Tag: Historic Churches of Bergen County

English Neighborhood Reformed Church 1040 Edgewater Avenue Ridgefield, NJ 07657

English Neighborhood Reformed Church 1040 Edgewater Avenue Ridgefield, NJ 07657

English Neighborhood Reformed Church

1040 Edgewater Avenue

Ridgefield, NJ 07657

(201) 943-1231

https://www.englishneighborhoodreformed.org

Open:

Worship: Sunday 11:00am-12:30pm

Office: Sunday 11:00am-12:00pm/ Monday Closed/Tuesday 9:00am-12:00pm/Wednesday-Thursday Closed/Friday 9:00am-12:00pm/Saturday Closedi

My review on TripAdvisor:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Profile/R4960NKjustinw/mediabatch/14329261?m=19905

The front of the English Neighborhood Reformed Church

The sign in front of this historic church

The front of the church

The front of the church from Church Road

The historic marker in front of the church

Since my project studying the historic graveyards and cemeteries of the Revolutionary War with my International Marketing students, I have taken my time to walk these sites and try to understand the history and importance of these sites as part of the memories of who these people were, the contributions that made to not just our county but the country and trying to keep their memories alive while many have been forgotten by their families.

The newer back part of the cemetery

Visiting during a recent post Memorial Day visit, I got to see how many veterans of all the wars from the American Revolution to Desert Storm were buried here. Even though we studied just the veterans of the Revolutionary War, I was fascinated by the number of Civil War and World War I and II veterans here as well.

The older section of the graveyard

The history of our County and Country are shown among the rows of tombstones that represent the contribution of our County residents to the many causes. It was very humbling to see them being honored at this time.

What I found interesting was many of the branches of ‘Founding First Families’ of Bergen County were interned here, representing Bergen County’s contributions to the foundation of the United States.

The Engle family plot where Revolutionary War veteran John Engle was a member

The Vreeland family plot closest to the church is the resting place of Revolutionary War veteran Michael Vreeland (again this site was once their family’s farm)

A closer look at the Vreeland family plot

I believe this is the tombstone of Michael Vreeland, Revolutionary War veteran

Another branch of the Vreeland family

Another branch of the Vreeland family

The Herring (Haring) family crypt

The Outwater family crypt. General Outwater’s side of the family is buried in a family plot in Carlstadt, NJ

The Banta family plot

The DeGraw family plot

The grave of Benjamin Westervelt

The grave of a soldier I could not read

It was so interesting to walk amongst the rows of tombstones and trying to understand each person’s story and their personal contributions to the way our community was founded and developed. So many of these family names are woven into the history of Bergen County.

There is a quiet elegance to these graveyards and on a warm sunny afternoon they are less scary and more of a place of understanding and respecting our past. It was an interesting history lesson.

Looking at the oldest section of the graveyard where many Colonial family plots are located

History of the Church:

(From the Church website)

The English Neighborhood Reformed Church is the oldest building in Ridgefield, NJ, erected on its current site way back in 1793, long before Bergen County became the bustling metropolitan area it is today.

But even before this, way back in 1675, Ridgefield was known as “The English Neighborhood” and covered roughly 10 miles of land between the Hackensack and Hudson Rivers. This is where our church gets its historic name. The first construction of the church (in Leonia) dates back to 1768, but was moved to its present site in Ridgefield, in 1793.

This area played a role in the Revolutionary war, when General Washington retreated with the Continental Army in 1776 from NY City and passed through the English Neighborhood. Those who fled the area for their cause, included the English Neighborhood Church’s first minister, Garrit Leydekker, an Englishman and a Tory, who fled for the safety of New York City, taking the church’s first records with him.

The historic graveyard next to the church

The church’s steeple was the tallest structure to rise above the flat meadowlands and would become a surveyors landmark. It is approx. 80 ft. in height and made from hand-strewn timbers and wood dowels, rather than nails.

The historic church on a sunny afternoon

In 1804, Edgewater Avenue was a bustling artery for commerce and was part of the toll road known as the Bergen Turnpike. For 100 years, covered wagons transported their goods from the farms of NJ, to the ferries that would carry them to market in NY City, right past the church. The church was once located in the heart of the bustle of life as it was, before the industrial revolution.

The historic doors of the church

In 1854, the railroad was brought to Ridgefield, which introduced industry and growth to the town. Throughout the Civil War, members of the congregation were active in the “underground railroad.” Runaway slaves were hidden under the bridge by Overpeck Creek. They were given food, clothes and other necessities to help move them to the next safe haven, during the night.

In 1912, the Sunday school building was added, across the way from the church. Additions to the building were completed in 1954 and 1962.

A bridge was built over the Railroad tracks in 1932, which led to the closing of Edgewater Avenue and the “Old Highway” that once brought passersby with regularity, became a dead-end street. These gradual changes have meant that the historic legacy of the English Neighborhood and its church, goes largely unnoticed.

However, these changes also, today provide the quiet hamlet that the church finds itself surrounded by – a little piece of heaven on earth – right here in a busy, and often congested, Ridgefield. It is this history and this unique location that makes the English Neighborhood Church a one-of-a-kind place to worship.

We hope you will join us some Sunday to see for yourself. God has blessed this congregation for nearly 233 years (2026). Jesus is doing some amazing things with this church and its people. You are welcome to be one of them, as we move into the next thing God is calling us to do and be, as Jesus’s disciples.

The back part of the graveyard

The oldest sections surround the church

Ramapo Reformed Church 100 Island Road Mahwah, NJ 07430

Ramapo Reformed Church 100 Island Road Mahwah, NJ 07430

Ramapo Reformed Church

100 Island Road

Mahwah, NJ 07430

(201) 529-3075

https://ramaporeformedchurch.org/home

Open: Sunday 10:00am-12:00pm

My review on TripAdvisor:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Profile/R4960NKjustinw/photo/819672582?m=19905

The Ramapo Reformed Church at 100 Island Road

The historic sign of the history of the church

The church in the summer

The history of the Ramsey Reformed Church:

(from the Ramapo Reformed Church website)

Formerly The Ramapo Meeting House was organized in 1785 and built in 1798

In 1713, a small group of eleven German Lutheran families settled at the “Island,” so named because of extensive marshlands surrounding high, dry land. They formed a congregation in 1715, and c. 1720 built a log church. Prior to 1739, they built a larger, frame church.  

Dutch, French, English and Scottish settlers of the Reformed faith came to the Island about mid-century and attended church in Paramus, 10 miles distant. In 1785, they organized The Ramapo Dutch Reformed Congregation at Ramapough in Bergen County.  

After the Revolutionary War (1776-1783), the first task of the new nation was to repair the damages of war and neglect. Neither the Lutheran nor the Reformed congregation at the Island had sufficient means to build a new church. In spite of having fought on opposing sides during the War, they agreed to jointly repair and use the old Lutheran church. The arrangement was so successful that in 1798, they agreed to build the present church together.  

Construction began on June 4th, and was finished in November. The last items purchased were “one lock and two keys” on December 12, 1798. The two congregations shared the church for fifty years until 1848, when the Lutherans sold their interest and moved to Airmont, NY and established the present Christ Evangelical Lutheran Church.  

As soon as its doors opened to the public in 1798, the new Ramapough Meeting House became the heart of the daily activities. Social gatherings and civic meetings were held here all week long, and personal and official notices were posted on the doors. But on the Sabbath (from sundown Saturday to sundown Sunday) the building became a sacred place.  

Ramapough – or Bellgrove, as it was called at this time – had four mills, several blacksmith shops, a general store, a stagecoach stop, and U.S. Post Office, one of the earliest in New Jersey (1797). The old Kings Highway of 1703 or Ramapough Road (Island Road) was part of the ancient 150-mile Albany Post Road from Paulus Hook (Jersey City) to Albany, NY. Dobbin & Tustin, est. 1797, ran a passenger and mail stage line on this road, right past the door of the Ramapough Meeting House.  

In 1798, when pews and people were smaller, the Meeting House held 385 people. (Today, it holds 250). Though the old box-type pews are gone from the sanctuary, the gallery seats above still exist.  The Island Church held an important place in the railroad hamlet of Mahwah throughout the 1800s. It was known simply as the Community Church until the 1950s, when suburbanization brought many other faiths to Mahwah.  

One of the earliest public schools in the area, c. 1815, was operated on the church property until 1906, when the church sold land to the Township for the Commodore Perry School. In the cemetery is a roadbed of the old Kings Highway.  

The Ramapo Reformed Church is the oldest public building in Mahwah, and a repository of more than 200 years of local and regional history. It is the older of only two remaining frame Federal-period churches in Bergen County, and is on the National Register of Historic Places.

The modern church sign

I walked through this quiet and reserved graveyard in search of ghosts from the past. The graveyard at the Ramapo Reformed Church, like many of these former Dutch churches, are steeped in memories of the past.

The historic graveyard in the back of the church

In the unique graveyard are the places of rest of many of the first families of Bergen County, NJ who not just shaped the county, but the State of New Jersey and the United States as well.

The oldest part of the graveyard surrounds the church

While the names Haring, Christie, Blauvelt, Demarest, Ramsey, Sutherland, Fox, Hopper, Van Ripper, DeBaun, Terhune and Tice may not similar to most people, to a generation of us were the names of farming families in Bergen County.

The Hopper Family plot

https://www.usrhistoricalsociety.org/families

https://www.hhkborough.com/home/hopper-zabriskie-family-cemetery

Getting to Know the Hoppers!
Family Files Catalog

Another branch of the Hopper family

Their farms supplied us with fresh fruits and vegetables when in season and places for us to go during Halloween and Thanksgiving for our baked goods and much needed apple cider.

The Suffern family plot

https://www.wikitree.com/genealogy/SUFFERN

https://www.ancestry.com.au/last-name-meaning/suffern?srsltid=AfmBOorrfCGqRBXcEw4poUsVKndOmhzuu2NoaQ6dYjeuEz1I7Ph2UHeI

The 1980’s real estate boom put an end to many of these traditions but those names still live in the memories of an older generation. We see some of these traditions still hold tight at Demarest Farms in Hillsdale where hayrides and apple cider and fritters are still part of that experience.

The Goetschius family plot

https://sites.rootsweb.com/~njhudson/bio_goetschius_family.html

https://bergencountyhistory.catalogaccess.com/people/17462

https://dutchgenie.net/GSBC-familyfiles/familyfiles/g0/p463.htm

For this trip though, I was in search of graves of our brave veterans of the American Revolution and in the faded tombstones surrounding the church, I found most of them.

The oldest part of the graveyard wraps itself around the church or faces the road, which at one time must have been a country lane.

Some of the oldest families from the community are buried closest to the church building

The graveyard is filled with family plots of most of the first families of the area once surrounded by old fences.

The graveyard is full of families and their memories. In some parts of the graveyard, family plots are organized by generations. To so the progression of mother and father to their children and grandchildren. The history of these families is in the rows of names and the intermarriages of all these families to one another.

The Fox family plot, where one of the members of the family was a veteran of the Civil War

https://www.familysearch.org/ms/search/catalog/2366042

Early Bergen County Families, by Pat A. Wardell

The Ramsey family plot

https://bestofnj.com/features/entertainment/jersey-through-history-ramsaysburg-james-ramsay-farmstead/

The Ramsey family plot

The grave site of Peter Ramsey, who the town of Ramsey was named after

https://ancestors.familysearch.org/en/K4FS-R7L/peter-j.-ramsey-1804-1852

Peter J. Ramsey was born on 23 November 1804, in Bergen, New Jersey, United States. He married Margaret Hopper in 1828, in Hohokus Township, Bergen, New Jersey, United States. They were the parents of at least 4 sons and 5 daughters. He died on 10 May 1852, in Ramapo, Bergen, New Jersey, United States, at the age of 47, and was buried in Mahwah Township, Bergen, New Jersey, United States (Family Search.org).

Closer to the church, I discovered the graves of our brave soldiers from the Revolutionary War whom I had been searching for.

The grave of John Suffern, who fought in the Revolutionary War and whose family the County of Suffern was named after

https://ancestors.familysearch.org/en/MT85-8B1/john-suffern-1741-1836

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Suffern-60

When John Suffern was born on 23 November 1741, in County Antrim, Ireland, his father, William Suffern, was 27 and his mother, Margaret Templeton, was 19. He married Mary Myers on 1 January 1766, in Burlington, New Jersey, British Colonial America. They were the parents of at least 7 sons and 4 daughters. He lived in Rockland, New York, United States in 1820 and Ramapo, Rockland, New York, United States in 1830. He died on 11 November 1836, in Suffern, Ramapo, Rockland, New York, United States, at the age of 94, and was buried in Ramapo Reformed Church Cemetery, Mahwah Township, Bergen, New Jersey, United States (Familysearch.org).

The graves of John Suffern and his wife

The Christie family plot, where John and James Christie who fought in the war were buried

The graves of John Christie and his wife

https://ancestors.familysearch.org/en/L2SY-CNW/john-w-christie-1754-1815

When John W Christie was born on 7 May 1754, in Schraalenburgh, Bergen, New Jersey, British Colonial America, his father, William James Christie, was 33 and his mother, Catalijntje Demarest, was 32. He married Annatie Hannah Brinkerhoff about 1773, in New Barbadoes Township, Bergen, New Jersey, United States. They were the parents of at least 4 sons and 8 daughters. He died on 11 September 1815, in Bergen, New Jersey, United States, at the age of 61, and was buried in Bergenfield, Bergen, New Jersey, United States (Familysearch.org).

The graves of James Christie and his wife

https://ancestors.familysearch.org/en/LKRF-61W/james-willem-christie-1744-1817

https://ancestors.familysearch.org/en/M56X-DYC/james-christie-1746

When James Willem Christie was born on 20 August 1744, in Bergen, New Jersey, British Colonial America, his father, William James Christie, was 24 and his mother, Catalijntje Demarest, was 22. He married Maria Banta about 1772, in Schraalenburgh, Bergen, New Jersey, British Colonial America. They were the parents of at least 5 sons and 5 daughters. He died on 23 July 1817, in Bergenfield, Bergen, New Jersey, United States, at the age of 72 (Familysearch.org).

The grave of Lawrence Sutherland another Revolutionary War Veteran

https://ancestors.familysearch.org/en/LHNH-3RV/lawrence-sutherland-1763-1846

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Sutherland-2841

When Lawrence Sutherland was born on 12 June 1763, in Harrington Township, Bergen, New Jersey, United States, his father, James Sutherland, was 21 and his mother, Marietje, was 19. He married Elizabeth Sutherland in 1786, in New Hampstead, Rockland, New York, United States. They were the parents of at least 2 sons and 3 daughters. He died on 9 October 1846, in New Hampstead, Rockland, New York, United States, at the age of 83, and was buried in Mahwah Township, Bergen, New Jersey, United States (Familysearch.org).

The Terhune family plot

https://freepages.rootsweb.com/~batrhune/genealogy/Early%20Dutch%20Family%20Ties/page04.htm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terhune_House_(Wyckoff,_New_Jersey)

https://freepages.rootsweb.com/~batrhune/genealogy/Early%20Dutch%20Family%20Ties/page29.htm

The grave of John DeBaun and Matilda Van Belget

The Haring family plot of John and Elizabeth Haring

https://www.wikitree.com/genealogy/HARING

The graves of John and Elizabeth Tice

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tice_Farms

Early Bergen County Families, by Pat A. Wardell
The Theis family arrives in North America and settles in New Jersey

The historic family tombstones

The Ackerman family plot

https://www.njgsbc.org/files/familyfiles/g0/p10.htm

https://www.wikitree.com/genealogy/ACKERMAN

Click to access Ackerman-A-G-Ber-Co-Fams.pdf

The graves of John Straut and his wife, Susan Evers Straut

There are a million stories to be told in this graveyard and it is interesting to know their families stories

The family plots in the graveyard

Wyckoff Reformed Church 580 Wyckoff Avenue Wyckoff, NJ 07481

Wyckoff Reformed Church 580 Wyckoff Avenue Wyckoff, NJ 07481

Wyckoff Reformed Church

580 Wyckoff Avenue

Wyckoff, NJ 07481

(201) 891-1782

https://www.wyckoffreformed.org/

Open: Sunday 9:00am-11:00am (Sunday Mass)

My review on TripAdvisor:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Profile/R4960NKjustinw/mediabatch/13777849?m=19905

The Wyckoff Reformed Church and Graveyard

The front of the church in the Summer of 2025

The graveyard at the church dates back to before the Revolutionary War. The graveyard has veterans from all the wars since the Revolutionary War to the current wars.

The Wyckoff Reformed Church was built with local fieldstone in 1806. The carpentry inside was done by Daniel Baldwin. The style features vernacular Early Republic, Federal architecture and the windows are done in the Gothic Revival style (Wiki).

The historic graveyard in the back of the church

The back of the graveyard that reaches further back into town

The part of the graveyard from the mid to late 1800’s. There are Civil War veterans buried here.

The back of the church from the 1800’s

The graveyard from the 1800’s

The Revolutionary War era section of the graveyard

The graves of the Revolutionary War veterans

The grave of Revolutionary War veteran Albert N. Van Voorheis

https://ancestors.familysearch.org/en/LXQY-KCH/albert-voorhees-1759-1820

https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=12407

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Stephensz-2

When Albert Voorhees was born on 24 July 1759, in Bergen, New Jersey, British Colonial America, his father, Albert Van Voorhees, was 54 and his mother, Cornelia H. Van Gieson, was 42. He married Rachael Hopper on 26 July 1788, in Acquackanonk Township, Passaic, New Jersey, United States. They were the parents of at least 5 sons and 6 daughters. He died on 17 October 1820, at the age of 61 (FamilySearch.com).

The grave of William P. Winter

The grave of Vanithy Van Voorheis, the wife of Albert Van Voorheis.

The historic part of graveyard right behind the church

The graves of Bridget Ackerman and Martin Myers

The graves of Jack Van Saun and his wife, a descendant of the Van Ripper farm family

The graves of the Van Ripper family

The family plots

The grave of David Stagg

The graves of Peggy Willis and Margaret and Abraham Van Voorheis

The graves of the Mickler family

The graves Abraham and Sara Ann Quackenbush

This historic church and graveyard are really interesting to walk around. It is a glimpse into the past of Bergen County, NJ and the entire State of New Jersey

South Presbyterian Church 150 West Church Street Bergenfield, NJ 07621

South Presbyterian Church 150 West Church Street Bergenfield, NJ 07621

South Presbyterian Church

150 West Church Street

Bergenfield, NJ 07621

(201) 384-8932

https://www.southpresbyterian.net/history

Open: Sundays during service time

My review on TripAdvisor:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Profile/R4960NKjustinw/mediabatch/13264450?m=19905

The South Presbyterian Church at 150 West Church Street in Bergenfield, NJ

The historic marker in front of the church

I was in Bergenfield, NJ recently to visit the Bergenfield Museum and I walked around this beautiful church and the graveyard next to it. What a beautiful, graceful building and the cemetery had an old New England charm about it. The graveyard held the graves of many of the original family members who founded the County and lived in Bergen County since the late 1600’s.

The inside of the church

The church sat in this beautiful area right next to Cooper Park off Downtown Bergenfield. I can’t wait to take a look inside one day.

The inside of the church during Sunday services

The Mission Statement from the Church:

(from the church website)

“As followers of the risen Lord, we, the South Presbyterian Church family, commit ourselves to proclaim the gospel, witness to the promise of God’s Kingdom, and nurture all children of God. In our community and throughout the world, we will serve in Christ’s name through worship and mission. We will serve through open worship, willing service and compassion to all for the glory of God wherever our lives shall take us.”

The historic marker of the church

History of the Church:

(from the church website)

SOUTH CHURCH is descended from the first Schraalenburgh congregation established in 1723. The first church building was constructed beginning in 1724, and fully completed by 1728. This was approximately 36 feet square with a Dutch hip roof ascending to a central belfry and steeple.

 The front of the church cemetery

This church stood atop a small hill just west of Long Swamp Brook, facing south and fronting on the new county road laid down in 1717. Using today’s landmarks, we can describe the site as the southeast corner of the present cemetery, directly across Church Street from the South Church House. For more than seventy years, this small church building served the farmers of Schraalenburgh. The site of the new church was apparently chosen because of the presence of a large spring across the road near Long Swamp Brook. 

 The historic graveyard with some of the original families of Bergen County

The philosophy of the Dutch Reformed Church shaped the growth and development in the early years of the church’s existence. In the more than two and a half centuries of its history, the members of the congregation had to choose many times between the strictly puritanical concepts and the more convenient religious beliefs, and invariably chose the puritanical. Some members were the patriots of the Revolution while others were Tories. In 1799, the new South Schraalenburgh Church was built a short distance to the west of the original building.

 The historic cemetery during the Fall of 2024

Because of differences within the congregation in the late 1700s, two groups were formed and when a decision was made to build a new church, the opposing group withdrew, purchased land and built the North Schraalenburgh (now Dumont) Reformed Church in 1801. In May 1866 the congregation voted to enlarge and remodel the building, adding 15 feet to the north end and replacing part of two windows in the front with doors on each side of the original single door, as you see it now.  This was completed in 1867.

 The Church graveyard

In the past century, the building has had its share of modernizations— candlelight gave way to oil lamps, and in turn to electrification. Heat was installed,  first coal fired, then oil, now gas, although the old drafts persist to this day. However, the charm and grace of the old Dutch Church at Schraalenburgh have remained. The South Church House completed and dedicated in September 1952, on the corner of West Church and Franklin Avenue, is used by the church for various classes and events and many community organizations meet there.  In 2002 South Presbyterian Church celebrated the 50th Anniversary of the Church House.

 The historic graveyard at the side of the church in the oldest part

The South Presbyterian Church was placed on the National Registry December 6, 1975 and the Manse on August 24, 1979, both through the efforts of Mrs. Adrian Leiby. In 1913, after much discussion, the congregation chose to unite with the Presbyterian Church. Today, after almost 3 centuries of building and remodeling, separating and uniting, South Presbyterian Church in Bergenfield remains committed to the values of those Christian farmers who first gathered at this site to worship in 1723. . . steadfast in purpose and faith.

The Demarest family plot

The Church is especially beautiful at the holidays all decorated with wreathes and garland.

The South Church decorated for Christmas

The fences are so nicely decorated for the holidays

The outside of the church decorated for the holidays

The front of the church at dusk

The front doors are so welcoming at the holidays

The Bergecco-Parc Consulting Inc. Project promoting the church for “Dark Tourism”:

In a recent project I created for my Marketing Students at Bergen Community College in Paramus, NJ, under the fictional company “Bergecco-Parc Consulting Inc.”, the Teams were tasked in creating a project that promoted the South Presbyterian Church for “Dark Tourism”, meaning that we promoted their historic cemetery for a historic walking tour concentrating on the Demarest family plot.

Here is a link to that blog on the project:

https://mywalkinmanhattan.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=57059&action=edit

Here are the videos on the Bergenfield, NJ Historic sites project:

We walked through the park again to my take note of its Depression era past and beautiful views and colors and made our way to the historic South Presbyterian Church and its historic graveyard where the second half of the project would take place.

South Presbyterian Church at 150 West Church Avenue

https://www.southpresbyterian.net/

https://www.facebook.com/southpres/

The historic marker for the church

My review on TripAdvisor:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Profile/R4960NKjustinw/mediabatch/13264450?m=19905

My review on VisitingaMuseum.com:

https://visitingamuseum.com/author/jwatrel/page/2/

The Demarest Family plot in the church graveyard

Touring the South Church graveyard for the historical walking tour with members of the Church volunteer staff

The tour was lead by Bob Carpenter, a historian who is helping renovate this historical graveyard

The tour of the historical Demarest family plot, which ties into the museum building’s historical past, was lead by historian Bob Carpenter, who is helping the church renovate and restore the graveyard. Mr. Carpenter explained to us how he was fixing all the plots and historic tombstones and how the maintenance of the stones needs to be carefully done.

Mr. Carpenter explains how to maintain the tombstones in these historic graveyards

Video of the walking tour of the historic graveyard:

IMG_2497Download

Both the church volunteers and Mr. Carpenter explaining to the students how families were buried in the 1700and 1800’s

We finished the tour that afternoon inside the South Church to learn its history in the community. Though it will not be part of the project, the church offered the students a glimpse into Bergen County’s past as the original church was built before the Revolutionary War.

The Student Consultants touring the pews of the South Church

Once the tour was complete, the Student Consultants had a better understanding of the locations where the project will take place.

The new project will include walking tours, historical aspects of all three locations, and ways of creating a Destination Marketing Plan for domestic and foreign tourism. This will take place when the Student Consultants present their ideas to myself and the museum and church staffs.

The student consultants had four weeks to this project and put together their game plans. The had to put together commercials to promote the Bergenfield Museum, Coopers Pond Park and the historical cemetery of the South Church. As an extra credit assignment, I had the students develop a Halloween walking tour with food and create a separate commercial for this of which three of the for groups completed.

Here is their Presentation of the Project Promoting the Historic sites of Bergenfield, NJ. This section of videos was on promoting the South Presbyterian Church:

The South Church Cemetery is one of the oldest and historic cemeteries in Bergen County and home to the Demarest family plot, one of the most prominent families in Bergen County. The students were tasked with creating a short Walking Tour video promotion for the project to promote the South Church for tourism.

Team One:

Commercial Two:

Team Two:

Team Three:

Team Four:

*Special Note: I credit my Marketing 201 students at Bergen Community College with all of this work and the dedication that they gave the class. Excellent job everyone!

For my International Marketing class in Spring 2026, I created a new Team Project based on Daughters of the Revolutionary War’s listing of Bergen County Veteran’s.

Bergecco-Parc Consulting Inc. Project Proposal:

BCC-Bergecco-Parc Consulting Inc. 2026 Touring the Revolutionary GravesitesDownload

This semester I attempted one of the toughest Team projects in all the historical projects I have created, taking the listing of the Daughters of the American Revolution created for Bergen County Historical Division for the “Bergen 250”and we took it to another level.

I challenged the students to visit all the cemeteries and graveyards on the listing (using my blog if needed), find the tombstones of the veterans of the Revolutionary War and photograph them. Then they needed to create a biography of each of the veterans.

From there, they needed to create a short video of that site and put it all into a QR code so visitors can find them. It was a big challenge but I knew this class could do it. There was something about the personality of this class that would make it work.

I then planned a series of field trips so that the students could visit particular sites in a more formal tour. I asked a lot of the contacts who I have met over the years to help me out so the students could see why this project was so important to the 250th Anniversary to both our County and our Country. It took a lot to plan and execute. I gave them six weeks to do the research and create other sections of the project.

Our last field trip was to the church for another visit with Bob Carpenter and Melissa Naylis, who led a new group of students on a tour through the graveyard to learn about history, restoration, and how marble is chiseled.

We worked with Melissa Naylis, who is leading the renovation of the church and master carver, Bob Carpenter, who showed us how he is restoring the graveyard. He had led one of my previous classes when we visited the graveyard for my ‘Bergen 250’ project.

Master Carver Bob Carpenter leading our tour

The South Presbyterian Church and the Demarest family plot

The Demarest family plot

Melissa Naylis starting the tour with us

The students got to learn of the important history of the grave sites and why they are an important piece of the United States founding. The were the men who fought for our freedom and the wives and families that supported the effort.

Melissa leading the tour and introducing Bob Carpenter to us

Melissa Naylis explaining the work that is being done in the graveyard

Bob Carpenter explains his work

Some of the earliest tombstones in the graveyard

Bob Carpenter explaining the renovation

Bob Carpenter talking about the Demarest plot renovation

Pastor Glen from the Old South Presbyterian Church introducing himself to the students and joining us on this part of the tour.

Talking about the care of the tombstones

Talking about care of the tombstones

We then moved to tombstone of the founder of Rutgers University for a marble carving demonstration. Bob Carpenter wanted the students to know the effort into carving into stone and brought the tools of that era and a piece of marble for the students to use. The students got a kick out of this and some really enjoyed it.

Bob explaining the work of a marble carver

Describing the process

My students giving it a try

My student Amy, carving marble

My student, Walid, carving on marble

Demonstrating the process

After the demonstration, we talked about the work of the Demarest family and their contributions within Bergen County.

The founder of Rutgers University, John Henry Goetscheus and a member of the extended Demarest family.

Our Team picture after the tour

Taking a quick tour of the graveyard after the formal tour, the Blauvelt-Kipp family burial ground