Slingerland Family Burial Vault

 The Slingerland Family Burial Vault was recently renovated. On Wednesday, September 8, 2021, at 11 a.m. the burial site will be re-dedicated. See the attached flyer for further details.

Please contact the Town Historian Susan Leath, sleath@townofbethlehem.org or 518.209.5855 for further details.

Slingerland Vault

 The Slingerland Vault now has its door attached to the vault. It has been a long process to get the vault restored. But it was worth it. Simply, it looks great! Many hands and many donations came in to help get this project completed.

I am not sure what other items are on the list for a final completion, but please view the photo below. Also for a history of this project check the website of The Slingerland Family Burial Vault for more details.

Slingerland Vault Restoration

 If you are not familiar with the Slingerland Vault and the long process of its restoration, you should check out the website on this project. It has come a long way. Just look at the pictures below.

One last hurdle that the project needs to overcome is that the original entrance door is no longer salvageable. The vault needs a new door. Anyone wishing to donate to this worthy cause should check out the donate page on the Slingerland Vault webpage. Also, a 15 month calendar is available for purchase with all proceeds going towards the remaining items to complete this project. The calendar contains pictures both new and old and also information about sites that are along the Slingerland Historic District Walking Tour. Calendars are available at 

• I Love Books
• The Book House at Stuyvesant Plaza
• The Delmar Marketplace.

A Visit with Slingerlands' Founding Family

Upcoming is an event that supports the restoration and preservation of the historic Slingerland Family Burial Vault. Attendees will enjoy an evening walking tour of Slingerlands, costumed performers along the tour which stops at the burial vault and the Slingerland home. Tales from performers playing Leah Britt Slingerland and her sons Assemblyman and Congressman John I. and civil engineer and surveyor William H. will be told. John I. Slingerland's causes included the abolitionist movement, Anti-Rent Party, and the Homestead Act.

Date: Friday, June 28, at 6:00 PM, 6:30 PM, or 7:00 PM

Tickets: $20, Slingerland Vault Tour at Eventbrite

Further Information: Sue Virgilio, 518.847.8340

Slingerlands Vault Update

Wow, how time flies! Went to Salt Lake City for RootsTech and have been playing catch-up ever since. First post in quite a while. Life and work have been in the way of my genealogy pursuits, etc. Looking forward to doing many updates. Here is the first of more to come.

In today's online Times Union there is an update on the progress of the Slingerland Vault on New Scotland Road behind the former Mangia restaurant. A link to the story can be found here.

Benefit for the Restoration of the Slingerland Family Burial Vault

An interesting email was sent to me today regarding a benefit for the restoration of the Slingerland Family Burial Vault located behind the former Mangia's restaurant in Slingerlands.

The Garden Bistro 24 in Slingerlands will donate 15% of all food and beverage to the Slingerland Family Burial Vault restoration efforts, the following two Tuesdays, September 18, and 25. Please consider bringing family and friends and enjoy a meal at a great local restaurant. Starting at 3pm any dine in or take out qualifies. A special $24 Three-Course Meal has been planned for this (see below), but you may also order from the main menu.


Restoration of Slingerland Family Burial Vault

•  Who are the Friends of the Slingerland Family Vault?

In the fall of 2017, Town Historian Susan Leath gathered a small committee to facilitate the preservation and maintenance of the Slingerland Family Burial Vault, and to raise money to make the restoration possible. The Friends include:
Frank Slingerland (Bethlehem Town resident and Slingerlanddescendant), Bob Mullens (Slingerland descendant), Joan Roy (Slingerland descendant), Sue Virgilio (Slingerland descendant), Susan Leath, (Bethlehem Town Historian), Kathleen Bragle (neighbor), Georgia Fishburn (neighbor), Ana Webb (neighbor) 

• Our Project 

The Slingerland Family Burial Vault, the sacred resting place of the family for which the village of Slingerlands is named, is located in the Historic District of Slingerlands, NY. Vandalism to the front face and interior of the vault occurred prior to 1980. As a way to protect the vault, the Town of Bethlehem was deeded the property in 1991 by descendants of the Slingerland family, along with a right of way to access it. After many years of neglect and unsuccessful restoration attempts, we now have some hope. Our new Town administration is actively involved and committed to restore the vault, as are all the Friends.

Please see their website at www.SlingerlandVault.org

Restoration of Slingerland Family Burial Vault Benefit

$24 Three Course Menu

15% of Proceeds benefit the restoration of the Slingerland Family Burial Vault

Course 1

Seasonal Soup: Roasted Red Pepper Bisque with Toasted Almonds and Citrus Crème Fraiche

Seasonal Salad: Mixed Greens, Maple Pecans, Roasted Squash, Blueberries, Goat Cheese, Maple Mustard Vinaigrette

Course 2

The Slingerland Vault Restoration Burger: Smoked Gouda, Crispy Onions, Fresh Arugula, Russian Aioli

P.E.I. Mussels: Shredded Brussel Sprouts, House Cured Bacon, Crumbled Bleu Cheese, Fresh Parsley

Autumn Pasta: Fresh Pasta with Roasted Seasonal Vegetables in a Sage, Chardonnay & Butter Sauce, topped with Fresh Herbs and Toasted Walnuts

Course 3

Warm Apple Crisp: Locally Sourced Apples, House Made Granola Crumble with Caramel Sauce and Whipped Cream

Chocolate Mousse: Rich and Airy Semi-Sweet Chocolate with Fresh Whipped Cream, Berries, and Toasted Walnuts

Slingerland Vault Update

Much has happen since my last post about the Slingerland Vault in Slingerlands off New Scotland Road behind the former Mangia restaurant. In January the Town of Bethlehem has pledged to restore old Slingerland Family Burial Vault.

Last month a GoFundMe page was set up to defray the costs of restoring the vault. The page can be found here. Below are preliminary estimates for stabilizing and protecting the vault while retaining the vault’s historic character. These estimates do not include labor and materials provided by the Town.

$50,000 Rebuild stonework at front of vault
$10,000 Replacement of vault door (current door is beyond restoration)
$3,000 Replacement of vault identifying entablature
$10,000 Restoration of entrance (re-set pillars, replace chain, address drainage concerns)
$13,000 Installation of perimeter fence
$1,200 Historical marker
$25,000 Analyze and repair depression on top of vault
$112,200 Total

Another web site was recently created, The Slingerland Family Burial Vault was created and it details the progress of the vault restoration. The web site is very informative with a tab that holds numerous photos showing past and present work of the work in progress. Another tab offers a history of the Slingerland family. A donate tab is present that links directly to the GoFundMe page for this worthy project.

Please check out The Slingerland Family Burial Vault web page and consider donating to this long overdue project!

Tombstone Tuesday : Slingerland Vault Update

In March of 2017, an article was posted on the Slingerland vault. That blog post can be found here. It appears that more people are interested in rehabbing the vault now; including a direct descendant of the Slingerlands. Last week the Times Union posted an article on these new developments with the desire for the vault restoration. Below is the Times Union article by Larry Rulison.

Saving the Slingerlands Vault

DNA kit kick start's direct descendants mission to rescue an abandoned treasure

Bethlehem

On a small mound of earth behind the old Mangia restaurant in Slingerlands, hidden from view, sits a monument to local history, the Slingerland family burial vault.

Inside the 1852 structure are former congressman and famous anti-slavery champion John I. Slingerland and his brother William Henry, Slingerland's first postmaster, along with several of their family members, including their father, John A. Slingerland.

While the structure is one of the most important historical artifacts in Albany County, it has become so run-down it could be mistaken for a pile of rocks in a stand of trees, not the sacred final resting spot of two of the most important local civic leaders of the 19th century.

And no one may be feeling more angst these days over the condition of the vault than Sue Virgilio of Niskayuna. Virgilio, who visited the vault for the first time this past summer, is a direct descendant of John I. Slingerland and is part of a small movement to have the vault restored.

"It broke my heart to see the condition of the vault," Virgilio said. "And that's why I wanted to be involved."

Virgilio discovered just within the past year that John I. Slingerland is her great great great grandfather. She figured out the connection after her mom got her an AncestryDNA kit last Christmas and she began looking into her family's history on Ancestry.com.

Her mom's maiden name is Slingerland. But Virgilio and her mom never knew their exact connection to the Slingerland family after several male relatives, including Virgilio's grandfather, who was an only child, died young.

John I. Slingerland, in addition to serving in both Congress and the state Assembly and helping to ensure that the Albany & Susquehanna Railroad was built through the town of Bethlehem, was also a leading voice in the anti-slavery movement in the decades leading up to the Civil War. Slingerland supported an early version of the Homestead Act, the law that President Lincoln signed in 1862 granting federal land to small family farmers. Southern slave owners viewed the act as a threat to their existence. Slingerland also gave three-quarters of an acre of land in his will to a man believed to have been a family slave, and he supported the rights of farmers

Virgilio is now part of a committee trying to save the vault and raise money from the public for its repair. Others on the committee are Susan Leath, the town historian, Virgilio's mom, other Slingerland family descendants and neighbors who live near the vault, which isn't just a symbol of the Slingerland brothers, but also the rest of the Slingerland family and the community itself.

Virgilio met Bob Mullens, a Slingerland family member and carpenter from Feura Bush who grew up knowing he was part of the Slingerland family and joined the committee after taking a walking tour with Leath.

Mullens has also researched John I. Slingerlands extensively and worries his story and those of other important figures can easily be lost through time.

The Slingerland family traces its local roots back to a Dutch trader named Teunis Slingerland, who came to Albany around 1650 and later purchased 10,000 acres along Onesquethaw Creek in present-day New Scotland, Bethlehem and the town of Coeymans from the Mohawks.

Today, descendants like Mullens still make their home on the same land, and Virgilio spent her early years there, with some of her most cherished memories visiting her grandmother's mid-1700s farm house in Coeymans Hollow.

What would become the future hamlet of Slingerlands, however, was not part of that original Teunis Slingerland tract. John A. Slingerland, the father of the congressman John I. Slingerland, built a home around 1790 at what is now 1575 New Scotland Road on land leased from a Van Rensselaer patroon, the ancestral landowner who controlled much of the land in Albany County until the breakup of the manor in the mid-1800s.

John I. Slingerland died at that house on Oct. 26, 1861, just months after the inauguration of Abraham Lincoln and the breakout of the Civil War, long after the last patroon died, setting off the anti-rent wars that led to the breakup of the patroon manor and more widespread land ownership.

In 2012, the Slingerlands Historic District, consisting of roughly 100 buildings, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The hamlet was originally named Normanskill before being renamed Slingerlands in 1870 in honor of the Slingerland family. The Slingerlands had spurred an era of growth and development, including bringing the Albany & Susquehanna railroad that connected it to the city of Albany in 1863.


Despite this rich history, the Slingerland burial vault has not been well preserved. For decades there has been worry over what to do with the burial plot, a 60-by-85-foot piece of land that is owned by the town of Bethlehem but is in desperate need of repair and landscaping.

Although the vault is accessible from the former Mangia parking lot by foot, it actually sits directly behind the property of Georgia Fishburn, whose home was built in 1890, nearly 40 years after the vault was erected.

When the vault was built, there was nothing blocking the view of the structure from the road, and there likely were no trees around it like today, making it an impressive monument that rose from the ground for all to see coming through Slingerlands. That's not the case now.

"Most of the residents of Bethlehem are sadly not aware of the Slingerland family vault," said Fishburn, who is a member of the group. "It is hard to see from the road especially during the summer months. I would like to see this vault restored and protected for our future generations."

Committee members also worry about the future of the Mangia site. In September 2016, the owner of the property showed town planners an informal proposal to build apartments and a bank on the former restaurant site. However, the project has yet to move forward and the Mangia building has since been filled with two new tenants, including a dance studio.

Noting that the soil above the burial vault is sinking, Leath said much restoration work would be needed at the site, although she declined to reveal the estimated cost. The hope is that private funding from the public will pay for the work.

"It's not too bad, but we'd like to get it restored, a nice fence around it and a historical marker, all those things," Leath said. "You know it costs money of course. There's such a large extended Slingerland family, and I'm not so much worried about the money, frankly. The town can only do so much. They have their limitations. So it will take the community coming together with donations, and it's going to be a long-term thing. And then there's just the long-term maintenance of the area as well."

Slingerlands Vault

Recently a Bethlehem citizens group, the Bethlehem Alliance for Historic and Community Preservation, was established to preserve the Slingerlands National Historic District. Within that district is the Slingerland Vault. The family burial plot of former US Congressman John I. Slingerland (1804-1861). The hamlet was named after his family. The vault is deteriorating badly and needs restoration. A photo of the vault is below.

But what appears to be more pressing is that it is proposed to put a large apartment building with a drive through bank upon the property of the former Mangia restaurant. This land is adjacent to the small family cemetery.

In January the town proposed a restoration plan for the vault but there are no plans to cordon off the area or prevent development next to the cemetery plot. Another link to raise public awareness about their efforts is here. Hopefully the Town will quickly move forward with plans to restore the vault and to also secure the adjacent land from development. A small park-like area with historical markers and a gazebo would be great in my eyes.

Over the years the Mangia property and the adjacent cemetery have been in the local news. A couple of articles from the Bethlehem Spotlight are cut and pasted below.

The Spotlight, 4 December 1980, pp. 14-15

Slingerlands

Town takes control of cemetery

One mystery has been solved. but the modern-day drama surrounding the Slingerlands Family Cemetery remains.

The Bethlehem Town Board. having finally determined that the plot does not belong to somebody else. passed a resolution last week assuming control and responsibility for it. The practical effects are small: town crews will have access to the cemetery and will cut the grass at least three times a year. Supervisor Tom Corrigan said the land will probably also be fenced.

The drama revolves around the question of what happens to the hamlet which John A. Slingerlands founded in the early 1800s. Residents are still waiting to see what will be proposed for the Charles Sanders property. the land around the cemetery and to the east of it, some of it commercially zoned, which changed hands earlier this year.

The new owners, a partnership of Anthony J. Pizzitola of Delmar, his brother Vincent of New York City. and Gina Tomei of Voorheesville, are in the process of renovating the restaurant on the property. but have not said what they plan to do with the rest of the vacant land. Anthony Pizzitola said recently that reports that a supermarket is interested in the commercially zoned property behind the restaurant are incorrect.

While the town board's action will have no direct bearing on the future use of the vacant land. it appears to have some tactical value to Slingerlands residents who want to keep large commercial development out of the hamlet.

"There is something worthwhile to be said for a place which has history, and has the old trees and nice. set-back houses," says Mrs. Patricia Brewer, who is a neighbor of the Sanders property and a leader in the Slingerlands Homeowners Association movement to stop the commercial development.

The cemetery itself. she feels, "has an important value to my home" because the Slingerlands name is such an important part of the hamlet. Not only are the homes of Slingerlands and his children still standing and occupied. but Slingerlands was himself an important figure in the history of the state and the nation.

According to the resolution prepared by Town Historian Thomas E. Mulligan, Jr., Slingerlands was a Whig congressman during the tumultuous years of the "Anti Rent Wars". and originally proposed the Homestead Act which president Lincoln signed in 1861. one month after his death.

The last internment in the burial vault took place in 1910, and the cemetery and vault have since fallen prey to neglect, vandalism and desecration.

The question of who is responsible for the cemetery was raised about four years ago, according to Mrs. Brewer, but did not become vital until the Sanders property changed hands for the final time and a dispute developed over access.

It was only then that the town commissioned a search of the 1910 deed under which William H. Slingerlands, the son of John A., parceled out his father's vast land holdings. The 60 by 85 foot piece of cemetery land, according to a search of the records, was specifically excluded, as was a 16.5-foot right-of-way into the cemetery.

Under town law, the town may assume the right to maintain and preserve the cemetery as an historic place, and that was the action take!). by the board last week.

The Spotlight, 13 April 1994, pp. 1, 32

Judge sides with town in Slingerlands vault

By Mel Hyman

The historic Slingerland family vault, a source of controversy for years, will apparently revert to town ownership after a state Supreme Court ruling that Bethlehem has a perfect legal right to the property.

In 1990, the town brought a lawsuit in Supreme Court seeking title to the 19th century cemetery plot, which is located in a mounded area across from the Toll Gate off New Scotland Road.

Anthony Pizzitola, who owns the property surrounding the burial mound, has claimed dominion over the site since he purchased a large tract of land at the junction of New Scotland Road and Kenwood Avenue in 1981. Pizzitola has allegedly interfered with people seeking to visit the burial vault, which is the reason the town initiated the suit, according to Town Attorney Bernard Kaplowitz.

The court decision, written by Supreme Court Justice Lawrence Kahn, noted that the town's case might have failed because of technical oversights. But on the issue of ownership, Judge Kahn wrote, "the Town of Bethlehem has acquired title to the property in question and may legitimately preclude defendants from maintaining any control over the land. Clearly, the defendants have no legal title to the cemetery plot .. ."

Kahn's decision said three of the four heirs of the late William H. Slingerland ceded ownership over to the town in the 1980s. The fourth surviving heir with rights to the mausoleum was never located.  

But the Pizzitola family's attorney sees it differently, noting that Judge Kahn indicated that a dismissal of the case was warranted, even though he declined to do so.

"It looks like the town lost. Case dismissed," said Albany attorney James - Bruner, who represented Anthony, Fulvia and Vincent Pizzitola in the action. While Kahn made mention of the deeds, he dismissed the injunction sought by the town on other grounds, Bruner said.

"If the town has unlimited resources and wants to go back and initiate another lawsuit," they are free to do so, Bruner said.

Kaplowitz said that while Judge Kahn indicated he could dismiss the town's suit, he opted not to because the town was so clearly in the right. Kaplowitz said that according to Kahn's decision it would be futile for Pizzitola to keep fighting over the plot of land, because even though the town lost on technical grounds, it won on the merits and could easily prevail by refiling the suit.

"Our lines of communication with the· town are open," Bruner said. 'The last thing we want to see is more litigation," which would not be in the best interests of the "town, the Pizzitolas or the residents."

The Pizzitolas are ready to negotiate with the town on issues such as egress and maintenance if the town board is so inclined, Bruner said. Upon his death in 1910, William H. Slingerland left a tract of land for his heirs at the junction of New Scotland Road and Kenwood Avenue. The parcel originally contained the old Slingerlands family home.

Pizzitola purchased the land outright in 1981 from Charlie Sanders. But, as Judge Kahn said, when the Slingerland heirs sold the family tract to Schade in 1920, they excluded the sliver of land containing the family vault. The Slingerland family retained ingress and egress rights to the mausoleum regardless of what happened to the surrounding property.

What happened, according to Kaplowitz, is that Pizzitola sometimes prevented groups of school children from visiting the site because of concerns over liability. Moreover, some of the neighbors along New Scotland Road ·have complained that Pizzitola had cut and removed brush and trees from the property as well as running a bulldozer over part of it.

"Baloney," said Pizzitola last week. 'Those trees were diseased .and were on my property. This is America, isn't it? ... (The plot) was a secret for years. When I took over, suddenly the town decided they wanted it. It was there for over 70 years and nobody did anything until my wife and I and the kids started to take care it."

Pizzitola said he is not opposed to people visiting the site, but he's insistent about having liability insurance because they would be crossing his property to reach the mausoleum.

''Would you let someone on your property without insurance?'' he asked. "No one has stopped anything from happening."

In 1980, the Bethlehem Town Board approved a resolution declaring the site to be of historical significance. A year later, Floyd Brewer took the Bethlehem Archeology Group to the mausoleum on its first dig. Brewer, who was senior editor of "Bethlehem Revisited, A Bicentennial Story 1793-1993," discovered that the vault and its surroundings had been vandalized over the years arid was in serious need of repair. Pieces of a long-lost marble marker were found in the soil and Brewer was able to reassemble it.

As the marker notes, the vault was constructed in 1852 and contained the remains of two of the town's most prominent citizens -John I. and William Henry Slingerland. Outside of the Nicoll-Sill house, "I know of no. other site in town that contains such rich and important information about a family," Brewer said.

The late U.S. Congressman John A Slingerland was probably the "most famous citizen the town has ever. had," Brewer said. His brother William Henry Slingerland, was a renowned engineer and architect who designed the town's first water system. "Now that the town would appear to have control over it, maybe they'll find some funds for restoration," Brewer said. For example, a heavy chain that once linked a series of cement posts that cordoned off the mausoleum area was stolen long ago.

"It would cost maybe $4,000 or $5,000" to make the necessary repairs such as replacing a door that is caving in, replacing the heavy chain that cordoned off a 14 foot outside area and erecting a stand with a glass-enclosed legend that explains the site's historical significance, Brewer said.