Old New Dorp Moravian Church at Richmond Road and Todt Hill Road in Staten Island New York, was built as the first Moravian church of Staten Island in 1763, this structure of Dutch Colonial style served as combined church and parsonage until 1845 when the new church was constructed. It has since been used as a church school and a cemetery office.
The Moravian Cemetery is the largest and oldest active cemetery on Staten Island, having opened in 1740. The cemetery encompasses 113 acres (46 hectares) and is the property of the local Moravian Church congregation of Staten Island.
In what was a purely farming community, the cemetery was originally made available as a free cemetery for the public in order to discourage families from using farm burial plots. The Moravian Cemetery is the burial place for a number of famous Staten Islanders, including members of the Vanderbilt family.
After the closure in the 1880s of the South Reformed Dutch Church in Richmondtown the graves of that church’s graveyard were re-interred at Moravian.
A monument to Robert Gould Shaw, a Union soldier who led the first all-black regiment in the American Civil War and died in the Second Battle of Fort Wagner, was erected here by his family. The director Martin Scorsese also has a burial plot here.
In the 19th century, Cornelius Vanderbilt gave the Moravian Church 45 acres. Later, his son William Henry Vanderbilt gave a further 4 acres and constructed the residence for the cemetery superintendent. The Vanderbilt Mausoleum, designed by Richard Morris Hunt and constructed in 1885–1886, is part of the family’s privately owned cemetery. The Vanderbilt Mausoleum is a replica of a Romanesque church in Arles, France. The Vanderbilt Cemetery landscape was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted. The cemetery is not open to the public. The Vanderbilt Mausoleum and portions of the cemetery were designated a New York City designated landmark in 2016.
