Admission: Free; please do not walk on other people’s property
My review on TripAdvisor:
The historical marker that leads you to had path to the cemetery
History of the Cemetery:
(From the Historic Marker sign)
The historic cemetery directly in the rear of the Behnke farm contains the graves of descendants of early settlers in this area including a least two local farmer-militiamen of the American Revolution, Jacobus Brouwer and Henry Banta, as well as the grave of Cornelius Demarest, who served in the 22nd regiment of the Union Army during the Civil War (From Paramus Rotary sign).
The only way into this tiny cemetery is through z path located on Viola Road
The historic little cemetery is rich in history of the first families of Bergen County including Revolutionary War and Civil War veterans
The cemetery is the resting place of members of the Banta, Bogert, Terhune, Van Saun, Demarest, Kipp and Voorhis families
The Van Saun family graves
The Bogart family graves
The graves of the Van Saun family
The graves of the Kipp family
The graves of the Demarest family and of Cornelius Demarest of Civil War fame
Elizabeth Demarest, wife of Cornelius grave
These graves I could not figure out who they were
The graves of the Banta family
The graves of the Voorhis family
The grave of Sara Huyler, wife of John Van Saun
The graves were so covered in mold that I could not see who these people were
There is a quiet elegance to these historical cemeteries. Their well known family members relics of a past that now forgets them.
Who is buried here:
(From an survey done by George Budke in 1916)
??, B. P., d. 1780 Ackerman, Margaret, b. 10 Feb 1764, d. 6 Sep 1805, birth year may be 1767* Banta, Abram C., b. 6 Nov 1852, d. 16 Nov 1886 Banta, Agness (Van Saun), d. 21 Dec 1862, age: 78y 4m 15d, w/o Cornelius H. Banta* Banta, Benjamin Duryea, d. 3 Oct 1856, age: 5y 8m 19d, s/o Henry & Anna Maria Banta Banta, Catharine (Terhune), b. 6 Aug 1823, d. 27 Jun 1890, w/o Cornelius H. Banta Banta, Charles Augustus, d. 7 Oct 1861, age: 3m 20d, s/o Henry & Anna Maria Banta Banta, Cornelius H., b. 13 Mar 1819, d. 18 Nov 1904 Banta, Cornelius H., d. 17 Aug 1854, age: 84y 5m 9d* Banta, Elizabeth (Lake), d. 4 Sep 1817, age: 67y 8m 18d, w/o Henry Banta Banta, Garret Hopper, d. 14 Feb 1850, age: 7m, s/o Henry & Anna Maria Banta* Banta, Henry C., d. 13 Sep 1821, age: 22y 8m* Banta, Henry H., d. 29 Feb 1864, age: 69y 10m 16d Banta, Henry, b. 15 Sep 1796, d. 31 May 1798, age: 1y 8m 15d* Banta, Henry, d. 12 Aug 1817, age: 66y 1m 18d, h/o Elizabeth Lake, Veteran of the Revolutionary War Banta, Jane, d. 12 Jun 1875, age: 97y 2m 16d, w/o John H. Banta Banta, John H., d. 29 Jun 1855, age: 83y 6m 7d Banta, Lavina (Zabriskie), d. 16 Jan 1862, age: 70y 4m 12d, w/o Henry H. Banta* Banta, Lavinah Sobriskie, d. 7 Feb 1850, age: 3y 11m 10d, d/o Henry & Anna Maria Banta* Banta, Lidia (Van Saun), d. 22 Feb 1804, age: 32y 5m, w/o Cornelius Banta* Banta, Sarah, d. 8 Aug 1845, age: 2y 6m 24d, d/o Cornelius H. & Catharine Banta* Bartholf, Maria, d. 18 Feb 1870, age: 70y 5m 9d* Begart, Rebecca, d. 12 Dec 1807, age: 1y 11m 6d, d/o Samuel & Ettie Begart Bertholff, John, d. 8 Apr 1852, age: 86y 9m 15d* Bogert, Albert I., d. 22 Sep 1861, age: 84y 10m 3d* Bogert, Jacob A., d. 10 Dec 1866, age: 76y 8m 19d* Bogert, Jane (Kipp), d. 3 Jun 1853, age: 74y 3m 7d, w/o Albert I. Bogert* Bogert, John A., b. 26 Mar 1748, d. 25 Oct 1823, age: 74y 6m 30d* Bogert, Rachel (Van Saun), b. 15 Feb 1798, d. 1 Sep 1846, age: 48y 6m 16d, w/o Jacob A. Bogert* Bogert, Samuel A., d. 24 Jul 1867, age: 61y 8m 23d Bogert, Samuel I., b. 31 Mar 1778, d. 13 Apr 1830 Brouwer, Yacob, d. 26 Aug 1784, age: 58y, Veteran of the Revolutionary War* Cundlah, C. A., b. 14 Apr 1828, d. Jan ?, age: ?? Debaun, Effie (Demarest), d. 13 Dec 1862, age: 75y 8m 7d, w/o Peter C. Debaun, formerly wife of Samuel I. Bogert* Demarest, Aaron, d. 14 Mar 1838, age: 57y 6m 18d* Demarest, Christina (Bogert), d. 5 Dec 1868, age: 82y 5m 12d, w/o Aaron Demarest Demarest, Cornelius A., d. 27 May 1883, age: 66y 8m 5d, Civil War Veteran Demarest, Eliza (Banta), d. 6 Jan 1883, age: 65y 8m, w/o Cornelius A. Demarest Demarest, Elizabeth, b. 16 Jul 1792, d. 23 Mar 1869 * Demarest, Nicholas, b. 3 May 1759, d. 6 Feb 1811, age: 51y 9m 3d Kipp, Albert, d. 28 Jan 1852, age: 66y 7m 18d* Kipp, Araminta, d. 30 Dec 1853, age: 15y 4m 25d* Kipp, James Bogert, d. 25 Sep 1848, age: 21y 10m 1d* Kipp, John, d. 28 Feb 1862, age: 50y 19d Kipp, Rachel, d. 21 Jul 1854, age: 63y 10m 23d, w/o Albert Kipp* Kipp, William B., d. 21 Apr 1856, age: 65y 4m 11d Van Arsdale, James, d. 21 Apr 1855, age: 51y 5m 5d, Deacon* Van Saun, David, d. 8 Mar 1825, age: 56y 5m 3d* Van Saun, Isaac L., b. 1 Nov 1778, d. 24 Apr 1850, age: 71y 1m 23d Van Saun, Isaac, b. 17 Mar 1749, d. 9 May 1832, age: 83y 1m 22d Van Saun, Jane (Ackerman), b. 4 Apr 1754, d. 6 Oct 1822, age: 68y 6m 2d, w/o Isaac Van Saun Van Saun, Jane (Demarest), d. 9 May 1870, age: 57y 5m 9d, w/o Lucas I. Van Saun* Van Saun, John C., d. 1 Mar 1849, age: 74y 7m 4d* Van Saun, Kastyne, b. 1 Jul 178?, d. 5 Feb 1791* Van Saun, Leah (Brower), d. 5 Jun 1859, age: 93y, w/o David Van Saun* Van Saun, Lucas I., d. 31 Oct 1848, age: 34y 4m 15d Van Saun, Margaret, d. 5 Sep 1832, age: 23y 11m 15d, w/o Albert Z. Van Saun* Van Saun, Maria, b. 13 Jul 1829, d. 6 Apr 1836, d/o Albert & Margaret Van Saun* Van Saun, Rachel, b. 5 Dec 1821, d. 28 Jun 1839, age: 17y 6m 23d Van Saun, Sarah (Huyler), d. 20 Feb 1854, age: 76y 10m 17d, w/o John C. Van Saun* Van Voorhis, Jane, d. 19 Aug 1805, age: 1y 8m 2d, d/o Hendrick & Wantea Van Voorhis* Voorhis, Albert I., d. 20 Nov 1879, age: 73y 10m 20d Voorhis, John L., b. 26 Apr 1791, d. 22 Feb 1849, age: 57y 9m 26d Voorhis, Lucas J., d. 4 May 1855, age: 30y 8m 25d Westervelt, Jane (Ackerman), b. 29 Jul 1769, d. 2 Jul 1851, age: 81y 11m 3d, w/o Henry Westervelt Wortendyke, Cornelius, d. 12 Feb 1843, age: 3y 10m 12d, s/o Cornelius & Lydia Wortendyke*
Admission: Free, the gates are open across from the baseball field.
My review on TripAdvisor:
The sign for the French Burying Ground
The historic marker in the front of the cemetery
The French Burying Ground
The French Ground is a small historic cemetery once sat next to the French Church and the David Demarest House, that has since been moved to the Bergen County Historical Society site.
The Demarest House at the Bergen County Historical Society
The graves of members of the Bogert, Demarest and Christi families
The History of the French Burying Ground:
(from the New Jersey Historic Trust)
Thought to be oldest cemetery in Bergen County, the French Huguenot-Demarest Cemetery was established in 1677 as the final resting place for prominent French Huguenot and Dutch settlers in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. David Demarest purchased approximately 2,000 acres of land along the east bank of the Hackensack River from Native Americans in 1677 to establish a colony of French-Huguenots.
The cemetery is all that remains of the original French-Huguenot colony and has more than four dozen descendants of Demarest family buried on site. The Borough of New Milford acquired the property in 2018 and has been working closely with the New Milford Historic Preservation Commission to plan for its restoration and future interpretation.
The French Burying site sign
The cemetery (technically a graveyard since there was a church once here) is the final resting place of many of Bergen Counties Revolutionary War veterans as well as many prominent families including the Demarest, the Bogert and the Christie families. These were some of the founding families of Bergen County.
The graves of the prominent Bogert and Van Saun families
The cemetery has a quiet elegance about it with the many different styles of tombstones and the sheer history of these families and their contributions to the creation of our country.
The historical marker notes the cemetery was first used in 1677 after an agreement with the Native Americans
The back part of the cemetery
Members of the Bogert family
Members of the prominent Bogert family
Members of the prominent Demarest family with Revolutionary War veteran Reverend John Demarest
Members of the prominent Demarest family
The historic marker of the original church site
There are many of the veterans of the Revolutionary War buried at the site some of which survived the battles and went on to have productive lives in their communities.
Veteran John Van Norden
Veteran Uzal Meeker
Veteran John Demarest
Veteran Cornelius Bogert
Veteran Willimpie Bogart Demarest
The grave of Patriot Abraham Demarest
This cemetery, like the rest of the small cemeteries and graveyards that dot Bergen County show the history and significance of these families contributions of the residents of early Bergen County and how they shaped the founding of this country.
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.
The South Presbyterian Church at 150 West Church Street in Bergenfield, NJ
The historic marker in front of the church
I was in Bergenfield, NJ recently to visit the Bergenfield Museum and I walked around this beautiful church and the graveyard next to it. What a beautiful, graceful building and the cemetery had an old New England charm about it. The graveyard held the graves of many of the original family members who founded the County and lived in Bergen County since the late 1600’s.
The inside of the church
The church sat in this beautiful area right next to Cooper Park off Downtown Bergenfield. I can’t wait to take a look inside one day.
The inside of the church during Sunday services
The Mission Statement from the Church:
(from the church website)
“As followers of the risen Lord, we, the South Presbyterian Church family, commit ourselves to proclaim the gospel, witness to the promise of God’s Kingdom, and nurture all children of God. In our community and throughout the world, we will serve in Christ’s name through worship and mission. We will serve through open worship, willing service and compassion to all for the glory of God wherever our lives shall take us.”
The historic marker of the church
History of the Church:
(from the church website)
SOUTH CHURCH is descended from the first Schraalenburgh congregation established in 1723. The first church building was constructed beginning in 1724, and fully completed by 1728. This was approximately 36 feet square with a Dutch hip roof ascending to a central belfry and steeple.
The front of the church cemetery
This church stood atop a small hill just west of Long Swamp Brook, facing south and fronting on the new county road laid down in 1717. Using today’s landmarks, we can describe the site as the southeast corner of the present cemetery, directly across Church Street from the South Church House. For more than seventy years, this small church building served the farmers of Schraalenburgh. The site of the new church was apparently chosen because of the presence of a large spring across the road near Long Swamp Brook.
The historic graveyard with some of the original families of Bergen County
The philosophy of the Dutch Reformed Church shaped the growth and development in the early years of the church’s existence. In the more than two and a half centuries of its history, the members of the congregation had to choose many times between the strictly puritanical concepts and the more convenient religious beliefs, and invariably chose the puritanical. Some members were the patriots of the Revolution while others were Tories. In 1799, the new South Schraalenburgh Church was built a short distance to the west of the original building.
The historic cemetery during the Fall of 2024
Because of differences within the congregation in the late 1700s, two groups were formed and when a decision was made to build a new church, the opposing group withdrew, purchased land and built the North Schraalenburgh (now Dumont) Reformed Church in 1801. In May 1866 the congregation voted to enlarge and remodel the building, adding 15 feet to the north end and replacing part of two windows in the front with doors on each side of the original single door, as you see it now. This was completed in 1867.
The Church graveyard
In the past century, the building has had its share of modernizations— candlelight gave way to oil lamps, and in turn to electrification. Heat was installed, first coal fired, then oil, now gas, although the old drafts persist to this day. However, the charm and grace of the old Dutch Church at Schraalenburgh have remained. The South Church House completed and dedicated in September 1952, on the corner of West Church and Franklin Avenue, is used by the church for various classes and events and many community organizations meet there. In 2002 South Presbyterian Church celebrated the 50th Anniversary of the Church House.
The historic graveyard at the side of the church in the oldest part
The South Presbyterian Church was placed on the National Registry December 6, 1975 and the Manse on August 24, 1979, both through the efforts of Mrs. Adrian Leiby. In 1913, after much discussion, the congregation chose to unite with the Presbyterian Church. Today, after almost 3 centuries of building and remodeling, separating and uniting, South Presbyterian Church in Bergenfield remains committed to the values of those Christian farmers who first gathered at this site to worship in 1723. . . steadfast in purpose and faith.
The Demarest family plot
The Church is especially beautiful at the holidays all decorated with wreathes and garland.
The South Church decorated for Christmas
The fences are so nicely decorated for the holidays
The outside of the church decorated for the holidays
The front of the church at dusk
The front doors are so welcoming at the holidays
The Bergecco-Parc Consulting Inc. Project promoting the church for “Dark Tourism”:
In a recent project I created for my Marketing Students at Bergen Community College in Paramus, NJ, under the fictional company “Bergecco-Parc Consulting Inc.”, the Teams were tasked in creating a project that promoted the South Presbyterian Church for “Dark Tourism”, meaning that we promoted their historic cemetery for a historic walking tour concentrating on the Demarest family plot.
Here are the videos on the Bergenfield, NJ Historic sites project:
We walked through the park again to my take note of its Depression era past and beautiful views and colors and made our way to the historic South Presbyterian Church and its historic graveyard where the second half of the project would take place.
South Presbyterian Church at 150 West Church Avenue
Touring the South Church graveyard for the historical walking tour with members of the Church volunteer staff
The tour was lead by Bob Carpenter, a historian who is helping renovate this historical graveyard
The tour of the historical Demarest family plot, which ties into the museum building’s historical past, was lead by historian Bob Carpenter, who is helping the church renovate and restore the graveyard. Mr. Carpenter explained to us how he was fixing all the plots and historic tombstones and how the maintenance of the stones needs to be carefully done.
Mr. Carpenter explains how to maintain the tombstones in these historic graveyards
Video of the walking tour of the historic graveyard:
Both the church volunteers and Mr. Carpenter explaining to the students how families were buried in the 1700and 1800’s
We finished the tour that afternoon inside the South Church to learn its history in the community. Though it will not be part of the project, the church offered the students a glimpse into Bergen County’s past as the original church was built before the Revolutionary War.
The Student Consultants touring the pews of the South Church
Once the tour was complete, the Student Consultants had a better understanding of the locations where the project will take place.
The new project will include walking tours, historical aspects of all three locations, and ways of creating a Destination Marketing Plan for domestic and foreign tourism. This will take place when the Student Consultants present their ideas to myself and the museum and church staffs.
The student consultants had four weeks to this project and put together their game plans. The had to put together commercials to promote the Bergenfield Museum, Coopers Pond Park and the historical cemetery of the South Church. As an extra credit assignment, I had the students develop a Halloween walking tour with food and create a separate commercial for this of which three of the for groups completed.
Here is their Presentation of the Project Promoting the Historic sites of Bergenfield, NJ. This section of videos was on promoting the South Presbyterian Church:
The South Church Cemetery is one of the oldest and historic cemeteries in Bergen County and home to the Demarest family plot, one of the most prominent families in Bergen County. The students were tasked with creating a short Walking Tour video promotion for the project to promote the South Church for tourism.
Team One:
Commercial Two:
Team Two:
Team Three:
Team Four:
*Special Note: I credit my Marketing 201 students at Bergen Community College with all of this work and the dedication that they gave the class. Excellent job everyone!
For my International Marketing class in Spring 2026, I created a new Team Project based on Daughters of the Revolutionary War’s listing of Bergen County Veteran’s.
This semester I attempted one of the toughest Team projects in all the historical projects I have created, taking the listing of the Daughters of the American Revolution created for Bergen County Historical Division for the “Bergen 250”and we took it to another level.
I challenged the students to visit all the cemeteries and graveyards on the listing (using my blog if needed), find the tombstones of the veterans of the Revolutionary War and photograph them. Then they needed to create a biography of each of the veterans.
From there, they needed to create a short video of that site and put it all into a QR code so visitors can find them. It was a big challenge but I knew this class could do it. There was something about the personality of this class that would make it work.
I then planned a series of field trips so that the students could visit particular sites in a more formal tour. I asked a lot of the contacts who I have met over the years to help me out so the students could see why this project was so important to the 250th Anniversary to both our County and our Country. It took a lot to plan and execute. I gave them six weeks to do the research and create other sections of the project.
Our last field trip was to the church for another visit with Bob Carpenter and Melissa Naylis, who led a new group of students on a tour through the graveyard to learn about history, restoration, and how marble is chiseled.
We worked with Melissa Naylis, who is leading the renovation of the church and master carver, Bob Carpenter, who showed us how he is restoring the graveyard. He had led one of my previous classes when we visited the graveyard for my ‘Bergen 250’ project.
Master Carver Bob Carpenter leading our tour
The South Presbyterian Church and the Demarest family plot
The Demarest family plot
Melissa Naylis starting the tour with us
The students got to learn of the important history of the grave sites and why they are an important piece of the United States founding. The were the men who fought for our freedom and the wives and families that supported the effort.
Melissa leading the tour and introducing Bob Carpenter to us
Melissa Naylis explaining the work that is being done in the graveyard
Bob Carpenter explains his work
Some of the earliest tombstones in the graveyard
Bob Carpenter explaining the renovation
Bob Carpenter talking about the Demarest plot renovation
Pastor Glen from the Old South Presbyterian Church introducing himself to the students and joining us on this part of the tour.
Talking about the care of the tombstones
Talking about care of the tombstones
We then moved to tombstone of the founder of Rutgers University for a marble carving demonstration. Bob Carpenter wanted the students to know the effort into carving into stone and brought the tools of that era and a piece of marble for the students to use. The students got a kick out of this and some really enjoyed it.
Bob explaining the work of a marble carver
Describing the process
My students giving it a try
My student Amy, carving marble
My student, Walid, carving on marble
Demonstrating the process
After the demonstration, we talked about the work of the Demarest family and their contributions within Bergen County.
The founder of Rutgers University, John Henry Goetscheus and a member of the extended Demarest family.
Our Team picture after the tour
Taking a quick tour of the graveyard after the formal tour, the Blauvelt-Kipp family burial ground
Visiting a Museum: The Unique, Unusual, Obscure and Historical 