Discovering hidden historical and cultural gems in Manhattan & Beyond
Category: Small Historical Societies in New Jersey
Bergecco-Parc Consulting Inc. CEO/Co-Founder Professor Justin Watrel and his Executive Team outside the Wortendyke Barn in Park Ridge, NJ for a Team Field Trip.
Perry Cemetery-Harrington Park Historical Society
Old Hook Road
Harrington Park, NJ 07640
(201)768-2615
http://www.harringtonparkhistoricalsociety.com/
https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=241777
Open: Dusk to Dawn
Admission: Free
My review on TripAdvisor:
The historical significance of for the cemetery
The Perry family cemetery is a small family plot in Harrington Park, NJ and example of a time when families still buried their loved ones on property that family’s thought would be there for generations. Many generations of the family are buried here showing the family’s love of this land but like too many tiny cemeteries throughout Bergen County have been lost in time by the family buried there.
Today it sits quiet and respectful and somewhat over grown. Nature now surrounds it.
The Perry Cemetery History:
(From the Harrington Park Historical Society)
The Perry Cemetery is a small family burial ground located on what was the farm of David Perry (1809-1871). The Old Burying Ground cemetery is part of the land apportioned to Garret Huybertsen Blauvelt, son of one of the original sixteen grantees of the Tappan Patent approved by the Governor of New York in 1686. Although there are believed to be earlier ones, the first known burial was in 1722 and the last in 1905.
The Perry Family Cemetery sits quietly on a stretch of Old Hook Road
(From the Harrington Park Historical Society)
The Perry Cemetery is situated in the Borough of Harrington Park on Old Hook Road, east of Bogert’s Mill Road opposite the United Water Company building. David Perry had devised by his will, signed on July 18,1868 that: “the burying ground where the same now is, westerly of my dwelling house, of the use of 40’ square, I give unto all my children to be kept by them and their posterity as a place of burial forever.”
The Perry family tree of loved ones buried at the cemetery
(From the Historical Marker Database)
When David wrote his will, his great-grandson Perry Cole (1866-1867) already had been buried in the small plot. By the end of 1871, six members of the Perry Family had been laid to rest within yards of the family house. The last burial at the cemetery was that of David’s great-grandson, Claude Yeomans (1887-1940). There are a total of twelve people interred at the Perry Cemetery.
The untimely death of many members of David’s family is a reminder of the struggles and uncertainties that people of that period routinely endured. The property remained in the Perry Family until the 1920s when it was purchased by the Hackensack Water Company to become part of the Oradell Reservoir. The graves are laid out in four even rows facing East and the markers are either marble or granite.
The Perry Family tree starting with the marriage of David Perry to Catherine Blauvelt
Son Henry and Daughter Rachel’s tombstones
Patriarchs David Perry and his wife, Catherine Blauvelt Perry
The last David Perry to be buried in the family plot
The family plot facing the stream
The Patriarchs of the family stand in the middle
The newest graves in the cemetery
The latest burials in the family plot
Video on the Perry Cemetery from the Harrington Park Historical Society
Old Burying Ground/Blauvelt Cemetery-Harrington Park Historical Society
Tappan Road
Harrington Park, NJ 07640
(201). 768-2615
https://www.findagrave.com/cemetery/1653309/harrington-park-old-burial-ground
http://www.harringtonparkhistoricalsociety.com/
Open: Dawn to Dusk
Admission: Free
My review on TripAdvisor:
The historical marker for the Old Burying Ground
The wall outside the cemetery
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 1740 Miller-Kingsland House-Boonton Historical Society
445 Vreeland Avenue
Boonton, NJ 07005
Open: For special events and the Pathways Tours-Contact Boonton Historical Society
My review on TripAdvisor:
The Miller-Kingsland Homestead at 445 Vreeland Avenue
I went to visit the Miller-Kingsland Homestead, which is part of the Boonton Historical Society, during the Morris County’s Pathway’s tour and discovered a beautiful little historical home situated on picturesque piece of property. I saw by the signs that the grounds were maintained by the local Garden Club, who did a wonderful job landscaping the grounds.
The Living Room in the extension on the house
The portraits of Mr. & Mrs. Kingsland
The Dining Room in the old section of the home
The historic home is filled with period furnishings and decorations, none it seems local to the home. Still you can see how the home has changed over the years with additions and renovations. The older part of the home is now part of the Dining Room.
The Pewter ware collection on the Dining Room table
The fireplace in the original house kitchen now in the Dining Room
The formal Dining Room in the extension of the house
The formal Dining Room in the newer section of the home
The antique China Closet with Teapots
The outside of the house
The grounds of the home
The house sits on a quiet bend in the road and the properties landscaping was just beautiful. Even on this gloomy, rainy day, it was nice to walk around quickly and admire the flower beds and the lawn.
The grounds of the home
The outside gardens of the home in the Spring
The History of the home:
(From the Boonton Historical Society Pathways Tour Book and Wiki):
When Isaac Kingsland purchased the property on Vreeland Avenue from Jacob Miller c 1798, he began a dynasty that would include four New York City lawyers, a comptroller of the City of New York, a Civil War aide to General Benjamin Butler, a college president, three nuns, and a troupe of nationally known marionettes. Similarly, the property itself went from small to large to small again, from the home of farmers, a carpenter and a blacksmith, to a boarding home for horses and the headquarters and studio premises for a company of touring entertainers (Boonton Historical Society).
The Miller-Kingsland House is the oldest recorded home in Boonton. The original Dutch house was one-room with a sleeping attic, built by Johannes Miller around 1740. This room, which is complete with a large cooking fireplace and beehive oven, makes up the west wing of the current structure. The property was sold to Isaac Kingsland in 1798. He added the two and one-half story main section in 1808. It features Dutch style and a gambrel roof (Wiki).
The Miller-Kingsland house sits on a beautiful wooded landscape with a stream flowing through it. The property today comprises some 2.5 acres including the historic frame house and a barn. It is the oldest recorded house in Boonton and is listed on the NJ and National Registers of Historic Places (Boonton Historical Society).
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