The Hooker Cemetery was dedicated as a memorial park on September 12, 1999. Today, a wheelchair accessible path extends the length of the park and two benches donated by Ruth and John Hecker and the Slater family are ready for installation. A "family names" plaque will be added in the spring (2002).
The VFW #6597 and American Legion #134 combined efforts to dedicate, in May of 2001, a large stone monument to the sixteen veterans buried in the cemetery.
The Friends of Hooker Pioneer Cemetery has recently published a new booklet of history and photographs entitled Hooker Pioneer Cemetery, available at Armchair Books, Irondequoit Town Hall and the Irondequoit Historical Society. The $5.00 cost for each booklet will fund ongoing research and beautification projects.
On May 2, 2002, the Irondequoit Historical Society will present a program detailing the cemetery's history and progress toward its restoration. The Society meets at St. John's Lutheran Church on East Ridge Road at 7:30 p.m.
Plans are underway to form a trusteeship to oversee the maintenance and preservation of the town's oldest cemetery.
CEMETERY HISTORY "Death is sent: alas, how soon - His morning sun goes down at noon" - Memorialized with this inscription in 1813, Samuel Green (age 27) became one of the earliest known burials in the Sand Hill Cemetery.
Alexander Hooker bought the property from Jesse Tainter in 1824 and the hill became the Hooker family cemetery. It is thought that Hooker generously allowed early settlers to bury their dead in his family cemetery. In 1840 Mr. Hooker, Irondequoit's first town clerk, donated the lands to the fledgling town. The Hooker Cemetery functioned as the town's only public cemetery until the opening of the Irondequoit Cemetery on Culver Road in 1895.
There were at least 300 known burials in the Hooker Pioneer Cemetery between 1820 and 1895. Sixteen of these were veterans from the Revolutionary, 1812, Black Hawk and Civil Wars.
RESTORATION HISTORY From 1840 to 1932, the Hooker Pioneer Cemetery was cared for by Town Board-appointed Cemetery Trustees with a small annual budget. From 1932 through 1956, no funds were allocated for the cemetery's upkeep and the site began its history of decline through neglect, error and vandalism. Fortunately, during this time school, veteran and citizen groups dedicated themselves to cemetery cleanup and documentation.
In 1953-54, VFW Post 2691 cleared away the underbrush and located the graves of thirteen veterans. The Town replaced the fence in 1956. With the establishment of the Irondequoit Historical Society in 1960 by town historian Maude West and other citizens, the cemetery became part of the society's mission to preserve historic sites. in 1970, Eastman Kodak Company donated the glacial Boulder that crowns the site today.
Walter Sassaman, who succeeded Maude West as town historian, and town genealogical consultant Robert Gustafson joined Historical Society members and the Town Department of Parks and Recreation in 1985 to excavate grave stones which had been broken and buried, some ten feet deep.
The recognizable stones were pieced together and replaced in family groups. Those which could not be identified were positioned on a "remembrance hillside." The cemetery's appearance improved with care from nearby St. Ann's Home staff and clients, from the Town's Department of Parks and Recreation, the Irondequoit Historical Society and civic-minded individuals and groups.
Past volunteer efforts to restore the cemetery over the years helped to make the current project possible. Peggy Green, chairperson of the Preservation Committee of the Irondequoit Historical Society, organized the Friends of Hooker Pioneer Cemetery in the summer of 1998. Through the interest and expertise of this group, the Hooker Pioneer Cemetery is once again on its way to becoming a memorial park and a place of peace, of honor and of learning.
DIRECTIONS TO HOOKER PIONEER CEMETERY From the 104 expressway, exit south onto Portland Avenue. Turn east into the St. Ann's campus at the signal light. Turn left into the parking lot for St. Ann's, Drive to the northeast corner of the parking lot. The cemetery is on the hill in front of you.
............ This restoration is sponsored by the Irondequoit Historical Society and the Irondequoit Partnership and is supported by the Town of Irondequoit. It operates under the auspices of a group of volunteers called the "Friends of Hooker Pioneer Cemetery."
Donations should be made payable to The Hooker Pioneer Cemetery Fund and mailed in care of: Peggy Green, 170 Winona Blvd., Rochester, NY 14617.
For further information , please contact the Irondequoit Historian, Patricia Wayne, at 585-467-8840.
