The Old Burying Ground known also as the Blauvelt Cemetery, is an interesting look at the burial rights of prominent farming families of early Bergen County and their forgotten legacy of their contributions to building not just the County to our Country as well.
Many of these families intermarried over time combining properties and farms that over time since the turn of that last century, have become lost corners of our county’s history due to growth after WWII of suburban communities.
It is interesting to see who the movers and shakers of these communities of the past whose descendants were still live in Bergen County. The sad part is that these distant family members may not know their own family history enough to visit these tiny pieces of history that hold members who fought in the Revolutionary War and contributions to the growth of businesses with names that have been reduced to well known street addresses. A lot of history lies in these tiny plots that dot Bergen County. Here you can see the ‘ghosts’ of the past and walk past their graves to hear their stories.
The entrance to the cemetery
The History of Burying Ground:
(from the Harrington Park Historical Society)
In use for nearly two hundred years, largely by the Blauvelt family, the earliest known burial was in 1722. The cemetery contains the graves of members of other early Bergen County families, veterans of the American Revolution and slaves. Some of the tombstones are inscribed in Dutch.
The description of the family plots
The grave of Patriarch Justin Demarest
The Blauvelt family plot of Patriarch Daniel Blauvelt
The graves of members of the Blauvelt and DeGraw families
The graves of David and Helen Blauvelt
The middle of the Blauvelt family plot
The cemetery from the other side of the Blauvelt family plot
The Blauvelt and Demarest family plots (damaged tombstones)
(From the Harrington Park Historical Society)
Abraham Quackenbush (1768-1854) and his wife, Elizabeth Myers (1770-1807)) are part of the Abraham Myers family burial plot at the Old Burying Ground. In the middle of the 18th century, Abraham Myers received a royal charter from King George III to build a grist mill on the Hackensack River which his grandson John Bogert later operated, and it thereby became known as “Bogert’s Mill.”
The Myers family members interred in the plot are Abraham Myers, his wife Cathrena Nederman, daughter Cathrena, daughter Elizabeth and Abraham Quackenbush, son John Myers and wife Rebecca Durie.
The Blauvelt-Eckerson-DeGraw family graves
Patriarchs David and Helen Blauvelt family plot
Video on the Cemetery from the Harrington Park Historical Society
The entrance to the Nagel/Auryansen Cemetery in Closter, NJ
The historic marker sign
The History of the Cemetery:
(From the Boro of Closter, NJ website)
The Naugle/Auryansen Cemetery is significant in the early settlement period of Closter’s history. Documented burials date to circa 1722 and include Dutch pioneer families with names like Vervalen, Naugle (Nagle), DeClark, Ferdon, Parsells, Auryansen, Demarest, Haring, Cole, Kearney, Montague and Bogert. Seven Soldiers, Closter farmers, who served in the Bergen County Militia during the Revolutionary war and one veteran from the War of 1812 are known to be among the interred.
The cemetery once known only as the “Burying Place,” was part of the original lands purchased in 1710 by the Naugle brothers, Barent and Resolvent. They divided their lands in 1748 and the division stones carved with their initials (“BN” and “RN”) are still visible in the middle of the cemetery.
Later, the place became known as the Auryansen Grave Yard because this family took title to the land upon which it sits. Many of the sandstone and frame houses built by these families and their descendants are still standing in the Borough today.
The description sign of the cemeteries plot locations
The plot location sign
The Historical Maintenance and care of the cemetery in the modern era:
(from the Boro of Closter, NJ website)
In 1996, the Closter Historical Society undertook a three year project to restore the 19th century sandstone gravemarkers. At that time a complete survey was done of the tombstones in the Cemetery and Tim Adriance is in the process of preparing this information for publication.
In 1961 Ralph Heaton of the American Legion obtained official granite plaques from the Veterans Administration and placed them at the foot of five Revolutionary soldiers’ graves.
Various caretakers have helped maintain and clean the cemetery through the years. Presently, Tim Adriance, the Auryansen family historian is the caretaker. This is still an active cemetery. From: 1999 “Revisions and Update” of the Historic Sites Survey, by Pat Morillo for the Closter Historic Preservation Commission – attached to the Bergen County Historic Sites Survey: Borough of Closter dated 1981-1982.
Recent work on the cemetery grounds has been overseen by the Closter Historic Preservation Commission and undertaken by the Closter DPW, as well as local Eagle Scouts. The cemetery now has an attractive rustic wooden fence and gate at the Susan Drive entrance, a newly refurbished flagpole with an historic American flag, new fencing along the perimeter, and other improvements to the Susan Drive entrance.
In 2010, the Bergen County Historical Society erected an historic blue marker describing the site. This marker is located at the Susan Drive entrance.
The Cemetery is open to the public through the new gate at the entrance on Susan Drive, between house numbers 42 and 50 Susan Drive, off Ruckman Road. This gate is unlocked, though the gate off the Hickory Lane entrance remains padlocked to prevent damage from off-road vehicles passing through the cemetery.
The inside of the cemetery on s gloomy afternoon
The Nagel family plot inside the cemetery
I visited the Nagel-Auryansen Cemetery one gloomy afternoon. This small cemetery is one of about a half dozen in Bergen County, NJ that were once part of family homesteads that are long gone.
These once important family farms started to disappear after the Civil War and with the coming of income tax, smaller families and automation of farming, these farms disappeared. These small cemeteries are what remains of these families legacies.
The grave of resident Abraham Auryansen
The Auryansen family plot inside the cemetery
The Nagel family plot inside the cemetery
The Auryansen family plot inside the cemetery towards the back
The Nagel and Haring family gravestones
The gravestones closer to the entrance of the cemetery
On the next block over, the original family farmhouse along with the Metropolitan farm still exists. The family farmhouse and nursery are still part of the community. It is the oldest continuous farms in the State of New Jersey.
The Metropolitan Farm is home to the Resolvert Nagel Farmhouse and farm
The historic marker to the home
The entrance to the Metropolitan Farm at 119 Hickory Lane in Closter, NJ
Started in 2012, our farm is located on the property which is the oldest working farm in the State of New Jersey. Every year, we are improving our ability to help you and make it more convenient to access our 70.000 perennials.
Our perennial growers have been working with perennials in Northern New Jersey for over 30 years. In that time, they have discovered what works the best and what thrives in our hot summers and survives our bitter cold winters. We overwinter all our perennials that we carry and our products are ready to be planted and enjoyed wherever you may place them.
The original section of the Nagel family farmhouse
The History of the farmhouse:
(from the Metropolitan Farm website)
The Stone Farmhouse dates back to the early 1700’s. The Auryansen/Naugle family lived here for generations and owned over 1000 acres from the hudson river to the farm. (Currently parts of Alpine and Closter). It was sold to several other families and was put into the Historic Commission in 1980. The house was sold to the current owners in 2012 along with the rest of the property and was renovated to restore some of its original beauty and architecture. Part of the current family lives there now.
The modern farmhouse today with modern addition
The Metropolitan Farm and Nursery
The outside plants at the farm
The outside plant and shrubs
The perennials for sale on the farm
The greenhouse flowers
The greenhouse flowers and plants
The inside of the farm store
Inside the farm store
The beautiful flowers on sale at the store
The outside grounds and the property left of this historical farm in Closter, NJ
It is interesting to see how the legacy of this family still lives on in the Twentieth century as a nursery farm but it shows how it has matured and adapted to today’s population.
Some of the descendants of these families still call Bergen County home and are also names we see on streets, towns and schools in the area.
One afternoon I took a trip into my very distant past. I visited the tiny Haring family Farm Cemetery, which is the resting place of Cornelius Haring and his family. The cemetery is what is left of what was once a several hundred acre farm owned by the extensive Haring family of Bergen County, NJ.
The burial site had been hidden for years and the site neglected until restored by Eagle Scout, Anakin Rybacki in 2020
The history of the site extends back to the 17th century. “The immigrant ancestor was Jan Pieter Haring, who came from the Netherlands in the early 1660s. He was the leader of a group that purchased 16,000 acres in the Bergen/Rockland area, after living first in New Netherlands, now Manhattan,” said family descendant Regina Haring (Brown, NorthJersey.com).
Each of the historic tombstones are encased in a plastic box
The teen who renovated this cemetery encased each of the tombstones to preserve the place and history of each person buried on the site. Most of the tombstones were left in pieces by the time the renovation had started. This small cemetery is dedicated to the people who once lived here and passed away at the farm.
The grave site of Margaret Alyea
The grave of William Holdrum
The grave of Abraham Haring
Another simple tombstone of Elizabeth Haring
Some of the tombstones needed a serious cleaning
The grave of Elizabeth Blauvelt Haring
The cemetery from the entrance of the site
The sign on the site marking the fencing for the Haring Farm Cemetery
The cemetery is an interesting example of rural life in Bergen County when these early Dutch families would bury their loved ones on the family property rather than in the local churches.
My Class visit:
I stopped in at the Haring Farm Cemetery for a tour for their class project on Historical Cemeteries for the ‘Bergen 250’. This is for another Bergecco-Parc Consulting Inc. project.
So I got there early, raked the cemetery and tidied up the tombstones and cleaned and organized the signs. It looked so much better.
The Haring Farm Cemetery the morning of the tour. Much more respectable looking.
The Old North Church in Downtown Dumont, NJ is one of a series of Dutch Reformed Churches in Bergen County. This stately church still operates on a weekly basis and services are held on Sunday mornings. The cemetery to the back of the church is historic and interns some of the original families of Bergen County, NJ.
Old North is a Protestant Church affiliated with the Reformed Church in America. It is the oldest Protestant denomination with a continuous ministry in the United States and is a member of the Presbyterian/Reformed Family of Churches.
The actual Old North congregation dates back to 1724 and was organized in that year. A congregation of the settlers in what was known as Schraalenburgh (Dutch for “low ridge”) was formed at the time under the care of the “Church on the Green” in Hackensack. In 1725, Schraalenburgh Church built – stood about a city block east of the present South Church, Bergenfield. It was octagonal in shape. The Parsonage and minister for the church were located in Hackensack.
The historic sign of the church’s building
The Church Timeline:
(Taken from the Old North Church website)
1750 (Approximately) Congregation gradually divided into two – under the leadership of two pastors both meeting in the same building.
1799 One congregation left and built the present South Church. The second congregation continued to worship in the old church for about two years.
1801 The second congregation built “North Reformed Protestant Dutch Church of Schraalenburgh” on the land given by Major Isaac Kipp. The building was erected by Peter Durie of New York, who later moved to Tenafly to be near the project
The inscription over the front door, in Dutch, reads,
“Let peace come quickly to all. The North Church at Schraalenburgh built 1801.”
“In all places where I record my name, there shall I come to thee and bless thee.” Exodus 20:24
1833 Services in Dutch entirely discontinued.
1834 Parsonage (Pastor’s house) was built.
1836 Stoves were installed in four corners of Sanctuary.
1846 Sunday School is organized and met in the balcony.
1859 Sanctuary was enlarged eighteen feet. The side walls now had four windows instead of the original three. The back west wall was reconstructed with red brick and the red sand stones that were on the west wall and are now part of the sides blending with the original stones.
1868 The first furnace was installed in the Sanctuary. The clear glass panes in the Sanctuary were replaced with colored stenciled glass from Germany.
1888 Organ was installed in front of Sanctuary (attributed to W.H. Davis) powered by a water motor.
1894 Town name was changed from Schraalenburgh to Dumont in honor of Old North parishioner and 1st Mayor, Dumont Clarke.
1911 Town clock installed in the steeple.
1912 The first Church House built.
1918 World War I, Church House used almost exclusively by soldiers from Camp Merritt.
1919 Camp Merritt Town Memorial monument placed on church property. The flagpole (since replaced) made from artillery gun barrels was moved from Camp Merritt to church yard.
Dr. John Spring began his ministry and served for 34 years. He was formerly Chaplain at Camp Merritt and saw the congregation through the difficult years of the Great Depression.
During his ministry, Old North became mother church to a number of Reformed churches in surrounding towns. Mrs. Spring served as organist & choir director.
The entrance to the church from Washington Avenue
1923 Organ rebuilt by Clark & Fenton, Nyack, NY., electrified and moved to the north wall.
1925 Old North charters Boy Scout Troop 64.
1926 Steeple hit by lightning. The first church house burned.
1949 Old North charters Cub Scout Troop 131.
1954 Major repairs and Sanctuary redecorated.
1962 New Church House dedicated.
1969 Church steeple completely renovated and the clock was removed.
1972 New Tellers 26 rank pipe organ installed. The Choir organ division was given in honor of Mrs.
Spring. Sanctuary was redecorated.
1974 Old North celebrates its 250th Anniversary. New windows installed in Church House.
Dr. Albert Van Dyke retires after 16 years of service.
1980 Complete renovation of downstairs kitchen.
1983 Reverend Richard Vander Borgh becomes 13th Pastor.
1990 The End of the Earth Church Korean Congregation shared usage of church.
1996 150th Anniversary of Sunday School.
1999 275th Anniversary Celebrated.
2000 Air conditioning installed in Sanctuary.
2001 200th Anniversary of Church building. Church steeple painted.
2002 Cross replaces Reformed Church in America Coat of Arms in the sanctuary chancel.
2006 Light Alliance Korean Church of NJ shared usage of church.
2012 3-year major renovation of steeple and structures are complete.
2013 Installation of a state of the art Carillon–- sending forth music and hymns into the community.
2014 Reverend Richard Vander Borgh retires after 31 years.
2015 Reverend Susan E. Kerr installed as the 1st woman and14th minister of Old North Reformed
Church.
2017 Stair lift installed at Chapel entrance to make the Church House and the sanctuary accessible
for all. Handicapped bathroom and baby changing station are installed.
2018 Ye Old North Thrift Shoppe community ministry begun.
Community Thrift Shoppe begun in Church House ground floor.v. Richard and
Joan Vander Borgh.
Community Thrift Shoppe begun in Church House ground floor.
The Light of Christ Church shares usage of space.
2019 Electronic LED sign installed.
Memorial Plaque dedicated for new Auditorium chairs.
The electronic sign in the front of the church.
2021 Legacy Project Renovations.
The Old North Church Cemetery:
The church cemetery to the back of the church has some of the original families of Bergen County buried in their yard. The graves go all the way up to 1911 (Wiki).
The signage for the Old North Church Cemetery
The graveyard contains some of the old families in Bergen County
Some of the oldest graves in the cemetery
Old North Church
Historical sign
The historic cemetery
The historic graveyard
The Church cemetery/graveyard sign
The historic map of the cemetery
Family grave locations
The full graveyard from the back
The Demarest family plot
Van Voorhies family plot
The Blauvelt/Zabriskie family plot
The grave of Thomas Eckerson
The Banta/Demarest Graves of Wearth and Margaret Banta
The grave of John Lozier, the Revolutionary War veteran
The grave of Issac Kipp, a Revolutionary War Veteran
The grave of Jacob D. Demar, a Revolutionary War veteran
The graves of the Nicoll family, Isaac and Deborah Woodhull Nicoll
The grave of Isaac Nicoll, a Revolutionary War Veteran
Visiting a Museum: The Unique, Unusual, Obscure and Historical 