dave Plante.
Plante resigned last year after he was appointed as deputy director for regulatory programs at the Adirondack Park Agency and relocated from Farmington to Saranac Lake.
“The countless hours spent by the tireless volunteers of the Cemetery Association on preparing and executing fundraisers, organizing service projects, preparing grant applications and performing most of the physical restoration work at the cemetery and chapel to bring it back from the brink of demolition to a working facility is a testament to love and deep personal connection of the members of the association to the property,” Plante said in an email.
Farmington Supervisor Peter Ingalsbe stated he, too, was glad to hear of the historic designations.
“I am so thankful for all the work done by our historian and others to make this happen,” Ingalsbe said.
This article originally appeared on MPNnow: Historic status comes for South Farmington Friends Cemetery
