The Dutch Reform Church of Flatlands is quitely tucked just out of
sight of the Busy Flatbush Ave throughway, one block East on Kings
Highway and East 40th Street. This Church was one of the two Brooklyn
Dutch Reform Churches
Organized under orders of Peter Stuyvesant. The other is the the
Flatbush Dutch Reform Church. The Flatlands
church was formed under the Revrand
Johannes Megapolenis in 1654. By the time of the American Revolution
and the
Battle of Brooklyn, it was over 100 years old.As Brooklyn Archeologist, Arthur Bankoff, mentioned in his Brooklyn On Line interview, Brooklyn in this period was a pioneer and farming community. The Flatlands Dutch Reform Church was a center of Pioneer Life in Flatlands. It's cemetery dates back to the beginning of European civilization in the "New World" Many of the Tombstones are written in Dutch, and not until the mid 1800's does English become common on the grave markers.
This Stone, for example,
is not as difficult to read because of the wear and age of the stone,
as much as it is written in DUTCH! Dated to 1767, it is one of dozens
of markers here
which predate the Declaration of Independence. The Family name of the
person was Schenek, one of the common names in Dutch Brooklyn which
rings
in our streets and institutions.
![[ Picture of Gravestone ]](schenck1767.gif)