Long Island: ELMONT/Beth David: (Nassau County)

tombstone images online. A fee charged. [April 2010]

Beth David Cemetery: 300 Elmont Rd., Elmont, NY 11003; Phone: 516-328-1300; Contact: Warren Rosen. Opened: 1917; # Graves: 190,000+ Societies: 1300+. The office on the premises has computerized records.

map and directions [March 2011]

Directions to Cemetery: From Brooklyn: Belt Pkwy East to Elmont Rd., Exit 25B. Turn left on Elmont Rd. to cemetery. From Queens: Grand Central Parkway East to Cross Island Pky South to Hempstead Ave. East (Exit 26B) to Elmont Rd. (Argo Theater). Right to cemetery. From Manhattan: Queens Midtown Tunnel to LIE to Cross Island Parkway South to Hempstead Ave. East (Exit 26B) to Elmont Rd (Argo Theater). Turn right. From Bronx: Throgs Neck or Whitestone Bridge to Cross Isl. Pky South to Hgempstead Ave East (Exit 26B) to Elmont Rd. (Argo Theater). Turn right. From Southern State Pky: Exit 13N (Linden Blvd. - Elmont Rd.) to Elmont Road. Right to cemetery. From New Jersey: Verrazano Bridge to Belt Pkwy East to Elmont Rd., Exit 25B. Left to cemetery OR George Washington Bridge to Throgs Neck Bridge to Cross Island Pky South to Hempstead Ave East (Exit 26B) to Elmont Road (Argo Theater). Right to cemetery. By Public Transportation: E or F train to 169th Street, Jamaica. Take N6 (Hempstead) bus to Stop 12 (in front of Argo Theater). Walk South on Elmont Road to cemetery. Source: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., who has photographs and online plot maps but cannot do lookups. See map below.

Beth David has very narrow avenues (most one-way), barely wide enough to turn into. The graves seem squashed together every two or three feet (short graves!) in places. There are many olBurial records include information pertinent to the death: when and where.. Post-1950, they also contain next-of-kin information; prior to 1950, only last address.

d graves, sometimes next to newer ones. It's a much older cemetery than Wellwood. The gates close at 5pm. There don't seem to be paths between the graves in a lot of areas. The directions (on the map), or maybe the street signs, were not the easiest to use. On the way back to Kennedy Airport from Wellwood, we could not even find the street Beth David was on, and we had been there a few hours earlier! I have a plot map of the cemetery. Source: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., has photographs and online plot maps but cannot do lookups.

If you do not know what society your family is buried in you are in big trouble. The office gave me the Row Number, Section, Block letter, and Grave Number in advance and the street name. There are NO row numbers, NO Block letters, only section numbers on the street signs. (I went on a holiday when no one was in the office.) If you have no map or exact burial location, you will need assistance. The cemetery also is quite messy, with much overgrowth. Workers gloves were left all over the place. Tools such as shovels and wheel barrels were left by the graves. Garbage was all over the place; garbage bags full of stuff was just left on the side of the roads and tucked into the grating of a mausoleum. I can go on but I think you get the picture. I was thoroughly disgusted and will be going back to complain. Source: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

I visited Beth David on 3 May 2012, and had no trouble locating the cemetery (thanks to Google Maps and my GPS) – it is an easy 15-minute drive from JFK. I had called first to be sure the office would be open; the staff were extremely helpful and very friendly, quickly locating both plots I was visiting in their computerized registry. They printed me a customized map complete with explicit directions to navigate the cemetery’s maze of narrow lanes, and kindly provided a photocopy of their hand-printed master map for the family circle that I was looking for. That map was well marked with row-letters and plot-numbers, but these are fairly useless since there are no coordinate markings in the cemetery itself; it was only because the map was marked with the names of the deceased that I was able to work my way through to my aunt’s plot. I’d recommend anyone visiting Beth David to ask for a similar photocopy of the master map, and request the staff to indicate the location of the nearest “streets” and walkways on that map.

Contrary to previous reports, I found the cemetery to be fairly neat and tidy, with allowances made for the season (the people in the office explained that grounds maintenance mainly occurs between May and October, and the grounds might look a bit overgrown due to the unusually mild winter just concluded). And indeed I saw numerous caretakers/landscapers at work. The cemetery does offer paid perpetual care and it appeared that they are honoring these obligations.

Burial records include information pertinent to the death: when and where.. Post-1950, they also contain next-of-kin information; prior to 1950, only last address.

Source:  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. [May 2012]

Partial list available of societies or synagogues:

Address: 300 Elmont Road, Elmont, Nassau

Contact Info: (516) 328-1300

Cemetery Info: Opened: 1917. Approximately 190,000 burials and 1,300 societies. The office on the premises has computerized records.

Information update/photo courtesy of JGS of Long Island, http://www.jewishgen.org/jgsli/

Map & pictures 1, 2 and 3 courtesy This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. [May 2012]