yaphank, new york on long island. this cemetery is located south of the expressway at exit 67. take the east bound entrance to the expressway and park on your right, next to the guard rail. it was a little tricky to find. i was kind of driving around in circles because i didn't realize it was actually on the entrance ramp...keep this in mind because you will have to get on the expressway and then find a place to turn around if you need to go back the way you came. luckily, i was headed in that direction after my visit, so no problemo. at one point, i ended up in someone's yard, which i thought was a dirt road...nope, driveway. the owner's were friendly enough...no fist shaking and 'get outta my yard!' faces,. friendly, but had no idea what a 'potter's field' was, so not helpful.
burial at a potter's field was was usually a pretty somber affair...the graves were dug by hand, with the unfortunate being laid to rest in nothing but a plain pine box, most with just a marker with a number on it, rather than a name. the people buried here resided at the alm's house (or poor house) that used to be located across the street. residents of the almshouse were requried to do manual labor on the farm, working to provide the food for all who lived there. i am not sure how many people are buried here, but the headstones are numerical order, the highest number i could find was 1,000.
according to the internet (and it must be true, because you can't put it on the internet if it isn't true) the cemetery is haunted, of course. being honest, i saw or heard nothing out of the ordinary. the sun was very low and casting eerie shadows across the gravestones...and the breeze blowing through the trees did give me the willies, so maybe i was getting a visit and didn't realize it. the place is mostly just hauntingly sad.
if you intend to visit, please be sure to leave it as you found it. maybe bring some flowers...it didn't seem to me that anyone had been there to leave flowers for a very long time. if you have any questions of info, please be sure to drop me a line. stop by my facebook and instgram pages for more photos of the potter's field of suffolk county. on to my next adventure...
