TBE cemetery

A History of Temple Beth El Cemetery - compiled by Muriel Selling and Ellen Loffredo, Oct., 2006

According to the 1910 articles in THE BUFFALO TIMES, the first burial in the Pine Ridge Road Cemetery was Samuel Bennett, who died December 18, 1865.  His wife, Sarah Fridenburg Bennett, left Buffalo with their children and returned to New York City.

There are two sections to our Cemetery. The first was purchased in 1864. In the Cemetery Book, it is designated OLD.  There was an additional section purchased in 1917, designated in the Cemetery Book as NEW.  This section includes all the stonework, the Chapel and the final design as seen now.  All of this was dedicated in 1923.

The first Cemetery land used by Synagogue Beth El was located in the Broadway Fillmore area.  These burials were removed to the Pine Ridge Road Cemetery in 1911.  They are memorialized by a Monument at a point which was the back line at the time.  The reburials were within a fenced area.  The fence was removed, apparently when the Carol Drive property was purchased.

Temple Beth El is responsible for the care and maintenance of the Veterans’ Section of the Cemetery.   A copy of the deed for the Veterans Circle reflects a payment of $5000.00 by the County of Erie on March 12, 1935.