History and Map

William Thistlethwaite arrived in the Northwoods in the 1890's to work for Dr. William Seward Webb as a paymaster for the railroad Dr. Webb was building. In 1903, he bought an extensive amount of Dr. Webb's property along the Fulton Chain of Lakes and in the Village of Old Forge The ink was hardly dry on the deed, when he formed The Adirondack Development Corporation and began to subdivide the land into building lots. By the 1920's, hundreds of lots in the Joy Tract, Brooklyn, Riverside, and Gray Lake areas of Old Forge had been sold. 

Among his other accomplishments, Thistlethwaite built a new post office for the Town and donated the land for Niccolls Church, both on Crosby Blvd. Father John Fitzgerald, Catholic pastor of St. Bartholomew's Church and a good friend, was concerned about where he would be buried when the Almighty called him home. In 1921, William Thistlethwaite decided it was time the village had a cemetery, and he gave the Town and extensive, beautiful piece of land along the Moose River just below the State Dam. The first person buried in the cemetery was a veteran from World War I, Stephen Bazyliv, 1893-1921. Practically the entire community along, with the Old Forge Band, marched in the procession that followed his casket to the new cemetery. Inside the wrought iron fence that surrounds the Thistlethwaite plot, William, a Presbyterian, buried his old friend Father John Fitz in 1925. William Thistlethwaite's home on Crosby Blvd. overlooked the cemetery and in his later years, he spent many hours seeing to the maintenance of the grounds. He was once quoted as saying, "of all my achievements, this (Riverview Cemetery) was my finest." William died in 1968 and is buried next to his wife, brother and parents.

The physical census of the cemetery was begun by Town of Webb Historical volunteer Rita Dennison. Before her death in 1999, Rita planned to survey historic section 4. Volunteer Marge Bonnett kindly completed the task in the spring of 2002 during one of our busiest "black fly seasons". To both we extend our sincere thanks.  The original map was created by Rita Dennison and updated in 2006 by Town of Webb Historian Peg Masters. In 2005, Section 14 was expanded to accommodate additional grave sites. Burials since 2004 are not included yet but volunteers continue to survey the cemetery and additional names will be added. Note: Many Individuals are listed in cemetery sections to help identify family groups, rather than alphabetically. A larger version of the map is available here in Acrobat PDF format. Larger Map Link.

PDF\Riverview_Cemetary Layout_Old_Forge

These records are made available by the Historical Association for not-for-profit, genealogical research purposes only. Permission to reproduce the lists MUST be obtained in writing by contacting the Director of the Town of Webb Historical Association, Box 513,Old Forge, NY 13420.