Townsend Cemetery (Fort Hill) — Grave of Robert Townsend, Culper Jr.
📍 End of Simcoe Street, Oyster Bay, NY 11771
Perhaps the most historically significant — and most hidden — cemetery in Oyster Bay. Atop Fort Hill at the end of Simcoe Street lies the Townsend family burial ground, where Robert Townsend (1753–1838) is buried. As "Samuel Culper Jr.," Townsend was George Washington's most important spy in New York City during the Revolutionary War, operating inside British-occupied Manhattan and feeding intelligence to Washington through the Culper Ring. He took his secret identity to the grave in 1838; his true role was not discovered until 1930, when historian Morton Pennypacker matched his handwriting to the Culper letters. Also buried here: his sister Sally Townsend, and their parents Samuel and Sarah Townsend — original owners of Raynham Hall. The cemetery's earliest grave is John Townsend, 1668. The street leading to it — Simcoe Street — is named for the British colonel who occupied Raynham Hall during the war. Hard to find: walk to the end of Simcoe Street, take the narrow unpaved trail alongside the last house on the right, through a chained gate.