A group of Boy Scouts put the spotlight on a little known piece of local history in recent weeks, when they embarked on a project to clean up an old cemetery near Bethpage State Park in Farmingdale.

Bethpage resident Daniel Agnese, a member of Troop 604 and junior at Bethpage High School, led 15 of his fellow Scouts, in addition to several friends and family members, in rehabilitating The Bethpage Cemetery, which dates back to the late 1880s. The graveyard, which was founded by the Bethpage Cemetery Association, had fallen into a state of disrepair while under the jurisdiction of the Town of Oyster Bay in recent years.

After years of passing by the disheveled graveyard, located near the entrance to Bethpage State Park on Quaker Meeting House Road, Agnese felt compelled to do something about it. "It was an eyesore of the community," he said.

Agnese undertook the meritorious project as part of his efforts to achieve the prestigious Boy Scouts of America rank of Eagle Scout. His group of volunteers held work sessions during four weekends this summer, starting July 15, and culminating this past Sunday, Aug. 6. They picked up litter, righted overturned headstones, cut down overgrown brush, and cleared fallen trees. The group also put up a new fence, in addition to fixing up and painting an old building located in the center of the graveyard. Through their labor, they turned an eyesore into a celebrated piece of local history.

The project was welcomed by local historic preservation enthusiasts. "I think what's really great about it, is that you have a young man getting involved with historic preservation," said Daniel Looney, deputy historian for the Village of Farmingdale.

"And that's something we'd like to encourage other young people in the village to get involved with - doing those types of restoration projects." Looney noted that the restoration has also sparked interest in exploring the roots of the graveyard, particularly the center structure, which may have served as a coffin house.

The first known burial in the Bethpage cemetery took place in 1884. Many Farmingdale ancestors, including many Civil War veterans, are buried there, according to Looney.

Located on the south side of Quaker Meeting House Road near Merritt Road, the Bethpage Cemetery is the most westerly of four adjacent cemeteries, and is one of six historic graveyards in the local area. Farmingdale's other historic graveyards are: Cornelius, located on the north side of Fulton Street between Cobb Place and Doud Street; Friends, located on the south side of Quaker Meeting House Road next to the Quaker Meeting House; Powell, located at the southwest corner of Quaker Meeting House Road and Thomas Powell Blvd.; Van Cott, located on the northeast corner of Grant Avenue and Rose Street, and another graveyard known as Van Cott that is situated between the Bethpage Cemetery and Friends Cemetery on Quaker Meeting House Road and is considered part of Bethpage Cemetery.