07/18/2026
For a primer on the Fishkill Supply Depot preservation effort, please see the below feature article written by Lindsey Lolkema, a student journalist from Hofstra University and local Fishkill resident. Though the article did not get published, it offers an accurate recap what's occurring.
[Note: FOFSD disputes that a mass burial ground at the Rombout Rural Cemetery is the one described in historical texts as associated with the Fishkill Supply Depot. At the time of the Revolutionary War, the Rombout Cemetery was the graveyard for a Presbyterian church that stood until 1830. If the church cemetery were also the site of the mass unmarked burial ground of the Fishkill Supply Depot, then why would subsequent eyewitnesses and historians fail to cite the Presbyterian church in their descriptions and why would the NSDAR place its marker (in 1897) along the Albany Post Road and not modern-day Rt. 52 (where the Rombout Rural Cemetery is located)?]
Fishkill’s Revolutionary History: The War is Over but the Battle Continues, by Lindsey Lolkema
During the Revolutionary War era, Fishkill, New York, a town approximately 70 miles north of New York City, was considered the “crossroads of the colonies,” serving as the headquarters for Gen. George Washington and his army of over 2,000 Continental soldiers.
Known as the Fishkill Supply Depot, and covering more than 70 acres, the encampment functioned as a small city unto itself, with barracks, hospitals, stables, prisons, blacksmith shops, and what some claim to be a Continental soldier mass burial ground. While much of the original depot was developed in 1974 into the Dutchess Mall, which is now a modern-day Home Depot, a 10.4-acre plot at the intersection of Van Wyck Lake Road and U.S. Route 9 remains mostly untouched.
Although the supply depot was entered into the National Register of Historic Places on January 21, 1974, it does not qualify for acquisition funding from the U.S. Congress because Fishkill is not a battle site, making it more difficult to save from further development—a point that frustrates community activists and preservationists hoping to save it.
Domenic Broccoli, a restaurateur from Westchester, purchased the 10.4 acre lot across the street from Home Depot in 1986 with dreams of development. In 1999, he opened a gas station now
known as Speedway. Prior to building his gas station in 1999, the New York State Historic Preservation Office requested that archeological investigations be completed, a process that took
four years. Then in 2015, Broccoli proposed his idea for ‘Continental Commons,’ a colonial-themed commercial complex on 10 of the 10.4 acres. The pitch for the complex included colonial-style
buildings and an IHOP inspired by the stables at Mount Gulian in Beacon, New York. Although his rights for the IHOP were taken away because approvals were taking too long, the plans for
Continental Commons have remained.
Yet, it’s been over a decade, and Broccoli has been unable to break ground on Continental Commons due to additional community opposition, legal challenges, and lengthy approval processes.
The claim being: there are mass burials of Revolutionary War soldiers beneath the soil on Broccoli’s property. Are there really or are they elsewhere? It’s a question that has been debated for quite some time.
The Dilemma
In 1897, the Melzingah Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) dedicated a stone monument to recognize soldiers who served during the Revolutionary War. The monument
reads, “In grateful remembrance of the brave men who gave their lives for their country during the American Revolution and whose remains repose in the adjoining field.” However, depending on the location of the monument at its time of interpretation, “adjoining
field” holds a different meaning, making it a challenge to identify the true location of the soldiers. According to various historical documents, the stone is believed to have started on the west side of Albany Post Road, modern-day Route 9, across from Van Wyck Lake Road and Broccoli’s property.
“In 1897 … the monument was allegedly placed on the western portion of the road [Route 9], across from the Van Wyck Lake Road …” said Supervisor Ozzy Albra at a town board meeting on May 13, 2026. The stone was then moved to Broccoli’s property from 1911 to 1975, when Route 9 began expanding into the six-lane highway it is today. Now, the monument rests in front of the Van Wyck Homestead Museum. Its repeated relocation has only added to the confusion that many people in town are feeling. What’s more, the monument was not the only indicator of the area’s historical significance.
In 2007, Greenhouse Consultants Inc. located eight grave shaft features and a partial human skull in the 0.4-acre plot at the south end of Broccoli’s property, during an investigation requested by
New York State. “Not surprisingly … the first thing you find is coffin nails,” said Bill Sandy, a retired archeologist who was on site for that investigation. “Then we exposed the body of an adult.” A county coroner identified that the bones were older than 50 years, Sandy explained.
“I hate to say this, but it was a patriotic moment,” Sandy said.
“Common sense and history told me that they were soldiers,” he continued. “You got that gigantic stone marker 50 feet away that says buried in the adjoining field.” According to Broccoli, he had “no problem” preserving the 0.4 acres, and everyone “could go on
with life.” But things didn’t work out quite that easily. Due to financial troubles, Broccoli’s plans were stalled for a few years, which gave the preservationists more time to challenge the development, as groups like the Friends of the Fishkill Supply Depot, a federally recognized nonprofit organization established in 2007, began putting some of their own pieces together.
“Our group has gone through … a ton of digitally available records from the Revolutionary War to try to identify which soldiers had died in Fishkill at the supply depot,” said Chairman Lance Ashworth, who joined the Friends in 2009. Ashworth explained that essentially all Revolutionary War soldiers were buried where they died, therefore, “we like to say that they are very likely in that burial ground.”
When Broccoli was finally ready to resume plans for building, he faced additional delays and archaeological recommendations—for which he blamed the Friends of the Fishkill Supply Depot. “They’re making people believe this is where they're buried,” said Broccoli. “And they use my property to swindle people and their descendants. This is a land grab.”
“Well, the entire, half of the L. portion of his property has never been looked at by archaeologists,” said Lance Ashworth, in response to Broccoli’s claim. “And that's the portion that very likely contains more and more and more bodies.” But according to geophysicist Doria Kutrubes, the area has been sufficiently explored, and the findings were definitive: there are no bodies on the north end of Broccoli’s property. Under the Surface “I've been doing this for over 40 years,” said Doria Kutrubes, president and senior geophysicist of Radar Solutions International Inc., a WBE/DBE-certified firm based in Massachusetts that uses geophysical methods to help people improve their living environment.
Kutrubes got involved in investigating the site in 2012, while working for Hartgen Archeological Associates, which Broccoli hired in response to claims that burials were located on the north end
of his property. Kutrubes conducted field surveys using ground penetrating radar (GPR) north of the known burial ground. “Some of these GPR anomalies looked like they were in a row, like it would be as a burial, but it turns out none of them were burials.” No bodies were found on the north side of Broccoli’s property, indicating the area is not a mass burial.
A few years later, in 2017, Kutrubes returned to Fishkill to investigate the Rombout Rural Cemetery, about three miles from the burial site, under the Rombout Rural Cemetery Board of
Directors, and arguably discovered the mass burial people have been searching for. “Based on what I've seen, at Rombout cemetery, there are hundreds of burials there of unmarked
graves and maybe one foot stone,” said Kutrubes. “Those are the ones that they should be investigating …”
For years, Broccoli’s property has been investigated for the potential to be a mass soldiers’ burial, while other areas like the Rombout Rural Cemetery seem to go unnoticed. Kutrubes presented her findings to the Rombout Rural Cemetery Board of Directors on
November 29, 2017, but the group took no action. “They're still sitting on it,” she said.
250 Years Later and Still No Real Conclusion
There’s no arguing that the Fishkill Supply Depot played a crucial role in the advancement of the Continental Army. Yet the 10.4 acres of the supply depot remain a sore spot for many. “I think that it bothers me when people disregard what the evidence is telling you … reinventing their own narratives to suit their own purposes,” said Doria Kutrubes. Yet members of the Friends of the Fishkill Supply Depot insist that the area be further investigated. “We know that a lot of people were buried in that burial ground,” said Lance Ashworth. “But until we acquire it and preserve it and protect it and study it, we can't say for certain.”
Meanwhile, local residents seem to be defeated. “I sort of feel as I’m getting older, I’ve lost a sense of history,” said Sharon Husted, 66, who lives a few houses down from the burial site. “If there’s a spot that can and should be honored to some degree,” she said, then it’s important to “do it, and do it right.”
Photo Gallery (in order of description); photos by Lindsey Lolkema unless otherwise marked.
1. The property at the intersection of Van Wyck Lake Road and U.S. Route 9 in 2026.
2. Signage at the corner of Snook Road and U.S. Route 9 regarding Continental Commons on June 12, 2026. // Photo by Lindsey Lolkema
3. The DAR Monument was erected by the Melzingah Chapter on October 12, 1897 on the west side of modern day Route-9. // Photo by Google Images
4. The DAR Monument now stands (left) outside of The Van Wyck Homestead Museum, half a mile north of the burial site.
5. Screen captures from the 1972 Temple University Report - Archaeological Survey Operations of the Upper Barracks area of The Fishkill Supply Depot. // Photo by Temple University Preliminary Report
