Blazing Star Burial Ground

Blazing Star Burial Ground is one of the oldest cemeteries on Staten Island, dating to the early 18th century and containing the graves of some of the island's earliest European settlers in the Rossville neighborhood.

The burial ground takes its name from the Blazing Star Ferry, which operated between Rossville and Perth Amboy, New Jersey, across the Arthur Kill from the colonial era through the 19th century. The ferry was one of the primary connections between Staten Island and New Jersey.

The cemetery contains graves of Revolutionary War veterans and early Staten Island families whose descendants still live on the island. The weathered headstones and mature trees create a landscape of considerable historic atmosphere.

Rossville, the surrounding neighborhood, is one of the most isolated communities on Staten Island's western shore, with a character shaped by its distance from the ferry terminal and the North Shore's urban center.

Blazing Star Burial Ground preserves the earliest chapter of European settlement on Staten Island's western shore, where the graves of colonial-era settlers mark the beginning of the community that grew up around the ferry landing.