Among the 56 historic cemeteries in the Town of Huntington, one of the best known is the Burr Cemetery. Its notoriety is due to its location in the midst of a parking lot for the Commack Home Depot store. The New York Times even had a short article about the cemetery in 2011.
Among the hundreds who pass the cemetery every day when they walk into The Home Depot, was Ray Meyer, a volunteer with Paws of War, an organization whose “mission is to alleviate the suffering of veterans, first responders and their families, particularly those battling invisible wounds like Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), by providing them with loyal service dogs that become not just companions but also catalysts for healing.”
Mr. Meyer contacted me in early 2024 about doing something to improve the appearance of the cemetery, which featured a not very attractive chain-link fence surrounding the small plot with eight graves. Mr. Meyer asked if any of the men buried here were veterans. The files in the Town Historian’s office did not identify any of the men as veterans. Even though Paws of War was a veterans support organization, the group was still willing to take on improvements at the cemetery. As discussions about replacing the fence, adding a paved seating area, benches and a flagpole continued, I remembered an email I had received in August 2023. Corey Geske, an independent researcher who had identified unknown veterans’ graves in other cemeteries, had written to me advising that she thought two of the men at the Burr Cemetery may be veterans. She thought Israel Scudder may have been a captain during the Revolution and may also have served in the War of 1812 along with Jacob Burr.
I consulted with Wayne Haddock, who had been working to identify Revolutionary War Patriot graves for the Sons of the American Revolution, and Warren Scudder, of the Scudder Association. Mr. Haddock was able to confirm that Jacob Burr and Israel Scudder both served in the War of 1812. They served in the New York State Militia in the fall of 1814 stationed in Brooklyn to defend New York and Brooklyn from a feared British invasion. British warships had been seen near Sandy Hook in August 1814. Finding it well defended, they sailed south to Baltimore where the Americans at Fort McHenry successfully repelled the attack on September 12-14.
Burr and Scudder most likely heard from their parents and grandparents about the American defeat at the Battle of Long Island in August 1776 and the six and half years of occupation that followed the defeat. They answered the call to defend their country and the Island. But their service had been forgotten, much like the war itself. Until now.
Armed with the research, Mr. Haddock ordered a new headstone for Israel Scudder from the Veterans Administration. His 200-year-old headstone has been broken since at least 1980.
On October 23, 2025, Town officials, volunteers from Paws of War, members of the American Legion and representatives of the families whose ancestors are buried in the small cemetery gathered to rededicate the cemetery following improvements made over the past year. In addition to the new headstone for Israel Scudder, the improvements include cleaning and resetting other headstones; and installing a new and more attractive fence (donated by The Home Depot), new paving, a new flagpole, and a sign with information about the cemetery and those buried there.
The cemetery is the final resting place of members of the family of Jacob Burr, whose father Isaac Burr (1736-1830) was the first of the family to settle in Commack. The Burr family eventually owned hundreds of acres in the Commack area and many Burr houses survive on Burr Road. Corporal Jacob Burr (1771-1854) and his son-in-law Private Israel Scudder (1795-1825) served in the New York Militia during the War of 1812. After the war, Israel Scudder married Jacob Burr’s daughter, Mary.
Four generations of the Burr family are buried here. The first person to be interred was Jacob’s daughter Keturah (1804-1823). Her husband William Wicks (1768-1851) is also buried here. The second burial is of Israel Scudder, who had married Jacob’s daughter Mary after his service in the war (she later remarried and is buried at the Huntington Rural Cemetery). Jacob and his wife Phebe (1772-1863) are buried here, along with their daughter-in-law, Keturah Sammis Burr (1793-1859), wife of Charles Burr. Children and grandchildren of Charles and Keturah were also buried here: Angeline (1833-1835), Harriet (1821-1849), and Harriet’s children, Charlotte who died in 1842 at 19 days old and Thaddeus, who died a week after his mother in 1849 at 16 days old. Phebe Mary Smith (1829-1849), wife of Charles and Keturah’s son Henry is also buried here.
The cemetery remained even as the surrounding land was used as Brindley Field, a training base for the Army Air Corps during World War I. When the farm was developed as a shopping center in 1965, Henry Modell agreed to move his new store back 50 feet to spare the cemetery. In 1990, The Home Depot inquired about relocating the graves. The request was met with opposition and was quickly dropped.
Descendants of the Burr, Wick, and Scudder families, who have ancestral ties to this cemetery, attended the ceremony, joining members of Paws of War, their support animals, as well as local veterans to participate in this event that honors the courage and sacrifice of our veterans.
Huntington History 