I visited the Alpine Cemetery, which is a historical active cemetery just off Closter Dock Road. This is the resting place of Revolutionary War Veteran, William Wilson and many other veterans from the Civil, Spanish American, World War I and II as well as from Vietnam, Korea and Desert Storm. All the graves were marked with American flags as we just finished Memorial Day weekend.
The family plots that separate the site
My International Marketing class at Bergen Community College recently did a complete study and marketing plan for the “Bergen250” on the Revolutionary War veterans buried at graveyards and cemeteries all over Bergen County, NJ:
For a Mapping of all the historic graveyards and cemeteries, I had the students visit all the sites that the Daughters of the American Revolution had researched and I had the students find all the locations, photo the tombstones and create a bio on each of the veterans. I enclosed a copy of their work above.
My blog on the historic graveyards and cemeteries of Bergen County:
There are many family plots of “First Family’s” of Bergen County like the Westervelt’s, the Haring’s and the Campell’s. The family plots are separated by small fences and some are marked by the family names.
The cemetery on the hill in Alpine, NJ
The separate family burial plots
The Campbell Family burial plot
The Campbell family plots
The Van Sciver family plots
The Anthony Family plots
The Anthony family plot
The Haring Family plot
The Haring family obelisk
The Westervelt family plot
The Jordan/Wilson family plot
I looked at the Wilson family plot for the Revolutionary War veteran but the burial spot is probably has been lost to time. William Wilson may be lost to history but I know he was buried here.
The front part of the cemetery
The Veteran’s Memorial Rock with the names of World War I and II, Vietnam and Korea veterans
The Van Valen family plots
The Pearsall family plots
The Older family plots
The burial grounds from the front
There is a quiet elegance to these historic cemeteries. Who were these people? What did they do? Do people remember them? They are very interesting places to visit.
The history of the cemetery:
(From the historic sign)
The cemetery was founded in 1822 by resident William Gecox along Closter Dock Road when he bought 23 and a half acres as a burial ground for neighbors and for laborers who worked in the area. Mr. Gecox sold these plots on what had already been a burial ground.
The people buried in the cemetery were farmers, laborers, and tradesmen and their family. By 1870, the village “in the Closter Mountain” had take the name “Alpine” in the 1890’s. When William and his wife, Susan Helms pass in the 1890’s, their children sold the remaining plots. The cemetery has continued to be used into the twenty-first century.
The Union Cemetery of The First Presbyterian Church of Ramsey, NJ
History of the Cemetery:
(from the church website)
Union Cemetery is a religious cemetery located at 316 Darlington Ave. in Ramsey, NJ. The cemetery is owned and managed by the First Presbyterian Church in Ramsey. As a religious cemetery, the cemetery is restricted under New Jersey state law and is not open to the general public. Only members of a Christian church and their immediate relatives may be interred at the cemetery.
The historic cemetery from the road. To the left is the oldest part of the cemetery
Entering the cemetery from Darlington Avenue
The newer part of the cemetery is to the right of the driveway
I was visiting the Union Cemetery in search of veterans of the Revolutionary War and found an interesting cemetery with a deep history in Bergen County. Many first families of Bergen County are buried here and veterans not just from the Revolutionary War but the Civil War all the way up to today are buried in this active town cemetery.
The older part of the cemetery is to the left of the driveway. These tombstones are from the early 1800’s.
The older part of the cemetery dates back to before the Revolutionary War
Many of the early family plots are located here with well known names like Hopper, Christie, Ackerman and the town’s namesake, the Ramsey family, whose family plot is in the oldest section of the cemetery.
The grave of Hannah Jane Ramsey in the Ramsey family plot
Part of the Ramsey family plot
The Ramsey family plot
The Union Cemetery to find the graves of Revolutionary War veterans and found some but not all of them. The tombstones are so worn after over two hundred years that they either had disappeared or were so worn you could not read them.
The oldest section of the cemetery where many veterans both from the Revolutionary and Civil War are buried. It was hard to read many of the tombstones. Some the veterans were buried in their family plots, others with their spouses separately. The burials were concentrated in the oldest part of the cemetery. Most of the veterans have been honored with American flags.
The first tombstones I found were from Ackerman family members
I could not make out the name of this Ackerman member but I figured it was one of the brothers wife
The grave of veteran John P. Post
The Post family history:
(from the Saddle River Historical Society website)
The Post family was of Dutch descent. The first Post was a soldier, who came here to protect the new settlements along the Hudson. They soon turned to milling; the name Post is attached to several mills in Bergen and Rockland Counties. Joseph Post, born in 1775, built a mill on the west branch of the Saddle River about 1800. He also opened a tavern and store on what is now West Saddle River Road, just north of Parker Place, across from the entrance to the mill.
The graves of members of the community at that time including the grave of John P. Post
The grave of veteran William Vanderbeck
The grave of a member of the Van Brock family, who was married to James Ramsey
I was not too sure who this was but by the veteran’s flower I am assuming the grave of veteran John Van Blarcom
The grave of Hannah (I believe Ackerman)
The Christie family plot
The Hopper family plot
The Hopper Family history:
(from the Saddle River Historical Society website)
The Hopper family is one of the oldest of European descent in Bergen County. Andries Hopper came from the Netherlands to New Amsterdam in the 1640’s. His widow and her son Hendrick were in the Polifly area (Hackensack) by the late 1600s. There was land to be had in the unsettled areas of what became Bergen County. Hendrick’s two oldest sons, Andries and Jan settled in the HoHoKus area (part of Paramus) around 1712. The Hopper name appears on many old homes and mills on early maps of the area. It was two of Andries’ children, Abram and Jan, who settled sometime around 1730 along the Saddle River in what is now Upper Saddle River.
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
My International Marketing class at Bergen Community College recently did a complete study and marketing plan for the “Bergen250” on the Revolutionary War veterans buried at graveyards and cemeteries all over Bergen County, NJ:
For a Mapping of all the historic graveyards and cemeteries, I had the students visit all the sites that the Daughters of the American Revolution had researched and I had the students find all the locations, photo the tombstones and create a bio on each of the veterans. I enclosed a copy of their work above.
My blog on the historic graveyards and cemeteries of Bergen County:
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*
The Visitors Center offers a very interesting and thorough display of the Revolutionary and of the War effort by ordinary citizens.
The Main Gallery of the Visitors Center
About the park:
Fort Lee Historic Park is set on 33 landscaped acres atop the Palisades just south of the George Washington Bridge, with spectacular overlooks of the Hudson, Manhattan, and the George Washington Bridge. There are a Visitor Center and Museum, reconstructed 18th Century soldier hut and campsite, and reconstructed gun batteries.
Fort Lee has been named as a significant stop on the Hudson River Valley National Heritage Area Revolutionary War trail (The Fort Lee Historic Park website).
The Visitor’s Center and Museum of the site tells the story of the battles fought, the retreats done and the important role that Fort Lee played in the history and foundation of this country. Each display shows the life and times of these brave men and women who survived famine and war to help build a nation.
Artifacts of the soldiers equipment
Artifacts of American soldiers
Washington returns to Fort Lee
Washington Returns to Fort Lee
The battles and triumphs of General Washington, his fellow generals and the troops during the war effort.
The American defenses
American Women’s display
Women’s accessories during the Revolutionary War
Women’s clothing
The Patriot display in the back gallery
The Patriot display
Spying on the British
The Battle of the Palisades
Cannonballs from the War
The second floor galleries at the Visitors Center better describe the people involved with the war effort
Visiting a Museum: The Unique, Unusual, Obscure and Historical 