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
The Pascack Reformed Church is one of those historic centers to a town that dot New England and set the tone for a town. The church gives a town its ‘classic’ look and it bases for the development of the town. This elegant church is located on Pascack Road, one of the early Colonial byways of Bergen County, NJ and is one of the few remaining churches from the Revolutionary War era.
Built in 1813, it has that unique look of a time when religion played a more important role in people’s lives and was the center of the community. Its cemetery is the resting place of many of the ‘first’ families of Bergen County including the Demarest, Wortendyke, Bogart, Terhune, Van Ripper and Haring families whose names are still part of the county.
Walking in the cemetery is a experience to know the history of our State and the contribution that these families had in the creation of the State of New Jersey. There is a quiet elegance of a historic cemetery in the fall around Halloween. It is as if the spirits of the past remind us of the future that lies ahead of us. Plus it has the classic “New England” look of a church and its cemetery. It is a piece of Bergen County history that most people just pass. Please take time to walk the grounds in the Fall and Spring and experience an open air museum of what has made our County what it is today.
Please also show respect to the people buried there.
The History of the Pascack Reformed Church:
(from the Pascack Reformed Church website)
In the 1700’s the early settlers of the Dutch Reformed faith in the Pascack Valley attended the churches of Tappan, Schraalenburgh, (Bergenfield-Dumont), Paramus and Saddle River. As the population increased they desired a church in their own vicinity. On May 27, 1787, residents of Pascack petitioned the Classis of Hackensack to form a church. Another meeting was held in Hackensack for the purpose of forming a church, but since no one from the Pascack area attended, the matter was closed.
Over the next 25 years several attempts were made to establish a church in Pascack. In 1812, following the separation of the Saddle River church from the Paramus church, the people of Saddle River offered to unite with the people of Pascack and to assist them in building a house of worship. The two congregations would be one church, with services held on alternating Sundays at Pascack and Saddle River.
The Pascack Reformed Church Historic Marker
On October 23,1812, Peter Wortendyke his wife Matze, and Abraham Campbell and his wife Margaret deeded one acre of land to John J. Demarest, Garret J. Ackerson, Albert Wortendyke and John J. Blauvelt, appointed trustees for the building of the Reformed Dutch Church as Pascack, for the sum of $60.00 (current New York State money).
The historic church graveyard next to the church in the Fall of 2024
At this time, the church building was begun as members of the Saddle River and Pascack congregations took part in the construction of the edifice. The shell of the building was completed that fall, and the Rev. Stephen Goetschius presided at its dedication. The interior was completed in the spring of 1813, and the founding date of the church has been reckoned as May 3, 1813. The front and Pascack Road side of the church was constructed of sandstone quarried locally while fieldstone was used for the rear wall and east side.
The Demarest/Wortendyke/Banta family graveyard
In 1814 the boundary line of the Paramus church located one quarter mile to the south of the Pascack was annulled. A plan for the new church to be constitutionally organized was drawn up once consent was gained from consistories of neighboring congregations (whose members might wish to join the new congregation). On the third Tuesday of June in 1814, the Classis of Paramus met at Pascack and selected a committee to elect a consistory for the church. Those chosen Elders were John T. Eckerson, John Campbell, Garret Duryie, Esq., Jacob Banta, Esq. Deacons chosen were Garret J. Ackerman, Edward Eckeson, Hendric Storm and John F. Demarest. The newly installed pastor of the Saddle River Church, the Rev. Stephen Goetschius, became President of the Consistory.
The church sign outside the church.
On August 29, 1814, with about 48 members, the new church was officially organized and incorporated as “The Consistory of the Congregation of Pascack in the County of Bergen.” This declaration was signed and sealed by all members of the Consistory on that date.
The historic graveyard next to the church
Following its organization, the Pascack Church and the Saddle River church became separate congregations served by one pastor, the Rev. Stephen Goetschius, who resided in the Goetschius family home (which still stands at East Saddle River Road and Lake Street in present day Upper Saddle River). Goetschius continued to be pastor of both churches until 1835 when he resigned due to old age. When he was over 80 years old, he could still ride a horse between the two churches! He passed from this life in the year 1837.
The Historic graveyard during the Fall of 2024
In 1834 with the advanced age of the previous pastor, the Rev. John Manley was called and become pastor of both churches upon the resignation of Stephen Goetschius in 1835. During this year there was some sentiment for separation between the two churches, as it became apparent that each congregation desired a minister of its own. Manley continued to serve as the pastor of the Saddle River Church until 1866 and served the Pascack Church as minister until 1853 when the latter church desired to have a service every Sunday. He lived on a small farm in the present day Upper Saddle River and was also engaged in farming. Manley died in New Brunswick, NJ on May 21,1871.
The year 1853 saw the start of a movement to obtain additional land for the expansion of the church cemetery and the erection of a parsonage due to the calling of a full time minister to serve the congregation at Pascack. On August 24,1855, a deed was given by Peter P. Wortendyke and Polly, his wife, to the Consistory of the church at Pascack for 15 acres of land for the consideration of $1,600.00. (Of this 15 acre parcel a portion was later sold to the Hackensack Water Company and another portion to the Borough of Park Ridge. Of the remaining 7.98 acres, 3.7 acres are in cemetery usage; the remainder is used for the parsonage and the Park Ridge Barrier Free Housing.) The first parsonage was built in 1855 on the site of the present church parsonage at Pascack Road and Fremont Avenue.
The inside of the church:
The interior of the church before service
The beautiful stained glass windows
The beautiful stained glass windows of the church
Upon the departure of the Rev. John Manley in 1854, a call was made upon the Rev. John T. Demarest, who accepted the call and became the third pastor of the church and its first full time minister. Pastor Demarest and his family were the first to occupy the newly built parsonage. In 1857 John Demarest received an Honorary Doctor of Divinity Degree from Rutgers College and remained at Pascack until 1867. He died in New Brunswick, NJ on January 30,1897 and was buried at New Prospect, NY.
In 1868 the Rev. Benjamin Bartholf became pastor and served for five years. In 1872 a plan was put forth to tear down the church and replace it with a $12,000 edifice. That plan did not succeed and the original building remained.
The years 1873-1875 saw the church without a pastor. During this time the original stone building was remodeled at a cost of nearly $4,000, and its interior was renovated and refurnished. The parsonage was also rebuilt at this time at a cost of $1,000. A minister of the Classis, the Rev. Alexander McKelvey, served the congregation as its “Stated Supply Pastor.”
On April 20,1875, the Rev. Edward Lodewick was installed as pastor; his tenure continued for the next 28 years. On May 11, 1900 a reception was held for Rev. Lodewick and his wife in honor of the 25 anniversary of his pastorate. After his passing in the year 1910, Mrs. Lodewick erected a plaque to his memory at the rear of the Sanctuary.
Work was begun on the Parish House (Sunday School Building) in 1885 and was completed in 1887. The Church Sunday School–in existence as early as 1841, and which had previously met in the church balcony and the barn of G. J. Ackerman on Werimus Road in the present day Woodcliff Lake–now had a home of its own.
Another unsuccessful attempt was made to replace the church building in the year 1890. The next year saw the original church remodeled with the balcony lowered to its present form. A new bell was installed above the tower. A few years later the bell became the first fire alarm system for the newly formed Park Ridge Fire Department when its pull rope was extended to ground level on the outside of the tower. Further remodeling in the year 1893 included an addition to the rear of the church, and the choir was relocated from the balcony to a new loft behind the pulpit.
With the resignation of Mr. Lodewick in 1903 the church was once again without a pastor; on April 10, 1904, the Rev. Francis A. Seibert was installed as the new minister. On October 9, 1912, the congregation celebrated the 100th anniversary of the passing of the deed for the church property. The Sunday School’s celebration continued the next evening.
In 1921 the church received its first pipe organ, which was given by the family of J. Boyce Smith in his memory. During the month of April 1929 the church observed the twenty-fifth anniversary of Mr. Seibert’s pastorate and at a public reception the membership presented him with a fully equipped insured and licensed Chevrolet Coupe along with $125.00 for operating expenses of the vehicle. In addition to his faithful devotion to the congregation, Mr. Seibert was very much involved in service to the community; he served as Mayor of Park Ridge from 1914 to 1918.
On September 12,1931, the church was re-incorporated as “The Pascack Reformed Church of Park Ridge, New Jersey, Inc.” Six years later in 1937 the congregation celebrated its 125th year of ministry. The end of the decade saw the passing of Mr. Seibert after 35 years of service to the Pascack Reformed Church. His pastorate is the longest on record, and he was the last minister to occupy the old parsonage.
The Rev. James Reid served as the next pastor for a short time, and was followed by the Rev. Francis E. Potter, who along with his wife moved into the newly constructed parsonage, which had been erected at a cost of $6,000. His ministry to the congregation was interrupted from 1944 to 1946 while he served as a Chaplain in the U.S. Navy. During that time the Rev. Gordon Markey served as the Interim Pastor.
During the 1940’s the church moved forward with an active Women’s Missionary Society, which maintained projects at home and abroad along, as well as a Ladies Aid Society which was active in fundraising activities. The Youth Group was very active at this time and an Evening Guild was established. In 1949 the Choir produced a show which raised enough money for new robes, and the first Men’s Club came into existence at this time. The same year saw the departure of Mr. Potter and shortly after, in September, the Rev. Wilbur E. Ivins was installed as pastor.
During the 1950’s the Upper Pascack Valley area grew and developed and so did the church. With greater activities it was necessary to renovate the basement of the Sunday School Building (previously known as the Parish House) along with an addition in 1953 with a complete renovation of the remainder of the building.
In 1955 the Evening Guild oversaw the work of illuminating the steeple. The same year saw the beginning of a weekly newsletter now known as “THE SPIRE.” Also in 1955 a retirement dinner was held for Mrs. George Bennet who retired after 50 years as Church Organist. In 1959 the 1893 addition to the church was demolished and replaced with the present much larger structure. Extensive rebuilding was done to the original portion of the church building (including removal of the wooden floor and the installation of a concrete floor topped off with tile). In 1960 the present pipe organ was installed in memory of Elsie Holloway Gowell, and in 1961 the Edward J. Sisley Memorial Carillon was dedicated. The year 1962 marked the 150th year of the life of the congregation and was celebrated by a year-long series of services and activities, including a Historical Pageant on October 28th.
In 1963 Mr. Ivins moved on to another church and a seminary student, Robert H. Pope, arrived for a summer assignment to fill in the gap until a new minister could be found. Mr. Pope liked the church and a delegation from the congregation informed him that they would be willing to wait until his graduation if he would accept a call to be the next pastor of the Pascack Reformed Church. He accepted and was ordained and installed in June of 1964, thereby becoming the tenth pastor in the history of the church.
Like many congregations Pascack Reformed Church felt the need for more space in the early 1960’s; therefore the Sunday School Building was renovated Fellowship Hall added to the Sunday School Building in 1965. (Previous plans for the Hall were for the erection of a separate building on a portion of land purchased in 1957, land now used for the church parking lot.) With the addition of Fellowship Hall the church opened its doors as a meeting place for various groups, a tradition that continues to this day.
In the nation’s bicentennial year, 1976, Pascack Reformed Church was honored with the erection and dedication of the Historical Marker which stands adjacent to the original church building on Pascack Road.
With the need for handicapped housing in the area becoming apparent in the early 1980’s, numerous members of the congregation led a movement which resulted in the erection of the Park Ridge Barrier Free Housing Complex (Woodland Gardens) on the unused portion of the Church Cemetery. The complex is accessible to Sulak Lane, and provides access for people with handicaps to reach various businesses and local facilities.
The 175th Anniversary celebration began with a church picnic in September of 1987, followed by various events to mark the occasion, and ended with a closing service on May l, 1988, in which former pastor Wilbur Ivins took part. The day concluded with refreshments in Fellowship Hall, during which historical items were on display.
Mr. Pope and his family were honored for his twenty-fifth anniversary as Pastor of Pascack Reformed Church on June 11, 1989, at a well attended luncheon after the Sunday morning service. Less than a year later, in March of 1990, he announced his plans for retirement and that December 30th would be his last Sunday.
In 1990 the congregation learned of the passing of former Pastor Francis E. Potter. On the afternoon of December 9th a “Retirement Worship Service” was held for Mr. Pope which was attended by well over 200 people. After the service a reception, which lasted well into the evening, was held in Fellowship Hall. Robert Pope along with his wife, Joey, departed for their retirement home in Walton, New York early the next month and shortly after Rev. David H. Smith became the interim pastor, who served until the arrival of the Rev. Paul G. Janssen in October of 1991.
The pastorate of Rev. Janssen had an unusual beginning when shortly before his installation service at 4:00 p.m. in the afternoon of Sunday, October 20,1991, the ballast of a fluorescent tube in the church balcony burned out. The ballast’s untimely death caused a smell of smoke in the building, so the Park Ridge Volunteer Fire Department was called to the scene and after a thorough check of both the church and Sunday School Building the service began 35 minutes later. At the conclusion of the service the packed church emptied into Fellowship Hall for a reception honoring the new pastor, the eleventh in the history of the church.’
On October 4th, 2015, Pascack Reformed Church installed it’s twelfth minister, the Rev. Larissa Romero – the first minister serving Pascack Reformed to graduate from Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York. She was also the first woman minister installed at the church, as well as its youngest, accepting the call at age 28. Sunday, January 1, 2023 launched the next pastorate at Pascack Reformed Church with our thirteenth minister, Sharon Gross-Gills.
Much more will be written as we travel into the future. The Pascack Reformed Church has a wonderful history of over 200 years of proclaiming the Gospel and ministering to the needs of people, and now looks forward to continuing into the future!
Carl W. Weil, Church Historian Larissa Romero, Sharon Gross-Gill, Editors
The History of their Historic Cemetery:
(from the church website)
The Pascack Reformed Church Historic Cemetery
In 1813, shortly after the founding of the church, a cemetery was established at the rear of the building. At that time a one room schoolhouse, built in 1808, stood at the north end of the church property. This school eventually evolved into Park Ridge High School. Years later a 10 x 12 inch bronze plaque on a metal pole was installed at the site of the original building. The plaque remained until early 1989 when it was discovered missing.
The first burial in the cemetery was that of six year old Katherine Blauvelt in 1813; the most recent burial occurred in 1972. After 180 years the gravestone for the first interment is still legible. In 1893 several graves were moved due to the construction of an addition to the rear of the church. At this time the graves and their new locations are not known.
In 1959 49 grave sites were removed to permit construction of the present addition at the north end of the church. The remains of all were reburied in a vault, the front of which has a plaque containing the names and year of passing of all of the deceased. The gravestones for the aforementioned are mostly on the embankment at the east end of the cemetery and plans are being made to re-erect the stones at a suitable location in the cemetery as memorials. In 1912 and 1913 the New Jersey Historical Society did a study of this portion of the church cemetery and noted a 1745 gravestone with no further reference. The inventory received is incomplete and an attempt to obtain a complete reference will be made to the Society.
The historic cemetery
On at least two known occasions, graves were moved to Pascack from other locations. One such occasion involved two members of the Wortendyke Family who were previously buried on a farm in Wyckoff. The other involved several graves from an old cemetery in Hillsdale west of Broadway and slightly north of Parkview Drive. Evidence of another possible relocation, a rough stone with the initials “L.H.”, is located next to the grave of Ellen Holdrum, who died in 1820. It is possible that the grave marked “L.H.” is that of a member of the Holdrum Family who died earlier whose remains and stone were moved to Pascack after the establishment of the church cemetery.
While records and maps for the cemetery at the rear of the church may exist, they are not in the church’s possession. Many mysteries, therefore remain, including the discovery of human bones uncovered in 1965 when a trench was excavated for a new sanitary sewer line from Fellowship Hall to Wampum Road. When the time comes to replace the parking lot surface it is hoped that the area can be x-rayed for more remains especially the portion next to the cemetery directly behind Fellowship Hall.
The Hopper and Wortendyke family plots
When the church purchased the larger (southern) part of the church cemetery from the Wortendyke family in 1855, three older cemeteries already existed on the property: the Wortendyke Family Cemetery, the African American Cemetery, and the American Indian Cemetery.
The exact age of the Wortendyke Family Cemetery, located at the northeast corner of the larger cemetery, is not known, but the two oldest legible stones date to the year 1780. There may be older graves, however, since the Wortendyke Family had bought the property in 1735 and rented out land to several tenant farmers who lived in log cabins until Wortendyke moved from the present day Harrington Park in the year 1750.
The historic Demarest-Wortendyke-Bogart-Terhune family plots
The previously mentioned 1912 and 1913 inventory by the New Jersey Historical Society noted about 100 rough stones in the areas of the present day church cemetery all of which were noted as having “no marks” (inscriptions of any kind). Several Terhune family field stones are listed as being somewhere in the church cemetery by the Ackerman and Goff study dated May 1946. The oldest Terhune burial is listed as “1766 I.T.H.” and, along with the others, could be in the Wortendyke Family Cemetery. As of now only about 30 of the rough stones are visible and a future historical project is planned to raise all to their original elevation above ground and clean and study them for markings.
The African American Cemetery is located adjacent to the cemetery building directly behind the church parsonage and, like the Wortendyke Family Cemetery, is 50 feet by 100 feet in area. Its oldest known burial dates to 1834. Buried here are members of the families of Bergen County’s Free Blacks of the pre-Civil War periods. In addition, many of the men buried in the African-American cemetery were Civil War Veterans who had served with a Connecticut Regiment.
To the east of this cemetery in a rectangular hollow, cleared at a very early but unknown date, lies the American Indian Cemetery. There are no markings of any type in this area and knowledge of the burial grounds existence has been passed on by word of mouth through the years.
The Wortendyke/Demarest family marker.
The remaining area of the larger cemetery was laid out into 16 grave plots in 1855. Many of these plots were bought by the older area families, probably because the four and five hundred acre farms in the northern Bergen County area were being broken up into smaller parcels in the middle of the 19th century, and little room was left for family cemeteries.
With most of the older families leaving the area in late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries many of the plots were no longer used and in time the church saw fit to reclaim them through legal means and sub-divide the plots into smaller units.
In more recent times church members have purchased available smaller plots or single grave sites. There are now about six burials per year in the Pascack Reformed Church Cemetery. Burials are limited to owners of plots, and new sales of the very limited number of plots is restricted to members of the Pascack Reformed Church. It is hoped that in the near future all gravestones that are downed will be raised and those that are broken in both the main part of the cemetery and the one behind the church will be repaired.
The Wortendyke family plot at the Pascack Reformed Church
When research concerning the three older cemeteries in the southern portion of the cemetery continues, an application will be made for the erection of a second historical marker which will be an additional tribute to the American Indian tribe of the area and the early African and European American settlers of the Upper Pascack Valley area of Bergen County.
The beautiful historic cemetery is so breathtaking in the fall months.
Carl W. Weil, Church Historian Larissa Romero, Editor
Visit from Bergen Community College for the Bergecco-Parc Consulting Inc. project ‘The Bergen 250-the 250th Anniversary of the Revolutionary War’:
As part of the Team project, I took my students on a tour of the church and its historic graveyard, which is home to the Wortendyke family plot. As part of the project’s ’Farm to Table Dinner’, there is to be a ‘Candlelight Walking tour’ of the graveyard after dinner. I also challenged the students to create a ‘Halloween Walking tour and Spaghetti Dinner’ fundraiser for these historic churches.
We were given private tour by the new church pastor, Pastor Sharon Gross-Gill, whose pride in this church and its history was shared with the students.
The tour started with a talk of the church’s place in Bergen County and its history. Then we toured the bell tower and the students got to ring the bell
The students touring the Bell tower
The students were given an opportunity to ring the bell
We then toured the historic graveyard after the tour of the church. This is the resting place of the Wortendyke family plot as well as members of the Demarest, Banta, Bauvelt, Van Ripper, DeBraun and Terhune families.
Barbara, one of the church historian’s and tour guide, explained that some of the graves dated back to 1635 long before the founding of the country.
Before we moved onto the next site, we took a group shot with Pastor Gross-Gill. It was a very informative and interesting afternoon.
The Easter Holidays:
During the Holy Week I visited the church after visit to say ‘Thank you’ for the tour. I went for the Palm Sunday services and the sun finally broke and it was a nice day. The flowers were blooming and it was nice to be outside. It was a very nice Palm Sunday services.
The church on Palm Sunday morning
The front of the church on Palm Sunday 2025
The front of the church in full bloom during the Easter holidays
The inside of the church during Palm Sunday morning
The three times I have visited the Gethsemane Cemetery, it was a very quiet place to reflect on the people who are buried here. Located by a stretch of Route 46 West, you would hardly notice it was there. Sitting on a small hill above the highway lies some of our Counties most prominent Black citizens as well as just ordinary people and freed slaves who were denied entry into other church cemeteries. They were interned here in their own cemetery.
Gethsemane Cemetery is located west of the Hackensack River in southwest Bergen County on a one acre sandy hill located in Little Ferry, NJ. The 1860 deed of sale identifies it as a “burial ground for the colored population of the Village of Hackensack.” In 1901, it was turned over to seven African-American trustees and incorporated as Gethsemane Cemetery.
The entrance to the Gethsemane Cemetery in Little Ferry, NJ
Although there are only 50 graves stones, the graves of over 500 people have been documented, including that of Elizabeth Dulfer, who was born a slave (c 1790), freed in 1822 and died in 1880. She became one of the wealthiest business owners and landholders in Bergen County. Three Civil War veterans, Peter Billings, Silas M. Carpenter and William Robinson are also buried here.
Gethsemane Cemetery figured the center of controversy surrounding the burial of Samuel Bass, sexton of Hackensack’s First Baptist Church. When he died on January 22, 1884, his family wanted to bury him in the Hackensack Cemetery but was refused due to his race. Mr. Bass was then buried in Gethsemane Cemetery.
New Jersey Governor, Leon Abbett, protested the denial: “The Legislator should see that the civil and political rights of all men, whether white or black are protected…It ought not be tolerated in this State that a corporation whose existence depends on the Legislature’s will…should be permitted to make a distinction between a white man and a black man.” Two months later in March 1884, New Jersey’s “Negro Burial Bill” was passed desegregating cemeteries in New Jersey.
In 1985, Bergen County acquired the neglected cemetery and dedicated it as a County Historic Site. It was entered into the New Jersey and National Registers of Historic Places in 1994 for the historical significance it played in the enactment of N.J.’s early Civil Rights legislation and for containing evidence of West African burial customs.
The County of Bergen marker
In 2003, the county celebrated the dedication of new meditation areas and historic interpretive panels that tell Gethsemane’s story and lists the names of 515 people known to be buried here.
The cemetery markers
New mediation areas and historic panels tell the story of the cemetery and list the names of 515 people who were buried here.
The cemetery is open only a few times a year to the public for special holidays and events. I came for the Juneteenth Celebration of the emancipation of slavery from the Union on June 19th. There was an independent tour on your own of the cemetery and the panels. If you had any questions, there are County representatives to guide you through.
The Gethsemane Cemetery in the Fall
(Information taken from the Bergen County Parks System guide).
Disclaimer: This information was taken directly from the Bergen County Parks Directory. Please call or email the above information for more details on visiting the cemetery. It can be opened for private tours.
The First Reformed church of Hackensack at 43 Court Street
Due to their national historic significance the church, cemetery and the adjacent Hackensack Green were placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983. The Green dates back to 1696 and is one of the oldest public squares in NJ.
The church and its interesting cemetery.
The inside of the church was visited by General George Washington visited and worshipped here. The church still has the original pews and fixturing. I visited the church for Sunday services which is now run by the Korean Joy Catholic Church. I had a very nice time visiting with the parishioners and the Pastor.
The inside of the church
The inside of the church
The bell tower and gas light fixture
The light fixture
The recent tour with my students, we were able to see the second floor, take a full tour of the church and graveyard. We got to see parts of the church that you do not see during service plus many of the artifacts the church owns from different eras of the church’s history.
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The inside pews
The alter
The view of inside of the church
The Revolutionary War artifacts
My student visit:
Tour of the church
The Team picture in front of the church
A strategic point during the American Revolution, Hackensack was a small village centered on The Green, a public meeting place where public notices were posted. In the 18th century it was where punishments were inflicted on criminals and where the local militia trained.
The Hackensack Green
The Hackensack Green
General Washington headquartered here in November 1776, while he surveyed the local roads and bridges. On November 20, 1776, he led his army into Hackensack. The army camped on The Green as Washington made the important decision to continue the retreat from overwhelming British and Hessian forces. On March 23, 1780, the British raided Hackensack and burned the courthouse that stood on the Green at that time. Since 1715, a Bergen County courthouse building faced The Green in Hackensack, the County Seat since 1710, making it the historic heart of Bergen County (County of Bergen Division of Cultural and Historic Affairs).
The historic Courthouse of Hackensack, NJ facing the cemetery at the Church.
The Cornerstone
The First Dutch Reformed Church congregation was organized in 1686, the oldest Reformed Dutch congregation in Bergen County and second oldest in NJ. (County of Bergen Division of Cultural and Historic Affairs).
The historic marker outside the church.
The historic marker
The cornerstones of the original church with the names of the ‘First Families’ of Bergen County.
The cornerstone front of the church
The stone of Peter Zabrfky
The stone of Jacob Brinckerhoff
The Hackensack Reformed Church graveyard is one of the most famous in the State of New Jersey with many prominent families of Bergen County whose contributions helped shape not just the State of New Jersey but the United States as well. The graveyard contains the graves of many who fought for our freedom in the Revolutionary War.
The front of the church
The back of the graveyard
The historic graveyard
During the first ten years, churchgoers worshiped in a private home outside the limits of modern-day Hackensack. The official name of the congregation was the “Dutch Reformed Church of Ackensack” and comprised thirty-three residents from Hackensack, New Barbadoes and Acquackanonk. All three of these townships made up most of northeastern New Jersey.
Acquackanonk was located in the northern portion of modern Essex County. New Barbadoes was comprised of land west of the Hackensack River, while Ackensack was located to the east. In April of 1696, Captain John Berry (1619-1712), the proprietor of a large portion of land in northeastern New Jersey, donated two and three-quarter acres of his property to the congregation to support their efforts to build the church.
Most of present-day Hackensack at that time was called “New Barbadoes Township” and Hackensack is thought to have gotten its unofficial name when the Church relocated to New Barbadoes and brought the name “Ackensack” with it (Church website).
The historic church and cemetery in the back.
The emergence of the Dutch Reformed Church in America developed from Dutch colonization of New York and New Jersey during the 17th century. Dutch settlement was prominent in these areas before the British took control of the area in the late 1600’s. Still, the Dutch were freely allowed to practice their religion in America, even under British sovereignty. The Hackensack First Reformed Church would become the second oldest Reformed Church in New Jersey and the first in Hackensack. Construction of the church was completed in the latter part of 1696.
The historic cemetery at the church
John Berry’s donation of land was appropriately dubbed, “The Green” and the church soon became known as “The Church on the Green”. The first sermon was preached on November 15th, 1696, based on Psalm 26:8 “Lord, I have loved the habitation of thy house and the place where thine honor dwelleth.” Although the first church was largely completed in 1696, the steeple was not built until 1708. The entire structure was rebuilt in 1728 on the same site. These two early church buildings were thought to have been octagonal structures.
The Schuyler Family marker
In 1780, during the Revolutionary War, the British invaded Hackensack. They burned the courthouse and jail and threatened to destroy the Church on the Green, which was located adjacent to the aforementioned buildings. Fortunately, the church was spared. Dutch Colonial architecture with sandstone walls being the prominent feature of the building. Some aspects, especially the arched and pointed windows, appear to have Gothic elements.
The Zabriskie Family plot
The front of the church has three sets of double doors with similarly arched doorways and transom windows. This style was a precursor for many of the Reformed Dutch churches that were eventually build in New Jersey. Although the present-day building dates from 1791, the church was enlarged in 1847 and again in 1847 and again in 1869, thus containing newer elements.
The Demarest Family plot.
The attached cemetery is original to the first building’s construction in the late seventeenth century but during the renovation in 1847, it was also enlarged. The neighboring service house was built in 1867 and was used as a Sunday school, lecture hall and chapel.
The Van Riper/Kipp Family plot
The class trip:
The Hackensack graveyard
The First Reformed Church of Hackensack
I recently visited both the church and the graveyard of the church which is home to many veterans of both the Revolutionary and Civil War. It is home also to the family plots of ‘Founding Families’ of Bergen County who worshipped at this famous church.
As one of my Team Projects, my students were mapping the cemetery for veterans of the Revolutionary War, many of them buried in the church graveyard. We came to pay our respects.
The Van Buren family plot
The Van Saun family plot
The Westervelt family plot
The Banta family plot
The Brinckerhoff-Terhune family
The Herring family
The Kipp family plot
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The Paulson family plot
The Demarest-Doremus family plot
The Zabriskie family
Many of the veterans of the American Revolution were buried closest to the church which was the tradition of the time to be buried as close to the church as possible. Their graves were marked by Revolutionary War medallions and American flags.
The Demarest-Voorhis Revolutionary War graves
General Poor’s grave
Albert Romin grave Revolutionary War veteran
The front part of the church by the Hackensack Green was the resting place of many of these heros
Our Team of Student Consultants picture inside the historic graveyard
The churchyard cemetery features simple stone tablets and obelisks that are surrounded by a wrought iron fence. Some notable burials include General Enoch Poor (1736-1780), Colonel and New York Mayor Richard Varick (1753-1831), Congressman George Cassedy (1783-1842) and Congressman Adam Boyd (1746-1835). General Enoch Poor’s burial is especially noteworthy as he served alongside George Washington during the Revolutionary War.
Additionally, both Washington and the Marquis de Lafayette were in attendance at Poor’s funeral. Enoch Poor’s gravestone reads: “In Memory of the Hon’ble Brigadier General Enoch Poor of the State of New Hampshire who Departed this Life on the 8 day of Sept: 1780 aged 44 years/Washington, Lafayette and a portion of the American army attended the burial of Gen. Poor.
The Team picture in front of General Poor’s grave
In 1824, Lafayette visited this grave and turned away much affected, exclaimed, “Ah, that was one of my Generals!” Poor died in 1780, before the close of the Revolutionary War, so this gravestone is clearly not the original (Church website).
The graveyard at the Dutch Reformed Church
The Reformed Church was nominated to the National Register of Historic Places on April 25, 1983. Included in this nomination was the “Green”, which is one of the oldest public squares in New Jersey. This area encompasses the Churchyard, the cemetery, the church outbuilding and the green area that is adjacent to the Bergen County Courthouse. There are a few monuments that occupy this space, including a statue memorial to General Enoch Poor, which was dedicated in 1904 and the Hackensack War Memorial, which dates to 1924.
The church continues to be a prominent feature of the history of Hackensack through community and self-guided walking tours. In addition to this, there are yearly Memorial Day commemorations, where a wreath is placed over General Enoch Poor’s grave and a tour of the church is provided to the attendees of the celebration.
Surrounding the Green, there are a few other historical buildings:
*The Peter Zabriskie Mansion site at 50 Main Street.
*Archibald Campbell’s Tavern Site at 41 Main Street
*The Hackensack War Memorial
*Site of the Burned Jail
*The Annual Christmas Tree on the Green
Disclaimer: This information was taken directly from the Bergen County Historical Society pamphlet and the Clio Website on the First Dutch Reformed Church of Hackensack and from visiting downtown Hackensack. Please call the church at (201) 342-7050 for details on visiting it. Please remember this is a resting place.
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