The Old Tappan Cemetery is still an active cemetery even though its location in the woods surrounded by McMansions.
The oldest part of the cemetery sits on the highest bluff overlooking the woods and the street. The Eckerson family burial plot is located here with graves dating back to before Revolutionary War.
The Old Tappan Cemetery sits on a hill in the woods
The oldest part of the cemetery sits on the very top of the hill overlooking the neighborhood
The site houses the graves of the Eckerson and Haring families
The Eckerson family graves
The Wortendyke branch of the family
The graves of Revolutionary War veteran Cornelius Eckerson and his wife, Elizabeth Haring. It looks like someone stole Cornelius’s headstone.
The Eckerson Haring Wortendyke family plots
Within the confines of the property, there were even modern graves of the Eckerson family dating back to about twenty years ago. The Eckerson family is still buried here in the Twenty-First century.
Admission: Free; please do not walk on other people’s property
My review on TripAdvisor:
The historical marker that leads you to had path to the cemetery
History of the Cemetery:
(From the Historic Marker sign)
The historic cemetery directly in the rear of the Behnke farm contains the graves of descendants of early settlers in this area including a least two local farmer-militiamen of the American Revolution, Jacobus Brouwer and Henry Banta, as well as the grave of Cornelius Demarest, who served in the 22nd regiment of the Union Army during the Civil War (From Paramus Rotary sign).
The only way into this tiny cemetery is through z path located on Viola Road
The historic little cemetery is rich in history of the first families of Bergen County including Revolutionary War and Civil War veterans
The cemetery is the resting place of members of the Banta, Bogert, Terhune, Van Saun, Demarest, Kipp and Voorhis families
The Van Saun family graves
The Bogart family graves
The graves of the Van Saun family
The graves of the Kipp family
The graves of the Demarest family and of Cornelius Demarest of Civil War fame
Elizabeth Demarest, wife of Cornelius grave
These graves I could not figure out who they were
The graves of the Banta family
The graves of the Voorhis family
The grave of Sara Huyler, wife of John Van Saun
The graves were so covered in mold that I could not see who these people were
There is a quiet elegance to these historical cemeteries. Their well known family members relics of a past that now forgets them.
Who is buried here:
(From an survey done by George Budke in 1916)
??, B. P., d. 1780 Ackerman, Margaret, b. 10 Feb 1764, d. 6 Sep 1805, birth year may be 1767* Banta, Abram C., b. 6 Nov 1852, d. 16 Nov 1886 Banta, Agness (Van Saun), d. 21 Dec 1862, age: 78y 4m 15d, w/o Cornelius H. Banta* Banta, Benjamin Duryea, d. 3 Oct 1856, age: 5y 8m 19d, s/o Henry & Anna Maria Banta Banta, Catharine (Terhune), b. 6 Aug 1823, d. 27 Jun 1890, w/o Cornelius H. Banta Banta, Charles Augustus, d. 7 Oct 1861, age: 3m 20d, s/o Henry & Anna Maria Banta Banta, Cornelius H., b. 13 Mar 1819, d. 18 Nov 1904 Banta, Cornelius H., d. 17 Aug 1854, age: 84y 5m 9d* Banta, Elizabeth (Lake), d. 4 Sep 1817, age: 67y 8m 18d, w/o Henry Banta Banta, Garret Hopper, d. 14 Feb 1850, age: 7m, s/o Henry & Anna Maria Banta* Banta, Henry C., d. 13 Sep 1821, age: 22y 8m* Banta, Henry H., d. 29 Feb 1864, age: 69y 10m 16d Banta, Henry, b. 15 Sep 1796, d. 31 May 1798, age: 1y 8m 15d* Banta, Henry, d. 12 Aug 1817, age: 66y 1m 18d, h/o Elizabeth Lake, Veteran of the Revolutionary War Banta, Jane, d. 12 Jun 1875, age: 97y 2m 16d, w/o John H. Banta Banta, John H., d. 29 Jun 1855, age: 83y 6m 7d Banta, Lavina (Zabriskie), d. 16 Jan 1862, age: 70y 4m 12d, w/o Henry H. Banta* Banta, Lavinah Sobriskie, d. 7 Feb 1850, age: 3y 11m 10d, d/o Henry & Anna Maria Banta* Banta, Lidia (Van Saun), d. 22 Feb 1804, age: 32y 5m, w/o Cornelius Banta* Banta, Sarah, d. 8 Aug 1845, age: 2y 6m 24d, d/o Cornelius H. & Catharine Banta* Bartholf, Maria, d. 18 Feb 1870, age: 70y 5m 9d* Begart, Rebecca, d. 12 Dec 1807, age: 1y 11m 6d, d/o Samuel & Ettie Begart Bertholff, John, d. 8 Apr 1852, age: 86y 9m 15d* Bogert, Albert I., d. 22 Sep 1861, age: 84y 10m 3d* Bogert, Jacob A., d. 10 Dec 1866, age: 76y 8m 19d* Bogert, Jane (Kipp), d. 3 Jun 1853, age: 74y 3m 7d, w/o Albert I. Bogert* Bogert, John A., b. 26 Mar 1748, d. 25 Oct 1823, age: 74y 6m 30d* Bogert, Rachel (Van Saun), b. 15 Feb 1798, d. 1 Sep 1846, age: 48y 6m 16d, w/o Jacob A. Bogert* Bogert, Samuel A., d. 24 Jul 1867, age: 61y 8m 23d Bogert, Samuel I., b. 31 Mar 1778, d. 13 Apr 1830 Brouwer, Yacob, d. 26 Aug 1784, age: 58y, Veteran of the Revolutionary War* Cundlah, C. A., b. 14 Apr 1828, d. Jan ?, age: ?? Debaun, Effie (Demarest), d. 13 Dec 1862, age: 75y 8m 7d, w/o Peter C. Debaun, formerly wife of Samuel I. Bogert* Demarest, Aaron, d. 14 Mar 1838, age: 57y 6m 18d* Demarest, Christina (Bogert), d. 5 Dec 1868, age: 82y 5m 12d, w/o Aaron Demarest Demarest, Cornelius A., d. 27 May 1883, age: 66y 8m 5d, Civil War Veteran Demarest, Eliza (Banta), d. 6 Jan 1883, age: 65y 8m, w/o Cornelius A. Demarest Demarest, Elizabeth, b. 16 Jul 1792, d. 23 Mar 1869 * Demarest, Nicholas, b. 3 May 1759, d. 6 Feb 1811, age: 51y 9m 3d Kipp, Albert, d. 28 Jan 1852, age: 66y 7m 18d* Kipp, Araminta, d. 30 Dec 1853, age: 15y 4m 25d* Kipp, James Bogert, d. 25 Sep 1848, age: 21y 10m 1d* Kipp, John, d. 28 Feb 1862, age: 50y 19d Kipp, Rachel, d. 21 Jul 1854, age: 63y 10m 23d, w/o Albert Kipp* Kipp, William B., d. 21 Apr 1856, age: 65y 4m 11d Van Arsdale, James, d. 21 Apr 1855, age: 51y 5m 5d, Deacon* Van Saun, David, d. 8 Mar 1825, age: 56y 5m 3d* Van Saun, Isaac L., b. 1 Nov 1778, d. 24 Apr 1850, age: 71y 1m 23d Van Saun, Isaac, b. 17 Mar 1749, d. 9 May 1832, age: 83y 1m 22d Van Saun, Jane (Ackerman), b. 4 Apr 1754, d. 6 Oct 1822, age: 68y 6m 2d, w/o Isaac Van Saun Van Saun, Jane (Demarest), d. 9 May 1870, age: 57y 5m 9d, w/o Lucas I. Van Saun* Van Saun, John C., d. 1 Mar 1849, age: 74y 7m 4d* Van Saun, Kastyne, b. 1 Jul 178?, d. 5 Feb 1791* Van Saun, Leah (Brower), d. 5 Jun 1859, age: 93y, w/o David Van Saun* Van Saun, Lucas I., d. 31 Oct 1848, age: 34y 4m 15d Van Saun, Margaret, d. 5 Sep 1832, age: 23y 11m 15d, w/o Albert Z. Van Saun* Van Saun, Maria, b. 13 Jul 1829, d. 6 Apr 1836, d/o Albert & Margaret Van Saun* Van Saun, Rachel, b. 5 Dec 1821, d. 28 Jun 1839, age: 17y 6m 23d Van Saun, Sarah (Huyler), d. 20 Feb 1854, age: 76y 10m 17d, w/o John C. Van Saun* Van Voorhis, Jane, d. 19 Aug 1805, age: 1y 8m 2d, d/o Hendrick & Wantea Van Voorhis* Voorhis, Albert I., d. 20 Nov 1879, age: 73y 10m 20d Voorhis, John L., b. 26 Apr 1791, d. 22 Feb 1849, age: 57y 9m 26d Voorhis, Lucas J., d. 4 May 1855, age: 30y 8m 25d Westervelt, Jane (Ackerman), b. 29 Jul 1769, d. 2 Jul 1851, age: 81y 11m 3d, w/o Henry Westervelt Wortendyke, Cornelius, d. 12 Feb 1843, age: 3y 10m 12d, s/o Cornelius & Lydia Wortendyke*
Admission: Free, the gates are open across from the baseball field.
My review on TripAdvisor:
The sign for the French Burying Ground
The historic marker in the front of the cemetery
The French Burying Ground
The French Ground is a small historic cemetery once sat next to the French Church and the David Demarest House, that has since been moved to the Bergen County Historical Society site.
The Demarest House at the Bergen County Historical Society
The graves of members of the Bogert, Demarest and Christi families
The History of the French Burying Ground:
(from the New Jersey Historic Trust)
Thought to be oldest cemetery in Bergen County, the French Huguenot-Demarest Cemetery was established in 1677 as the final resting place for prominent French Huguenot and Dutch settlers in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. David Demarest purchased approximately 2,000 acres of land along the east bank of the Hackensack River from Native Americans in 1677 to establish a colony of French-Huguenots.
The cemetery is all that remains of the original French-Huguenot colony and has more than four dozen descendants of Demarest family buried on site. The Borough of New Milford acquired the property in 2018 and has been working closely with the New Milford Historic Preservation Commission to plan for its restoration and future interpretation.
The French Burying site sign
The cemetery (technically a graveyard since there was a church once here) is the final resting place of many of Bergen Counties Revolutionary War veterans as well as many prominent families including the Demarest, the Bogert and the Christie families. These were some of the founding families of Bergen County.
The graves of the prominent Bogert and Van Saun families
The cemetery has a quiet elegance about it with the many different styles of tombstones and the sheer history of these families and their contributions to the creation of our country.
The historical marker notes the cemetery was first used in 1677 after an agreement with the Native Americans
The back part of the cemetery
Members of the Bogert family
Members of the prominent Bogert family
Members of the prominent Demarest family with Revolutionary War veteran Reverend John Demarest
Members of the prominent Demarest family
The historic marker of the original church site
There are many of the veterans of the Revolutionary War buried at the site some of which survived the battles and went on to have productive lives in their communities.
Veteran John Van Norden
Veteran Uzal Meeker
Veteran John Demarest
Veteran Cornelius Bogert
Veteran Willimpie Bogart Demarest
The grave of Patriot Abraham Demarest
This cemetery, like the rest of the small cemeteries and graveyards that dot Bergen County show the history and significance of these families contributions of the residents of early Bergen County and how they shaped the founding of this country.
One afternoon I took a trip into my very distant past. I visited the tiny Haring family Farm Cemetery, which is the resting place of Cornelius Haring and his family. The cemetery is what is left of what was once a several hundred acre farm owned by the extensive Haring family of Bergen County, NJ.
The burial site had been hidden for years and the site neglected until restored by Eagle Scout, Anakin Rybacki in 2020
The history of the site extends back to the 17th century. “The immigrant ancestor was Jan Pieter Haring, who came from the Netherlands in the early 1660s. He was the leader of a group that purchased 16,000 acres in the Bergen/Rockland area, after living first in New Netherlands, now Manhattan,” said family descendant Regina Haring (Brown, NorthJersey.com).
Each of the historic tombstones are encased in a plastic box
The teen who renovated this cemetery encased each of the tombstones to preserve the place and history of each person buried on the site. Most of the tombstones were left in pieces by the time the renovation had started. This small cemetery is dedicated to the people who once lived here and passed away at the farm.
The grave site of Margaret Alyea
The grave of William Holdrum
The grave of Abraham Haring
Another simple tombstone of Elizabeth Haring
Some of the tombstones needed a serious cleaning
The grave of Elizabeth Blauvelt Haring
The cemetery from the entrance of the site
The sign on the site marking the fencing for the Haring Farm Cemetery
The cemetery is an interesting example of rural life in Bergen County when these early Dutch families would bury their loved ones on the family property rather than in the local churches.
My Class visit:
I stopped in at the Haring Farm Cemetery for a tour for their class project on Historical Cemeteries for the ‘Bergen 250’. This is for another Bergecco-Parc Consulting Inc. project.
So I got there early, raked the cemetery and tidied up the tombstones and cleaned and organized the signs. It looked so much better.
The Haring Farm Cemetery the morning of the tour. Much more respectable looking.
Visiting a Museum: The Unique, Unusual, Obscure and Historical 