Spencer’s Corners Burying Ground, Merwin Road, is situated north of Millerton Village, within the town of North East, New York. The site is one of the oldest cemeteries in Dutchess County - one headstone dates back to 1701. It is located in an area known as the “Oblong” where the original settlers and ore-miners made their home, adjacent to the old Salisbury to Rhinecliff Turnpike., and named for the Spencer Family who established residence there in 1770. The Burying Ground belonged to the Baptist church which was built here by Reverend Simon Dakin in 1777 during the American Revolutionary War.

By 1887, the Baptist congregation had removed to a new church in the Village of Millerton, and many families migrated south there also following the advent of the railroad. In 1907 the Burying Ground was incorporated as a non-profit entity and regulated by the New York State division of Cemeteries. In 1987 it was considered an “abandoned cemetery” and was ceded to the Town of North East, which is currently responsible for mowing and light maintenance of the site.

The Dutch were the first to colonize the area now known as Dutchess County - mostly for the purpose of fur trading. The first settlers' dwellings may have been caves dug into the sides of hills, lined with split logs, roofed with small timbers, and covered with layers of sod. Smoke from the cook fires escaped through a hole in the roof. Sparsely settled Dutchess County maintained only paths or highways wide enough for horse and man.

When the Dutch surrendered to Britain the territory became New York. In 1717 Poughkeepsie was named the county seat and Dutchess County was one of the twelve original divisions of the Colony of New York. It was named in honor of the Duchess of York. Between 1685 and 1731 a series of land patents were granted to private persons, resulting in eleven Crown Patents. Two of those patents were the "Little Nine Partners" tract and the Oblong or "Equivalent Tract." The boundary line between New York and Connecticut had long been a subject of inter-colonial dispute but Connecticut agreed in 1731to cede to New York land that extended the whole length of Dutchess County along the Connecticut border which has been known ever since as "the Oblong." 

North East Precinct was formed in 1746 from the Upper Nine Partners tract. There was rapid growth during the mid-18th century, thanks to the abundance of potential waterpower, fertile soil, and the extensive forests. Grist and sawmills were built and every hamlet with any potential power was self-sufficient. Many of the early settlers were from New England. Up until this time, there was little progress made in the settlement of these lands. New York became a state in 1777 and in 1788 an act was passed "for dividing the counties of this state into towns". North East Precinct was changed to North East Town.

Highways were important for the development of the County. One of the first acts of New York's legislature was to create an act "for the better laying out" of highways. Highway districts were laid out and District No. 2 is described as "beginning at the house of Charles Dolph, south.to the Precinct Line, the cross road by Simon Dakin to the Oblong Line. And District No. 4 is described as "beginning at the oblong of Connecticut Salisbury Road, running west as far as the Nine Partner's line, including cross roads." These two roads described were very close to what is now called Spencer's Corners.

Robert Livingston owned an iron furnace in Ancram. The ore to supply the furnace was hauled principally from the ore beds near Spencer's Corners in North East. In 1800 another act was passed by New York's legislature called "An act to establish a Turnpike corporation for improving and making a road from the Town of Salisbury, in the State of Connecticut to Wattles' Ferry on the Susquehannah River." Livingston's ultimate objective was to develop the Village of Ancram and the means to this end would be a good road from the Salisbury ore beds to the Ancram furnace. "The pike commenced near Alexander Spencer's in North East, thence northwesterly over the mountain."

In 1802 the turnpike was again rerouted making Rhinebeck the terminal point on the Hudson. Petitions were presented and a report was read that pointed out the advantages of "opening a turnpike road from the house of Alexander Spencer in the town of Northeast in the County of Dutchess through the town of Rhinebeck..." Alexander Spencer, son of Philip Spencer, for whom Spencer's Corner was named, was a state legislator at this time and coincidentally, died during this session.

In 1821, seven petitioners called for more changes to the town of North East, creating three distinct divisions based on the natural geographical barriers. The new town barriers are essentially the same as they are now. One of the petitioners for this change was Wakeman Bradley of Spencer's Corner.

In 1797 a private postal route was established from Sharon, CT to Rhinebeck, NY. The post office in what is now North East, was "Spencer's Corners". In 1818 the general post office established a mail route "from Rhinebeck by North East and Amenia to Sharon."

EARLY IRON ORE INDUSTRY AND SPENCER’S CORNERS

The history of Spencer’s Corners is strongly connected to the history of iron making in the tri-state area of Massachusetts, Connecticut and New York. During the 1730s, Connecticut’s western lands were opened up to settlement and by 1731 iron ore was discovered in Salisbury Lands. The Salisbury region was at the meeting of the three states. The discovery of ore sped up the development of the area as settlers began making iron. Five main ore beds were discovered. The larget was Ore Hill between Furnace village and spencer’s corners – present day Lakeville and Millerton, NY.

Salisbury had high-grade ore resources and large beds of limonite, creating great potential for the development of a thriving iron industry. To make iron, settlers needed charcoal fuel and a source of power to drive the bellows of the hearth and helve hammer of a bloomer forge. The region had an abundance of wooded land for making charcoal and numerous streams and water sources. Salisbury Iron was highly regarded for the manufacture of guns, cannons and later railroad car wheels. Munitions for the revolutionary war were made in Furnace Village.

In Ancram New York, Philip Livingston built his first forge and later built three more plus a blast furnace, bringing iron ore over the Connecticut border from ore hill. Roads were necessary to move the ore to the forges and beyond to waterways for shipping. Turnpikes were established and one of the earliest in the area was the Salisbury Turnpike connecting Salisbury to Rhinebeck on the Hudson River.

There was an early mining industry in and around Spencer's Corner for over 100 years. Salisbury Turnpike and the Catskill Turnpikes created the "corner" of what would become known as Spencer's Corners, located less than two miles from ore hill, the ruins of the old Maltby Furnace and mines can still be found around the corner on what is now Shagroy/Belgo Roads (the original Salisbury Turnpike). About two miles to the west is Irondale, home of the Millerton Iron Company from 1854 to 1880's.

William Spencer (b. 1708) came to Salisbury from New London, CT and in 1748 bought a¼ part interest in Thomas Lamb's forge on Lake Wononscopomoc. In 1749 Spencer also bought a piece of land west of Salisbury's Ore Hill - about one acre and "all ye oar I own in ye oar bed".

William's younger brother, Phillip (b. 1724), appeared in Salisbury the following year and in 1760 purchased a considerable interest in the Ore Grant. He sold his interest to Robert Livingston soon after but remained "a worker and dealer in iron". In 1763 Phillip Spencer purchased thirty acres of land in The Oblong and part of it came to be known as Spencer's Clearing. Today it is known as Spencer's Corners in the town of North East. He moved over the boundary in 1769; remained at Spencer's Corners for fifty years as a farmer and magistrate until his death. He and his wives are buried in the cemetery just beyond where his stone house once stood.

Spencer's Corners became the hub of the area and remained so until the arrival of the railroad in 1851. Over two hundred years ago, it was thriving with several stores, blacksmith shop, shoemaker, wagon shop, dressmaker, Post Office, a school, an academy, two churches and two doctors. 9 Later, there were several Inns and boarding houses, home to many employees of Maltby's Furnace, less than a half-mile away.

With the arrival of the railroad in 1851, a new community was born. Just two miles away, the new village of Millerton began to take shape as businesses, families and churches moved closer to the railroad. Local history recounts the sight of oxen dragging buildings from Spencer's Corners to the village.

Today, Spencer's Corners is a peaceful spot. Phillip Spencer's house is gone; a little saltbox dated 1769 sits at the corner. Down the road, the old brick tollhouse looks out at Spencer's Corners Cemetery where many of the founding families now rest. And the Bradley/Campbell house quietly stands like a sentinel over the four corners

Major Bibliographical Sources

• Asher, Benjamin. The American Builder's Companion (1827), (New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1969)

• Asher, Benjamin. The Architect or Practical House Carpenter (1830), (New York: Dover Publicatons, Inc., 1988)

• Asher, Benjamin. The Country Builder's Assistant (1797), (Bedford, MA: Applewood Books)

• Bealer, Alex W. The Tools That Built America (Barre, MA: Barre Publishing, 1976)

•  Campbell, Faith S., ed. The Diary of Maria Louise Holley Williams, (Salisbury, MA: The Salisbury Association, 1999)

• Cummings, Abbot Lowell. The Framed House of Massachusetts Bay, 1625-1725, (Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University, 1979) ·

• Eisenhuth, Charles. The Maltby Furnace and The History of Spencer's Corner, edited by Marian S. Smith (Millerton, NY: Northeast Historical Society, 1996)

• Fales, Edward Jr. Arsenal of the Revolution, (Salisbury, CT: Tri-Corners History Council, 1997)

• Federal Writers Project, Dutchess County, (Philadelphia: William Penn Association, 1937)