Rain fell lightly Sunday, May 24, as residents gathered in a small cemetery off Route 199 to honor Milan men who fought in the Revolutionary War and were buried more than two centuries ago.
The rededication of Rowe Church Cemetery, beside Rowe Methodist Church, followed Milan’s Memorial Day parade and came as communities across the country prepare to mark the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States.
The ceremony honored five Revolutionary War soldiers buried at Rowe Cemetery: Capt. Johannes Rowe, Pvt. Sebastian Rowe, Pvt. Philip Rowe, Capt. William Stewart and Capt. James Stewart. Each of them resided in what is now Milan, before the town was officially incorporated in 1818, tying the town’s present-day commemoration to residents who lived through the country’s founding.
The burial ground’s history reaches even deeper than the Revolution. Milan Town Supervisor Bill Jeffway, who is also executive director of the Dutchess County Historical Society, said the oldest headstone in the cemetery is the 1761 marker of William Rowe, a young son of Johannes Rowe Jr. His burial predates the founding of the United States.
“This is what I mean about all that was within the small bounds of the cemetery, past, present and future,” Jeffway said.
Elsewhere in Milan, 13 other veterans of the American Revolution are buried, including Jacob Lyle, a fifer in the New Jersey militia, and Andrew Frazier, whose family has said he served as an aide to Gen. George Washington.
For Susan Juchem, a lifelong Milan resident and longtime member of Rowe Methodist Church, the rededication was a chance to bring attention to a place that holds some of the town’s earliest history. Juchem said the church and cemetery are tied to the Rowe family, among the earliest settlers in Milan, and to the beginnings of Methodism in the area.
“We decided that it would be a nice time to do something special,” Juchem said.
The rededication followed recent work at the grounds, including repairs to toppled gravestones and the scraping and repainting of the iron fence surrounding the cemetery.
Pastor Caroline Berninger, who leads the Milan and Pine Plains Methodist churches, led the rededication. Andy Crispell sang “America the Beautiful,” with attendees joining in. Reenactors also took part, including William Wienecke, who portrayed George Washington.
As the names of the Revolutionary War veterans were read, flowers were placed on their graves. The ceremony also included the playing of “Taps,” the bugle call traditionally performed at military funerals and memorials.
For Berninger, leading the ceremony placed her own role in the church within a longer sweep of local history.
“It was very humbling. It really was,” Berninger said. “We’re part of a much, much longer story, even than is represented in the last 250 years.”
Juchem said the rededication gave people a reason to step inside a place that, for all its history, can be easy to miss.
“It felt amazing because this is a little cemetery that kind of sits back off the road,” Juchem said. “I spoke to one person who has lived in Milan for a long time, and I said, have you ever been in here? And she said, no, I’ve never been in here.”
That, she said, was part of the point: to bring people into closer contact with a history they may have passed for years without seeing.
For Jeffway, the power of the rededication came from the way so many strands of Milan’s civic life gathered in one place — church members, town officials, veterans, reenactors, firefighters, rescue squad volunteers, and neighbors — to honor men who had once lived among the hills that still shape life in the town.
“There were all of these rich dimensions of faith and service and community,” Jeffway said. “In spite of the town being very small, it has all these amazing dimensions that really fundamentally are enabled by the American Revolution 250 years ago.”
That sense of connection had begun earlier in the day, at a Memorial Day ceremony at Milan Town Hall, where Fred “Chip” Couse read the name of his ancestor Jacob Couse, another Milan Revolutionary War veteran honored that day. Jeffway said that moment, followed by the cemetery rededication, made the Revolution feel less like a national story and more like a local inheritance.
“It felt very personal,” Jeffway said. “Sometimes the American Revolution can seem very abstract and distant, but here were the descendants of Revolutionary War veterans, honoring their ancestors collectively with this rededication.”
Upcoming Milan Rev 250 Events
Revolutionary Tales of Milan and the Rowes
Storyteller Jonathan Kruk will present a free family program at 2 p.m. June 21 at Rowe Methodist Church, 1376 Route 199, Milan.
Semiquincentennial Talk at Milan Town Hall
Milan Town Supervisor Bill Jeffway, executive director of the Dutchess County Historical Society, will give a talk at 4 p.m. June 28 at Milan Town Hall on personal stories connected to American freedom and the advancement of rights.
Lovely story, Patrick. Keep up the great work!
So many Couses’ also buried in graveyard of GALLATIN “VEDDERS” CHURCH IN GALLATIN NY That family has “famous” history in the area. Our earliest gravestone is 1770. We do have many veterans (throughout many wars) buried in our early graveyard (so named because it is on Church property. If not affiliated with a certain faith, people are then buried in cemetery’s. Our rural church has so much to offer and is listed on the “National Register”. This church is still open for services, burials and marriages as well as baptisms.
Minister: Robert Rogoshewski – 518-398-9462. This graveyard holds so many memories of ancestors, how we got to where we are now. Fighting for “Freedom”. Anyway, there will be another “site visit” by Roeliff Jansen Historical Society this coming fall. Do come and appreciate the American spirit that built America!!! Can also contact Louisa Ruby, Gallatin NY historian, with requests for larger tours. “GALLATIN TOWN HUB”