Lynbrook honors shipwreck victims

Each year in mid-October, the Nassau County Ancient Order Hibernians and the Historical Society of East Rockaway and Lynbrook gathers in the Rockville Cemetery on Merrick Road to remember the 139 men, women and children buried there in a mass grave in 1837.

They all were victims of two shipwrecks, the Bristol and the Mexico, off the South Shore of Long Island. Most of them were Irish immigrants .This year the ceremony was led by Art Mattson, the Lynbrook village historian, and Jack O’Brien, president of the NC-AOH.

The Bristol and Mexico Monument is on the National and New York state Registers of Historic Places. Mattson announced that application has also been made to the Town of Hempstead to make it an Historic Landmark of the town. This will put the monument and nearby grounds under the protection of the town and ensure that the landmark will remain as a reminder to future generations of the sacrifices and risks these early immigrants made.

The Historical Society also unveiled a three-foot high scale model of the monument, complete with inscriptions. The model will be used by the HSERL as a teaching tool in its annual local history presentation done for all fourth grade students in Lynbrook. The model was designed and built by Historical Society member James Pearson, of East Rockaway.