There's a hill off Saw Mill River Road that most of us drive right past. Stone gates. Old trees. Rows of headstones going up the slope. It's Oakland Cemetery, and it holds a few names you would never guess.
An elevator pioneer. A doctor from the night Lincoln was shot. And DMX.
Fall is a good time for a slow walk through Yonkers history. Here's who you'd find.
How the Hill Became a Cemetery
The hill was a burial ground long before Oakland existed. St. John's Church started its graveyard up there around 1783, on land Frederick Philipse II had left to the church. Oakland came later. A group called the Yonkers Cemetery Association formed in December 1866. The first burial came on September 2, 1867. In June 1882 the place took the name Oakland Cemetery.
Here's a twist. The land came from Leonard W. Jerome, a New York money man. His grandson was Winston Churchill.
The hill used to be bigger, too. In 1927 the cemetery sold 14 acres to the county. That land became part of the Saw Mill River Parkway.
It Starts With the Elevator Brake Man
Elisha Otis did not invent the elevator. Hoists were already around. The problem was what happened when the rope broke. Otis built a catch that grabbed the rails and stopped the fall.
In 1854 he showed it off in front of a crowd at the Crystal Palace in Manhattan. He rode the platform up. Then he had the rope cut. The platform held.
He kept working on it. On January 15, 1861, he got an elevator patent. Less than three months later, on April 8, 1861, he died in Yonkers. He was 49. His grave is on this hill. The drawing on our slide comes from that 1861 patent. It was redrawn in 1871, when the patent was reissued.
Then the First Doctor to Reach Lincoln
Charles Leale was 23 years old on April 14, 1865. He had finished medical school just six weeks before. He was at Ford's Theatre that night when Lincoln was shot. He got to the President's box before any other doctor.
He stayed at Lincoln's side through the night. He held the President's hand the whole time. Leale later wrote that he wanted Lincoln to know he had a friend. Lincoln died the next morning at 7:22.
Leale went home to New York City and became a doctor in private practice. He married in 1867 and raised six children. He lived to 90. He died in Manhattan on June 13, 1932, and he was buried on this Yonkers hill.
And in 2021, DMX Joined Them
Earl Simmons was born in 1970 and grew up in Yonkers. The world knew him as DMX. He died in April 2021.
Before he came home, there was a huge goodbye. A giant black monster truck carried his casket more than 15 miles, from Yonkers to Brooklyn. A memorial was held at Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Then his family and friends brought him back for a private burial at Oakland.
Yonkers kept his name close. In June 2026, a corner on School Street became Earl "DMX" Simmons Way. It sits near the Calcagno Homes, where he grew up.
So One Hill Holds All Three
Oakland Cemetery is at 2 Saw Mill River Road. The older St. John's graveyard sits right next door on the same hill. Near the old church ground, a blue and gold state marker tells you where St. John's rectory once stood.
One more thing. People tell a legend about this hill: three women in white, seen here at night. Nobody has proven it. It's still a fun one to tell on the drive past.
If you go, check the cemetery's hours first. Walk slow. Be respectful. These are real families' graves.
A pioneer, a doctor and a rapper. Three very different lives. One Yonkers hill.
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