Lakeview Cemetery, incorporated in 1899, is located on Main Street, just east of Waverly Avenue in Patchogue Village.
In 1791, several Christian denominations in Patchogue purchased the original lot for thirty shillings. They built a common meeting house and started using a portion of the property as a cemetery in 1794.
Over the following century additional land was purchased for cemetery use. Today the Lakeview Cemetery contains the cemeteries of Union, Gerard, Rice, and Old Episcopal which together contain over 1200 graves.
The largest, Lakeview, contains over 400 graves on land donated by Ruth Newey Smith.
The cemetery contains the graves of veterans of the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, the Spanish-American War, the Civil War, World Wars I and II, and the Vietnam War. The graves of notable historic figures in the history of Patchogue and Suffolk County are also located here.
In 1992, Hans Henke, a retired Patchogue resident, began spending countless hours, by himself, resurrecting and rescuing this cemetery from ruins. The Village assisted his efforts, and in 2006, other local volunteers began to come together under the leadership of Steven Gill, and a Cemetery Restoration Committee was formed as part of the Greater Patchogue Foundation.
Today, the committee continues its volunteer work to restore, resurrect, and maintain this historic cemetery.
Source: Cemetery Restoration Committee
