Saddle River Reformed Church and Cemetery
481 East River Road
Saddle River, NJ 07458
(201) 327-5242
https://oldstonechurchonline.org/about-us/
Open: Sunday 9:00am-12:00pm/Monday-Saturday Be Appointment
My review on TripAdvisor:
The Saddle River Reformed Church at 481 East Saddle River Road in Saddle River, NJ is also known as the “Old Stone Church”
The Saddle River Reformed Church in Saddle River, NJ is one of the nicest church’s in Bergen County for Sunday services. The Pastor is very inspirational in her speaking, the service is well planned out and enjoyable to follow, the congregation is very nice and very welcoming to new people attending church and they have nice refreshments in which they ask you to enjoy after service is over. I found the whole experience very engaging and enjoyable.
Inside the Old Stone Church during Sunday service there is still a sense that you are revisiting the time of the Revolutionary War and the period around it. The pews still have the same details they have had for three hundred years. You are no just going for Sunday service you are experiencing part of history.
The inside of the Old Stone Church
The inside of the Old Stone Church for Sunday Mass
The podium at the Old Stone Church
The Chandelier inside the Old Stone Church
The refreshment table after mass. It is a nice way to gather with other parishioners.
I thought it was very nice of the congregation to invite me to join them for pastries after the service was over. I had a nice time talking to everyone.
The historic marker of the church
I visited the ‘Old Stone Church’ in Saddle River, one of the oldest churches in the state and was taken not just by the beauty of the church but by the respect the church has for the people who are buried here. There is much recognition for the contributions of the soldiers and the armed forces not just for the Revolutionary War soldiers but current ones as well.
The oldest part of the cemetery is the closest to the church
The oldest part of the cemetery contains names like Demarest, Haring, Hopper, DeBraun, Eckerson, Terhune and Zabriskie. These are the first settlers of the area whose families owned farms in Saddle River. Many of the families have family plots in the cemetery.
The Hopper family plot
The Hopper family plot
The Hopper family plot
The Zabriskie family plot
The Gilderston family plot
The DeBaum family plot
The DeBaun family plot
The DeBaun family plot
The Hopper family plot
The Hopper family plot
The oldest part of the cemetery holds so much history of the founding members of the Saddle River and Bergen County community.
The History of the Church:
(from the Saddle River Reformed Church website)
Our church, known to many as the Old Stone Church, was organized in 1784 as a daughter church of the Old Paramus Church. It is a part of the Reformed Church in America, a denomination which traces its roots to the Dutch colonists.
While there is evidence that the original church building was erected in 1789, our present sanctuary was built in 1819. An extensive renovation in 1971 – 1972 recreated the appearance of the original structure.
The Old Stone Church and the historic Revolutionary War Cemetery that is located behind it.
The History of the Cemetery:
(From the Saddle River Reformed Church website):
Our cemetery is the resting place of numerous American Revolution and Civil War Veterans. Church records indicate that the following veterans have been buried at our historic site.
The Saddle River Reformed Church Cemetery is one of the most historic in this part of the country. Our cemetery is over 230 years old and is the burial ground of nine known Veterans of the American Revolution. Tracing back to the founding of this nation, these resting places designate the cemetery as an historic spot of great significance, with a special interest to historians and antiquarians. Surrounded by mature and lush foliage, its peaceful setting by the banks of the Saddle River make for an esteemed and hallowed resting place for your loved ones.
Some of the most fascinating part of the cemetery is its historical section
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:
The project:
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:
https://visitingamuseum.com/tag/historic-cemeteries-of-bergen-county
With the Bergen 250-The 250th Anniversary of the Revolutionary War next year, I wanted to point out the veterans buried here from the war.
Jacob David DeBraun
(from the church website)
David DeBaun was born in Schraalenburg (Bergenfield) in 1759 to Abraham DeBaun and Bridget Ackerman. About 1770 the family moved to Hempstead in New York. David served as a private in the Second Regiment of Hay’s Militia, Captain Garret Ackerson’s Company. He married Hannah Forshay, b. 1868, d. 1836. David died in New Hempstead, NY in 1820. He was tax officer of Hempstead in 1811 and 1812; supervisor of Haverstraw 1811-1814. An enclosed plot in the Upper Saddle River Cemetery is the resting place of his entire family.
John Tallman
(from the church website)
John Tallman was a Sergeant in Hays Regiment of Militia, Orange County, NY Militia, Company of Captain Hogenkamp, William Sickles, and Aurie Smith, and is listed on the Revolutionary War pension records. He was born in Tappan, the son of Jan Tallman and Helena Gerritse Blauvelt. He married Margrietje Forseur (Forshay). He died in New Hempstead, NY in 1839.
David Eckerson
(from the church website)
David Thomas Eckerson, was born in Schraalenburgh (Bergenfield) in 1738. He married Angenetye Vanderbeek and they had a sons Thomas, Paul, Jon, David and Aurie and daughters Hannah, Mary and Angenetye. He is on the Revolutionary War rolls in Rockland County. Revolutionary War veteran Peter van Orden was an executor to his will.
Thomas Eckerson
(from the church website)
Thomas Eckerson, 1745-1818, was married to Cornelia Eckerson. They had children, Thomas Eckerson, Edward T. Eckerson, Maria Eckerson Crouter, and Jacob Eckerson. He is listed as a Private, New Jersey Regiment. He also served in the War of 1812.
Abraham Haring
(from the church website)
Abraham G. Haring was born in 1755 in Tappan, Orange, NY to Garret J. Haring and Cornelia Lent. He married Elizabeth Blauvelt. He died in 1832 in Hempstead, Rockland, NY. He served in the Revolutionary War 1775-1783, Coopers Regiment, NY Militia.
John Terhune
(from the church website)
John A. Terhune, 1753-1805, was the son of Albert A. Terhune and Elizabeth Doremus. He inherited the stone house on the sw corner of Lake Street and West Saddle River Road, known as the Terhune-Hopper house. He married Catherine Lutkins, daughter of Harman Lutkins of Paramus. He is on the SAR list.
Jacob Zabriskie
In the modern day, I wanted to point out a hero to the Bergen Country Firefighting Community and former Saddle River Fire Chief Larry Rauch and his wife, Sherry who both contributed so much to the firefighting community.
Chief Larry Rauch
https://www.northjersey.com/obituaries/ber091143
Many members of the Revolutionary, Civil, war of 1812 to WWI and II to Desert Storm are buried here. These church treats our veterans with great respect.
The cemetery sign
Bergecco-Parc Consulting Inc. Team Project Spring Semester 2026:
As part of our historic cemeteries and graveyard project we are working on for the Bergen 250 project for the 250th Anniversary of the Revolutionary War, my class and I toured the historic graveyard and the family plots. This is one of the oldest churches in Bergen County and in New Jersey. We came to
The Old Stone Church at 481 East Saddle River Road in Saddle River
Touring the oldest part of the graveyard
This church has the most complete set of tombstones of Revolutionary War veterans and the church website has some of the most complete information on their veterans.
Our group picture at the Old Stone Church
My class and I toured the Old Stone Church first through some of the family plots that the students were writing about and then I took them on a tour of the section of the graveyard that held most of the veterans noted above. I walked them through the many family plots around this section of the church through the class period.
Visiting a Museum: The Unique, Unusual, Obscure and Historical 