The Novo-Diveevo Holy Dormition Convent in Nanuet, New York is home to the largest Russian Orthodox cemetery in America, with over 9,000 individuals interred there. It is rightfully considered an open-air historical museum of the Russian emigration.
Time, together with bad weather including hurricanes, can and does cause damage to many of the graves and memorials. Two years ago, a group of volunteers — parishioners of the Monastery — and donors began restoration and renovation work to preserve this cemetery as an important historical site.
With the restoration plans for 2023 having been successfully completed, the Committee accepted a report on the cost of the project and the funds raised, as well as photographs of the work done “before” and “after” the restoration.
The 2024 project plans have also been completed.
This year, renovation work was conducted on the oldest and historical section of the cemetery: white-army officers, sailors, Cossacks. From the 1950s and through the ensuing decades, they were reunited into their military unions: First Campaigners, Gallipoli veterans, Drozdovsky Regiment, Markov Regiment, and many others. They published and distributed their journals, they led and participated in very active social activities, and were in constant communication. All of them were people of the same generation and subsequently, they passed away over roughly the same period of time. As a result, their graves are relatively close to each other in the cemetery.
In 2024, the restoration of several graves of former White Officers of the Drozdovsky Regiment, buried in the historical section of the cemetery, was completed. The Drozdovsky Regiment was considered among the elite of the White Army. Very often the Drozdovsky Regiment was called – the regiment of the last crusaders of Russia! They were called so not only for the regiment’s badge on the uniform in the form of a cross or for the cross on top of the regiment’s Banner, but also for their humane attitude towards the population, often to their own detriment.
The following graves were identified and repaired in the new restoration project:
- Boris Vladimirovich Tryapkin – Staff Captain of the Drozdovsky Regiment, Knight of St. George
- Leonid Ivanovich Andreevsky – Colonel of the Drozdovsky Regiment, Knight of St. George
- Vsevolod Ivanovich Andreevsky – Lieutenant Colonel of the Drozdovsky Regiment of the Artillery Brigade
- Aleksey Vasilyevich Dashkiev-Panov – Staff Captain of the Drozdovsky Regiment
- Georgy Osipovich Goldshmidt von Schiffers – Lieutenant of the 1st Officer General Markov Regiment.
- Konstantin Fedorovich Petrov – Colonel of the Life Guards Petersburg Regiment.
- Aleksandr Vasilyevich Popov – Colonel of the Russian Army.
- Grigory Fyodorovich Dudkin – Captain 2nd rank of the Imperial Navy.
- Grigory Mokrousov
- Gabriel Ramensky
We offer our heartfelt gratitude to those individuals who cherish the historical memory left by their ancestors, who do not remain indifferent, and who continue to provide generous financial and physical assistance!