6. Ozone Has One of the Oldest Jewish Cemeteries in NYC
Bayside Cemetery has been the burial site of many members of the New York City Jewish community since 1865. Under the ownership of the Congregation Shaare Zedek, the cemetery stretches across 16 acres with 32,000 graves and dozens of mausoleums. The 19th century saw a massive immigration wave for New York’s Jewish population, resulting in Shaare Zedek’s opportunity to sell exclusive burial rights to the rapidly growing populace of Jewish burial societies, synagogues, and fraternal organizations. Unfortunately, as these organizations began to dwindle over the years with Jews leaving the area, the cost of maintaining the graves fell heavily onto the shoulders of Shaare Zedek. With the cemetery producing no income, there were simply no funds available to upkeep the land.
As time went on, the forest began slowly to take back the cemetery, swallowing graves in its roots and wildflowers. Bayside Cemetery has lived a quiet existence in the shadow of the noticeably less quiet A train‘s tracks for many years. However, at last, a ray of hope for saving the beautiful graves and history has begun to shine through the cracks in the overgrowth. Beginning in 2007 with the creation of the Community Alliance for Jewish Affiliated Cemeteries, hundreds of volunteers were brought in to help clean up the cemetery. Following soon after, the UJA-Federation of New York provided a one-time grant of $145,000 to help fund its rebuilding and landscaping.
The Congregation Shaare Zedek, seeing that they still were unable to honor their buried dead the way they felt was deserved, eventually agreed to demolish their original synagogue building at West 93rd Street. The 2017 sale marks a bitter-sweet turn for the congregation, as the deal signifies the loss of their synagogue in place of a thirteen-story condominium building, but also the gain of $8 million to put solely into returning the Bayside Cemetery to its glory days. The cemetery is open to visitors on Sundays from 9 AM to 3 PM.