3.  Flatbush Dutch Reformed Churchyard (1657)

The Flatbush Dutch Reformed Church at 890 Flatbush Avenue is one of the oldest standing churches in New York City, and its graveyard was in active use from about 1657 to 1913. The first church on this site in Flatbush was built in 1654, one of three Dutch Reformed churches formed in Brooklyn under the directive of Peter Stuyvesant, the Director-General of New Netherland.

Buried here are members of many famous early settlement families, including the Cortelyous, Lefferts, Lotts, Bergens and Vanderbilts. Beneath the church, in burials that pre-date the current building which was constructed from 1793 to 1798, are the bodies of Revolutionary War soldiers who died during the Battle of Brooklyn. The current church edifice, constructed 1793-1798 on the site of the previous one, is made of Manhattan schist that was quarried at Hell Gate.