TUCKED away in Bayside along Long Island Rail Road tracks at 42nd Avenue between 215th Place and 216th Street is a private cemetery originally belonging to the prominent Queens County Lawrence family. A second such cemetery can be found at 20th Road and 35th Street in Long Island City, and there was a third at Ditmars Boulevard and 37th Street that was lost long ago.
The Lawrences were a prominent family in the early days of Queens, and produced some historically significant figures…for example, it was Captain James Lawrence who uttered the immortal words “Don’t give up the ship!” while commanding the USS Chesapeake vs. HMS Shannon during the War of 1812. The Chesapeake was defeated; Captain Lawrence was killed; the war ended in stalemate. Everyone interred in the Bayside Cemetery belonged to the Lawrence Cemetery (except one); all of its interments were done approximately 100 years apart, between the 1830s and 1930s. Though the Bayside Historical Society maintains its upkeep and occasionally does tours, I do not know when its fence was built; it predates the street grid and before the Bayside street grid was laid out, it was likely accessed via a pathway from Bell Boulevard, which originated as a dividing line between farms.
“Dead End” in more ways than one, as 216th Street ends at the tracks out of the photo to the right.
Until 2016, a rickety pedestrian bridge over the LIRR tracks was accessible from 216th Street alongside the cemetery.
Prominent interments include Cornelius Van Wyck Lawrence, New York City’s first popularly elected mayor, and Colonel Frederick Newbold Lawrence, former president of the New York Stock Exchange. There are a total of 40-45 burials, all Lawrences, except one.
Lawrence Moccasin was a Native American who was employed as a servant by Effingham Lawrence. He died in 1851 at age 70. This stone was recently placed, likely by the Bayside Historical Society.
42nd Avenue and 216th Street are sidewalk-free at the cemetery, providing a glimpse into the era when Bayside was still rural.
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3/2/25