BRONX, N.Y. - Sandi Lusk and Dorothy Krynicki say they’re walking on sacred ground.

“As children we were told respect it. You can’t play on it. You can’t picnic on it. Everyone that grew up in the neighborhood knew this to be the Quaker cemetery,” said Dorothy Krynicki, of the Westchester Square-Zerega Improvement Organization.

Which is why they say they can’t believe this field in the shadows of the 6 train, could soon be the home of an 11-story apartment building, with stores on the ground floor.

They say after examining city records and surveying the churchyard, they believe it was a Quaker burial site in the late 1600’s and early 1700’s, even though it may not look like a burial ground.

“And the reason people look at this and say oh it’s just a field, is because the early Quakers did not believe in putting in grave markers,” said Sandi Lusk, also from the Improvement Organization.

The lot is next to the St. Peter’s Episcopal Church and cemetery. Last year, the church said it was joining with the developer, Bluestone, to develop the site.

In April, the City Council approved construction of an affordable housing complex on nearby Blondell Avenue. Some of the people that spoke out against that plan are now speaking out about building on church land. They say bringing additional residents will strain area schools and make it harder to find parking.

“The impact on the neighborhood is tremendous,” said Krynicki.

But they insist their opposition to the development of the church property is based on concerns about the potential desecration of  a burial ground.

“Our fear, and I’m going to be honest, is that they’re going to bring the backhoes in here, start digging for an 11-story building, which will go all the way down, and they’re  going to start turning up bodies, bones and artifacts,” said Lusk.

A church spokesman says a study of the site using radar found no evidence of burial plots. And that “no remains” or structures would be disturbed or destroyed by the development.

They plan to present their findings when the local community board holds hearings on the proposed project this summer.