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
Easter at the First Reformed Church of Hackensack:
I visited the church during the Easter Holidays as a invitation by members of the congregation and it was a very nice experience. I found that the service being very inspiring. The service was followed by an Easter Dinner with the congregation and I was very honored to be invited. It was a wonderful time and I really enjoyed the experience.
The beginning of the service
The stained glass windows inside the church
The alter at Easter in the Spring of 2026
The Easter flowers on the alter
After the Easter service was over, I joined the other members of the congregation for dinner. This was a combination of Korean and American foods for the holidays. What a wonderful experience!
Easter Dinner
Easter dinner with the other parishioners
Yam rice cakes for dessert
Layer cake for dessert
My Team Project: “Exploring the Cemeteries and Graveyards of the American Revolution”:
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
The Green at Christmas time
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.
The historic marker for the Teaneck Historic Burial Ground for slaves in Bergen County.
Located on Pomander Walk Road near the Hackensack River, this land was in use as a burial ground by the Native Americans prior to the arrival of the European settlers. This site might have been used for hundreds of years as a burial site for the Native peoples.
African slaves, who worked the farmland of the early European settlers, like the Zabriskie’s who owned the 125 acre farm that surrounded it, were subsequently buried at this location as were some of the early settlers. In 1663, the great elder, Oratam, was the Chief Sachem for the Ackingsacks, who lived along the Hackensack River. Oratam promised to give Sarah Kiersted a parcel of land between the Hackensack River and Overpeck’s Creek called “Neck of Land”.
The location of the site on the side of the Hackensack River
The site of the graveyard in Teaneck, NJ
It consisted of 2,260 acres which included Teaneck, Bogota and Ridgefield Park. The original patent was dated October 21, 1667. On March 25, 1685, the East Jersey Proprietors conveyed 183 acres of this patent, located on the Hackensack River in what is now Teaneck, to Albert Sabboresco (Zabriskie) of Bergen, a planter/farmer.
The Zabriskie House on Cadmus Street one block over is not open to visitors (privately owned)
The Zabriskie Homestead in Teaneck, NJ
Albert Zabriskie, his descendant and later Henry Kip, owned the enslaved African American men, who were used to work the farmland and build the early colonial sandstone houses. Even though slavery was outlawed in 1804, the last slaves were not freed until 1865 making New Jersey the last of the Northern States to abolish slavery.
The Zabriskie-Kipp Homestead in Teaneck, NJ is not open to the public. The historic Zabriskie-Kip Farmhouse (now a private residence) is located around the corner from the site on a buff on River Road facing the Hackensack River.
The site is right by a cove in the Hackensack River
To prevent the loss of this sacred ground, the ‘Coalition to Preserve Teaneck’s Native American/African Slave/Settler Cemetery’, was organized. With the Coalition’s encouragement, in 2006 Teaneck bought this open parcel of land on the banks of the Hackensack River. It can be visited during daylight hours and is designated with a Blue Historic Marker erected by the town of Teaneck, NJ.
The historic site by the Hackensack River in Teaneck, NJ.
The gravesite today along the Hackensack River
Disclaimer: This information was taken directly from the handout from the Bergen County Division of Cultural and Historic Affairs. There is no fee for this site but be warned, there is not much to see. There will be plantings and a small memorial is being planned (the above plaque from the town of Teaneck, NJ).
Don’t miss this little hidden site in Old Tappan, NJ. The Baylor Massacre site holds a rich history in the county and in the country’s founding. It will make you realize what an important role that the State of New Jersey had in the Revolutionary War and the lives sacrificed to win the war. My hats off to these brave men and women who helped fight for our freedom.
The Baylor Massacre site in the Fall
This quiet little park sits off to the side by the river and you will need to take time to walk the paths and enjoy the reading the signing. The sacrifice that these men made during the war effort and the way they were treated by the British in the act of war was deplorable. That and the fact that their own countrymen from Bergen County turned them into the British was unbelievable.
The Baylor Massacre history:
After midnight on September 28, 1778 during America’s Revolutionary War, the brutal surprise attack by the British forces on the sleeping men of the 3rd Continental Light Dragoons began. Today this is known as the Baylor Massacre. Nowa County-owned historic park and burial ground, the Baylor Massacre Site is located along the Hackensack River in River Vale in Northern Bergen County, New Jersey.
In the Autumn of 1778, British General Cornwallis occupied southern Bergen County with a force of 5000 soldiers. Their purpose was to gather and forage for food to feed the army that would be garrisoned in New York City during the upcoming winter. Bergen County, with its fertile land and industrious Jersey Dutch farms, was a major source for food for both armies during the Revolution.
The Third Continental Light Dragoons, under the command by Lt. Colonel George Baylor, was one of four regiments of dragoons authorized by the Continental Congress. On the 27th of September, these 104 officers and men were dispatched to watch the bridge over the Hackensack River at the intersection of modern Rivervale and Old Tappan Roads to support General Wayne and his men in Tappan, New York.
The British forces were lead by General Charles “No Flint” Grey, who earned his nickname in the 1777 battle with General Wayne’s Pennsylvania troops when he ordered his men to remove the flints from their muskets to prevent an accidental gunshot and to use bayonets to insure the surprise of a nighttime attack. These tactics were used again in River Vale.
Grey’s men used their muskets to club and their bayonets to stab the sleeping dragoons. Eleven were killed immediately. Three more including 2nd in Command Major Alexander Clough (Washington’s Chief of Intelligence for the Hudson Valley), died of their wounds in Tappan the following day. Records indicate that as many as 22 men died some several weeks later. Two officers and 37 men, most of who were wounded, managed to escape into the night. One British soldier was killed when shot by a dragoon.
Grey’s men quickly gathered their prisoners and captured American equipment and continued up North. Fortunately General Wayne had been alerted of the movement of the British and had evacuated Tappan. The next day a detachment of the Bergen County Militia was dispatched to River Vale to locate any survivors. Finding six of the dead patriots at the bridge and fearing the possible return of British troops, they hurried to bury them in three abandoned leather tanning vats by the river.
The burial location was passed on by word of mouth for many generations. The only physical maker was the abandoned millstone from the tannery. Abram C. Holdrum removed the millstone from the site around 1900. For many years it was displayed in from of the local Holdrum School.
In 1967, a local resident became alarmed that a new housing development would destroy this historic burial site. Through careful research the approximate location of the burials was identified. County Freeholder D. Bennett Mazur was contacted and as a result, the County sponsored an archaeological dig that located six sets of remains. The County eventually acquired the site and dedicated it as a County Park. In 1974, the patriots’ remains were re-interred in the park and the original millstone was donated to serve as their gravestone.
In 2003, the County dedicated new interpretive panels and accessible pathways at the Baylor Massacre site. It is open year round during daylight hours.
WWW.BERGEN.NJ.US
Disclaimer: This information was taken from the County Pamphlet: 2015 Bergen County Division of Cultural and Historic Affairs. The Bergen County Division of Cultural & Historic Affairs received an operating support grant from the New Jersey Historical Commission, a division of the Department of State. I give them full credit for this information.
The Baylor Massacre site in the fall of 2022
The Park in the fall months
Note from the Blogger: it is easy to miss the site so watch for the markers. For those interesting in the historical background of the Revolutionary War and New Jersey’s role in the war, take the time to visit this and other sites around Bergen County, New Jersey. They may be small but very significant.
Watch this interesting video that someone posted on YouTube.com
The grounds of the park
The grounds of the park in the fall
The site in the early Spring of 2025
The information signs of the site
The pathways by the river
The gravesite and memorial
The pathways around the park
The pathways around the park
The historic marker in the early Spring
In April of 2025, I took my students from Bergen Community College to the site for a project that we were working on for the ‘Bergen 250’. Most of the students did not know this place existed.
A talk with Colin Knight from the County Historical Division with my students
Me with my students at the Baylor Massacre site
A group picture near the county marker and garden with my students
I returned to the Baylor Massacre Site again in 2026 when my students were doing another project for the Bergen 250, mapping the historic cemeteries and graveyards of the Revolutionary War Veterans. Here is the group shot from that trip.
Professor Justin Watrel’s International Marketing class at the Baylor Massacre site in March 2026.
Some of the Executive Team at the Baylor Massacre site in March 2026
Visiting a Museum: The Unique, Unusual, Obscure and Historical 