Commack is your typical suburban middle to high-class Long Island Town. Although very similar to all other Long Island Towns, there is a multitude of bizarre and unique factors that makes Commack different. The number one thing that makes Commack unique is the fact that there is an abandoned cemetery sitting smack in the middle ofHome Depot's Commack parking lot.
Before we talk about Home Depot's random Cemetery, we have to mention that on Long Island there is another bizarre and out of place gravesite. This one is of Richard Nixon's Dog named Checkers. If that sparks your interest we covered that story much more in-depth in another blog post you can find here with this link.
This isn't a which came first, the chicken or the egg situation. You don't have to be a genius to figure that one out. Who decides to build spooky-looking cemeteries in their commercial modernized parking lots?
The answer is no one, and I hope that it will always be that way. Clearly, the cemetery was there before Home Depot decided to build one of their stores around that location.
Nineteenth century cemeteries to your surprise were abundant across Long Island during that time. Random cemeteries are all over Long Island, and I am sure you have seen at least one before reading this. For the most part, these graveyards are out of sight and out of mind. What makes this one stand out is its massively populated location.
The Home Depot Commack In 2024
Today this mysterious graveyard sits in a small portion of the parking lot which is directly in front of the Home Depot of Commack. Most of the residents who were born and raised in Commack has not given much thought to the Home Depot Cemetery. Even people who grew up within or nearby the Township of Smithtown never really saw it as taboo.
But to everyone else, this is exceptionally bizarre because its literally in the dead center of a vast parking lot, and yes the pun was intended.
If the cemetery had feelings, this would not the first time it felt like a Vegetarian inside a Steak House restaurant.
The Home Depot Cemetery was one a Military Base.
In the year 1918, this was a large plot of land and was mostly used as a farm. As you know, four years prior at this time World War 1 because Franz Ferdinand was assassinated and sparked The Great War! Because Franz Ferdinand was Archduke of Austria, it meant that the entire world had to go to war and millions would end up killed in combat or become a causality. This one assassination sparked all that which makes one think, but that thought is for another time.
Let us get back to our awkward Home Depot cemetery! What once was a farm was transformed into a United States Military Training field. During this time in the early 1900s, none of the businesses were anywhere to be seen in Commack.
If you were to look at that location then which was in reality not too long ago in regard to history was utterly rural. Which made it perfect for a military air force landing strip. Pilots were preparing to fight World War 1.
Amongst this mighty military landscape sat the same awkward and out of place cemetery we still can find today at the Home Depot in Commack. Did anyone ask why is there a cemetery in the middle of our airfield?
Apparently not because as the Pilots flew off heading towards France to fight World War 1.
Home Depot Jericho Turnpike Commack NY
Our unique cemetery stayed put and at this time was surrounded by a white fence. It was just sitting there waiting for the troops to come home. After World War 1, the area became a farm once again. The future Home Depot cemetery for some time would not feel like the weird guy at the party.
Eventually, Long Island began its conversion from rural to suburban, and the graveyard would once again find itself out of place. In the 1959s, a Modell's was built, and its parking lot surrounded the small rural cemetery. Home Depot soon moved in to dominate what would become a local Long Island shopping center with other retail stores like Old Navy, Staples, and Famous Footwear.
What's Origin of this Cemetery?
It's an old Burr Family Cemetery and now inside of a Home Depot Parking Lot. It was initially located between the farm field and was used to inter members of the Burr Family. The Burrs came to The New World from England in the 1630s and later arrived on Long Island in 1956. They had a farm, hotel, and horse farm/racetrack throughout the 19th century.
Life comes and goes, and we know that in the end, nothing lasts forever, except this cemetery.
Now every time you pass the Home Depot Cemetery, you will know so much history about that once meaningless to you plot of land.
Other Members Have Viewed These:
- Commack
- The Amityville Murders
- Long Island
- Lawrence E. Orient