The real name of this tidy 19th century burial ground on 26th Avenue and 21st Street is “The Graveyard of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church.”
But it’s always been known by its nickname, because many of the people buried there immigrated from Ireland in the 1840s during the potato famine.
Back then, 21st Street was the heart of a small Irish enclave in Queens, populated by immigrants who worked as servants for Anglo and Dutch families and in local factories.
It’s a small cemetery wedged between residences. Peer through the iron fence and you see all Irish names on the stones: Donnelly, Kelly, Muldarry, Joyce.
Many of them list the deceased’s county of birth. And all the gravestones face East, toward Ireland.
Tags: 19th century New York, Astoria history, cemeteries in New York City, Irish immigrants in New York City, Irish Potato Famine Cemetery, New York in the 1840s, Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church Queens, Queens history
Ephemeral New York 
September 1, 2010 at 2:24 pm |
I walked by this cemetery with my family just the other day and wondered about it. This is great, thanks!!
September 2, 2010 at 11:08 am |
This is just off Astoria Park. I was in there a couple of times as a kid, it was all covered with bushes and trees and weeds, very unkempt. They cleaned it up in the 1990s.
September 27, 2010 at 4:15 pm |
I’m a life-long New Yorker and I’ve never heard of this cemetery. This is really fascinating, especially the part about all the graves facing Ireland. I’ve posted a piece about the Famine on my own blog and I found yours because I was curious to see if others were writing about it. The pictures are great too!
September 27, 2010 at 4:23 pm |
Thanks–I was also surprised that this cemetery has had so little coverage. At the cemetery itself, you’d expect some fanfare, some historical info, but there’s nothing.
September 23, 2011 at 4:35 pm |
[…] of Magic Laundry Service. I promise (and desperately need) to drop in soon and continue past the Irish potato famine cemetery before I reach 21st Street. Turning and walking towards Astoria Boulevard I look for an […]
February 26, 2012 at 4:20 pm |
[…] owns and cares for the Irish Famine Cemetery in Astoria Village (see below) at 21st Street and 26th […]
February 16, 2013 at 7:08 am |
[…] These shipwrights were Irish immigrants who came to New York in coffin ships fleeing the Irish Potato Famine. […]
May 17, 2013 at 11:29 am |
we played there in the early 50’s……..you could not see the stones when I was a kid…it was so overgrown you couldn’t stand up in most places…….we played for long hours in that cemetery….great memories…I lived on 14th place…
August 22, 2013 at 12:18 am |
My friend lived across the street she use to be afraid of that cemetery.
August 23, 2013 at 1:20 am |
We played there too some times..It was so neglected in those days. It belonged to Mt. Carmel and they fogot about it. We played more in St. Georges cemetery tho.
June 13, 2015 at 7:09 am |
Very interest about this cemetery. But u cannot obtain entrance to it, only look thru fence?