The Old Broad Street Presbyterian Church in its glory in the entrance to the historic cemetery
The Church and its historic cemetery.
When I was traveling to Salem and Cumberland Counties to visit historical sites, this was the last one on my list the first day of exploring. The Old Broad Street Presbyterian Church sits in the middle of a declining downtown in Bridgeton, NJ like a ghost of its former self. This graceful and elegant church is not used much anymore and sits like a majestic building overlooking a city that has passed it by.
The Church and its historic cemetery.
The church was built in 1792 for the growing Presbyterian congregation who was living in Bridgetown as it was called at the time. The brick walls and roof were completed but it would take another three years for the interior to be finished (Cumberland History.org).
The historic family cemetery
The cemetery is extremely interesting as you visit the historic tombstones and the family plots and try to figure out the connections. The biggest problem with the cemetery is that is has gotten very overgrown in parts of it. It needs a good mowing and the gravestones need to be cleaned as they are wearing away with the elements. It was hard to follow the historical listing but many famous residents and leaders of the community are buried here as well as members of the armed forces from the Revolutionary and Civil Wars and earlier.
The family plots at the cemetery
In some cases, when the families were buried together, it almost told the story of what happened within the family. I saw grave sites where the son or daughter either died in child birth or a disease or in battle and then the devastated parents followed a few years later which was a sad narrative. I saw this many times in the family plots. How many children died of diseases that today are solved by a pill.
The family plots
Some of the notable people buried in the cemetery are Ebenezer Elmer, who represented New Jersey in the United States House of Representatives from 1801-1807 and Jonathan Elmer, who represented New Jersey in the United States Senate from 1789-1791. Lucius Elmer, who represented New Jersey’s First congressional district from 1843-1845. Eilas Seeley, who was the Eleventh Governor of New Jersey serving in 1833. William G. Whiteley, who represented Delaware in the United States House of Representative from 1857 to 1861. Joseph Archibald Clark and Clement Waters Shoemaker, who were two of the founders of Cumberland Glass Manufacturing Company (Wiki).
The David Potter tomb
The history of the Broad Street Presbyterian Church and its cemetery:
(From Cumberland NJ Art.org)
For much of the 18th century in Bridgetown, which will eventually change its name to Bridgeton, there existed no church for Presbyterians, who were a large and growing segment of the local population. For church services, they were forced to conduct services in the Courthouse or travel to churches in Greenwich, Fairfield or Deerfield several miles away.
Family plots and crips
In 1792, about two acres of land were donated along King’s Highway, which was the main road from Bridgeton to Greenwich and ran along the south end of the church construction site. In 1800, this main route was relocated to the north and is today Broad Street (Route 49).
The cemetery grounds on a late summer afternoon.
The basic design of the Broad Street Presbyterian Church was set by it congregation and organizers who requested a masonry building with dimensions of at least forty by fifty feet. By December 1792, the brick walls and roof has been completed but it would take another three years for the interior to be finished.
The church in the early Fall of 2024
The design of the Broad Street Presbyterian Church is that of a meeting house, almost square in proportion. In the 17th and early 18th centuries, many American houses of worship were built in the meeting house form. This design was in contrast to the more formal churches of the period, which were more rectangular than square with an alter and/or communion table and pulpit approached by a long nave and often divided from the congregation by a railing. Broad Street Presbyterian Church has a tall pulpit, accessed by a winding stair and surrounded on three sides by pews so as many congregations as possible could attend and sit as close as possible to the preacher.
The beautifully designed church behind the fence
Above the pulpit is one of the most significant architectural features of the church, the Palladian window with its central window and semicircular arch flanked on each side by smaller windows and all unified by an entablature supported by columns. The name “Palladian” comes from the Venetian architect who originated the design, Andrea Palladio, who worked in 16th century.
The Elmer Family plot
Architects in the 17th and 18th centuries would travel from other parts of Europe to Italy to study architecture and they brought the Palladian style back to England and the American Colonies. Thomas Jefferson acquired an intense appreciation of Palladian architecture and used it extensively in his design for Monticello.
By 1835, the congregation had erected a new church but because the Broad Street church was surrounded by the cemetery, the congregation did not abandon or sell it but rather maintained it exactly as they left it, which is why today it is identified as one of the most pristine and unaltered examples of 18th century church architecture in the United States.
Today the Broad Street Presbyterian Church is used for special services and opened to the pubic by appointment. It is carefully maintained by the Presbyterian congregation of First Presbyterian Church located on Commerce Street in Bridgeton, NJ.
A Video on the Washington Township Historical Society
I came to the Washington Township Historical Site as part of Morris County’s “Pathways of History” tour and visited the Union Schoolhouse Museum and then the Union Church and Burial Ground that is located right next door on the same property. This sleepy little town was once a bustling manufacturing site with the sawmill and Ghrist around the corner and the Welsh Farms Ice Cream factory up the street from the site.
The Union Schoolhouse Museum at 6 Fairview Avenue
The museum, which was once the town’s schoolhouse, is an engaging site that showcases how the town developed over the last two hundred years. On the bottom floor, the society has Native American artifacts, period furniture and clothing and in the back of the museum is a full display of the original Welsh Farms Ice Cream factory. The Welsh’s were a very prominent family from the area.
The Welsh Farms Ice Cream Factory display
Some of the old bottles and equipment from the factory
The second floor of the museum has a display of town memorabilia from different businesses, farming equipment from the area’s agricultural past and pictures of businesspeople and prominent citizens of the town. It shows how the commercial past of the community kept evolving.
Display of the town memorabilia
To the side of the second floor is a display of a period schoolroom from the time that the building served as a school of the local population. You can see that not much has changed over the years.
School rooms of the past are not too different from today
The one thing that creeped me out was a picture of a local businessman from the 1800’s who looked exactly like the actor, Blake Ritson, who plays “Oscar Van Rijin” in the TV show “The Gilded Age”. These men are almost 100 years apart and he looks like the actor from that exact time period.
The picture is of local businessman Ernest Paul Hunger
This picture is of actor Blake Ritson who plays “Oscar Van Rijin” in “The Gilded Age”
I had to take this picture because everyone says you have a twin from the past and I can tell that these two men look exactly alike in the same clothing. What is really interesting is that they are the same age at the same time period. Like that picture of the gentleman from the 1880’s that looks exactly like actor Nicolas Cage, I think there is some weird time travel here. It is almost like the film “Time after Time”.
After touring the whole museum, I went next door to visit the church and the cemetery for a tour. When I exited the museum, I had not really noticed the beauty of the gardens that surrounded the museum. The local garden club had done a great job in landscaping and planting the walled garden around the museum. In the early Spring, it was a colorful display of flowers.
The walled garden was so colorful in the early spring
The cemetery walk was intriguing in that you got to walk through the ruins of the old church and get to see how it was once constructed. It gave me insight of how big these churches were at one time and building construction was in early colonial New Jersey.
The ruins of the old Union Church
The Union Church surrounded by the cemetery
When we visited each family’s plot, there was a discussion about what contributions that everyone made to the town and their place in society. What was interesting was that the volunteers were cleaning the tombstones with tombstone cleaner, and I had wondered when we were taking the tour why they looked so new. There is a lot of care of the people of this cemetery.
The Welsh Farm Family plot at the Union Church was just cleaned
The whole site is an interesting look into the community’s past by a group of volunteers who give it their all to make the site interesting, historical, visually engaging to the visitor and offer a surprise or two into history that you may not know of New Jersey. One the warm, sunny day that we visited the site, it made it even nicer to walk around and have the time to soak it all in.
When you visit the Union Schoolhouse and Union Church and Burial Ground take the time out to take the formal tour of the site. It is very informative to a past that is not so different from today. It offers a lot of insight of people’s lives of this community.
The history of the Union Church and Cemetery Site:
(From the Washington Township Historical Society pamphlet)
Mission: To bring together people interested in the history of Washington Township, Morris County, NJ and promote a better appreciation of our American heritage.
The history of the site:
European settlement had begun in Long Valley by 1730. The early settlers, primarily from Germany and Holland, came fleeing religious persecution, an oppressive tax burden and hoping for a better life in America.
In 1749, a joint log meeting house had been built near the site of the Stone Church by the Zion Lutherans and Dutch Reformed Congregations. During these early times the congregations were served either by preachers from these churches or by laymen. One of the ministers of the time was Henry M. Muhlenberg, who has been called the Father of the Lutheran Church in America. His son, John Peter also ministered to the Raritan Valley before 1772. In 1776, John left his church in Virginia to raise and lead a regiment in the American Revolution, serving with distinction and retiring as a brevet major general.
On February 4th, 1774, the Dutch Reformed and German Lutheran congregations drew up articles and agreements that provided for the building of a joint meetinghouse. “Whereas we the members of the Evangelical Reformed Congregation and we, the members of the Evangelical Lutheran Congregation are willing to build a meeting house jointly, “Acted the 4th day of February 1774, which is testified to by: Henry Muhlenberg Jr., deputy director of Zion’s Welsch; Diedric Strubel; Conrad Rorick; Casper Eick; Anthon Waldorf; Adam Lorenz; Philip Weis; Christopher Karn; Leonard Neighbour; Roulof Roulofsen; John Schwackhammer; Andrew Flock.”
Let the Building Begin:
According to local tradition, the stone used to construct the building of the meetinghouse, the people of the two congregations turned out in a body to cart the stone. It had been a previous agreement, that whoever on the day appointed, should bring the first load, should receive the honor of having his horse decorated with flags and ribbons. The story goes that Judge David Welsch, then 17, secretly loaded his wagon and hid it that night. The next day, wagons came like thunder from all parts of the valley. Although David Welsch was confident of winning, he was almost beaten. Before he could unload his wagon, all of German Valley was on the ground.”
A Stately and well built structure:
A description of the Stone Church was given during a sermon by Reverend Alfred Hiller in July 1876. He said, “it was a heavy gallery on the one side and across each end; the entrance on one side (south), under the gallery and on the opposite side (north) was the pulpit, one of the Jack in the Pulpit style, with sounding board suspended above. There is no chimney on the church, in the center of the church, a space about eight feet square was made with a dirt floor and on the square a great mass of charcoal was burned, the congregation getting for their share at least the smell of the fire.”
The Old Stone Church today
Historic photographs indicate the building had a clipped-gable or jerkin-head roof with roof ridge parallel to the longer north and south walls. The two-story church, three bays wide and two bays deep, featured a wide and two bays deep, featured a wide central entry surmounted by a segmental arch, as were the windows. The walls were of coursed rubble stone construction, pointed with a white lime-rich mortar, except on the south or front elevation which was stuccoed and “penciled” with white pointing to replicate regular ashlar stone. However, this may have been a later 19th century embellishment.
Decline:
In 1832, both congregations decided to separate houses of worship. Since that time the Old Stone Church has stood abandoned and surrounded by the graves of the early congregants. Despite efforts at stabilization between the 1960’s and the 1980’s, the deterioration continued until recent efforts spearheaded by the members of the Washington Township Historical Society with permission of The Zion Lutheran and Long Valley Presbyterian Churches have improved this.
The Old Stone Church with the cemetery surrounding it
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.
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 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, graveyard 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
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 original spelling of the Zabriskie’s, Paulson’s, Haring’s, and Terhune’s are embedded in the history of this church.
The First Families of Bergen County keystones on the Church:
The family keystones
John Paulson keystone
Henry Berry keystone
Albert C. Zabrifky keystone
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 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
The Paulson family plot
The Demarest-Doremus family plot
The Zabriskie family
Easter at the First Reformed Church of Hackensackwith the Korean Joy Catholic Church:
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. I had never been to a Christian service that was done all in Korean, The Paster was very inspiring and knew how to inspire to the congregation. The whole service was very uplifting. Then members of the congregation invited me to stay for Easter Dinner which was very nice. A combination of classic Easter dishes mixed with traditional Korean specialties. It was one of the most enjoyable Easter’s I had had in a long time.
The beginning of the service
The Historic First Reformed Church of Hackensack pews and stained glass windows. Each one of the stained glass windows were dedicated by a well known “First Family” of Northern New Jersey:
The first floor of the church
The stained glass windows inside the church dedicated by the Ackerman family
The Child’s family windows
Voorhis-Lozier-Moore Windows
The Kraissi family windows
The Van Valen windows
The War years windows
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
Enjoying the service so much, I have returned for Sunday Service a few more times, enjoying the music, the sermons and the comradery. Even though I do not speak Korean, I can follow the inspiring words of Pastor Jung just by emotion and passion in the sermon.
What I like after the service is that after the sermon is over, the congregation joins with the English speaking congregation to have supper, which I think is a nice way for everyone to talk and get to know each other.
Enjoying a recent supper with the rest of the congregation and getting to know the members of the church. Everyone makes you feel so welcome. I think this is really how we celebrate God by joining in and getting to know one another. We have the same traditions in both the Polish and Italian churches I have attended.
Supper with the Congregation
Fish Tofu Soup
Korean specialties for supper
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:
My Team Project from Bergen Community College “Bergen 250: Exploring the Revolutionary War era Cemeteries and Graveyards of Bergen County, NJ”:
The recent tour with my students hosted by members of the church, 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. The church served as an important part of the American Revolutionary where later members of the same families, both Loyalists and Patriots, broke away from each other and some formed their own churches in other parts of Bergen County. This church still stands as a testament to Bergen County’s religious beginnings.
We toured the inside of the church, the second floor with its historical artifacts and views of the stained glass windows and then toured the historic graveyard where the majority of the Revolutionary War veterans were buried. Our Team covering this graveyard spent of their time walking amongst the tombstones searching for our veterans.
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
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
Christmas at the First Reformed Church of Hackensack:
During the holidays, this evergreen serves as the Christmas tree for the City of Hackensack at the historical Green other downtown. The entire Green is decorated for the entire Christmas season and the light display is amazing in the early evenings of December. Santa is on his way!
The Hackensack Town Green
The Christmas tree from downtown
*The Annual Christmas Tree on the Hackensack Town 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.
Visiting a Museum: The Unique, Unusual, Obscure and Historical 