Coutant Cemetery (New Rochelle, New York)

USA / New York / New Rochelle / New Rochelle, New York / Eastchester Road
 cemetery  Add category

Coutant Cemetery, located on the southeast corner of Webster Avenue and Eastchester Road, is the family cemetery of Isaac Coutant and his descendants. The cemetery dates from 1776 and continues to be owned and controlled by a family cemetery corporation. It is Westchester County historical site.

Isaac Coutant Jr., the founder (born 1723, died 1802), was the owner of a farm on which the cemetery is located. On October 18, 1776, Coutant's elderly mother had died and, due to the rapid approach of the British Army after the battle of Pell's point, and the interference of, military regulations, burials were not allowed to be made in the public cemetery of the town, so Mrs. Coutant was buried on a secluded part of the farm, thus becoming the first internment in this cemetery. The Coutant's daughter was the second burial which occurred in 1778. Memorial stones for both of these were erected late in the nineteenth century, long after the cemetery had been permanently established.

In 1928, the Huguenot Heights Association erected on the outer wall of the cemetery, a bronze tablet bearing the following historical description;

Near this spot stood the home of Isaac Coutant
"The Huguenot" (circa 1700 - 1780)
Who with his family suffered severe hardships
During the encampment of the Hessian troops
In this vicinity late in 1776
This burying ground was first used during that period
For the burial of Mrs. Coutant
Isaac Coutant then dedicated it to perpetual use for a cemetery
Nearby cities:
Coordinates:   40°55'33"N   73°47'49"W
This article was last modified 8 years ago