This cemetery existed from at least 1799 when William Pellet was buried to sometime in the spring of 1956, when the grounds were excavated by the Orange County Sand and Gravel Company (with permission from the Orange County Court). Today, the area is owned by a cement and gravel company. The location is on the south side of the Pellets Island road (Co. Rd 37) across the road from the former Pellets Island School which was sold in 1944 and is now the Church of St. Andrew Bobola. To the east of the nearby Walkill river the road is called Maple avenue. (See map below.)

The "island" was a hill that was about 100 ft higher than the surrounding grounds. As you can see on the map if you change it to satellite view, the surrounding land is part of the famous "drowned lands" {now called the Black Dirt region}. Before the lands were drained, it was swamp land fed by the northward flowing Walkill river for 1000s of years since the time of the glaciers. At one time, the glaciers moved into the area. After the glaciers receded hills called moraines were left behind. These hills looked like islands during the wet seasons of the year. Hence Pine Island, Middle Island and Pellets Island areas are the names that were given to some of the more prominent hills in the area once humans started naming things. William Pellet was a farmer in the region in the late 1700s and is the source of the name of this hill region. Since he was buried here in 1799, the cemetery carried his name as well.

Anyone listed here either has no other grave location or has a memorial at the nearby Ridgeberry Cemetery, in Ridgebury, NY.

When the 19 grave stones were moved in 1956, they were then clustered together near the first turn-around in the driveway system at Ridgeberry Cemetery. There is no sign there explaining when, how or why their grave stones were moved. You can find those grave memorials by visiting that cemetery. As we are discovering some of the other people's names who were buried in Pellets Island Cemetery they will be added (e.g. Mary Crane Pellet, wife of Obadiah Pellet, son of William Pellet). There is also a mystery stone with the initials FJT.

These are the reasons why I created this memorial for the cemetery that no longer exists.

Don DeWitt