Salem Oak/Friends Burial Ground
112 West Broadway (Route 49)
Salem, NJ 08079
(859) 935-3381
https://www.findagrave.com/cemetery/1997710/salem-friends-burial-ground
Open: Sunday-Saturday Dawn to Dusk
Admission: Free
My review on TripAdvisor:
The Salem Oak Cemetery in Downtown Salem, NJ
There is a true beauty to a historical cemetery with its old tombstones, its interesting artwork on the grave sites and the history behind the famous families who are buried there whose homes we tour and roads and parks that are named after them. The cemetery is located right in Downtown Salem, which serves as the County Seat for the County of Salem.
It was also home to one of the oldest oak trees in the country which fell in 2019. The over 500 year old oak tree has been part of the original virgin forest and is said to where town founder, John Fenwick, met with the Lenape Indians for the establishment of a settlement and for peaceful negotiations.
The family plots at the Salem Oak Cemetery
All that is left of the tree now is the rotting stump but three of its saplings still exist on the grounds and they look about two hundred years old. They grow majestically amongst the gravesites.
The family plots line the aisles at the cemetery
Inside the cemetery, the graves bear the names of founding fathers of the Town of Salem and prominent families who once made up the population with names such as Thompson, Reeves, Abbott, Wister, Bacon, Griscom, Waddington, Sickler, Lippencott, Goodwin, Bullock, Woodnutt and Bassett.
You will see these names on artifacts in the Salem Historical Society such as clothes, business document and household items. There names and influence still hold a position in the community.
The Salem Oak in the Friends Burial Ground before it fell in 2019 (Salem County Historical Society)
This is the spot where founder John Fenwick met with the Lenape Indians in 1675.
Take time to walk amongst the family plots and pay your respects to these important families who were once the founding members of both the community and of the great State of New Jersey.
The Friends Burial Ground plaque
The cemetery’s spot in Downtown Salem, NJ
The Salem Oak Cemetery in Downtown Salem, NJ
The cemetery is part of the Women’s Heritage Trail
Visiting a Museum: The Unique, Unusual, Obscure and Historical 