If you sleep always like this

History, New Jersey, Our story, Photographs 1 Minute

 

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This town where Jersey girl and I currently live is tiny, really tiny. It is more properly a village than a town. It was officially established as a turnpike village around 1806, however, tucked away in an almost forgotten corner is the original cemetery dating back to the mid 1700’s.

I’ve visited the spot once before back in the Summer but it was so overgrown with bushes and Ivy that it was hard to read the inscriptions on a lot of the stones. I remember thinking that this was a cemetery that kept its secrets well.

As I mentioned in the last post, my son has been visiting with us from Melbourne and a few days ago he and I went back to the small cemetery to take some photographs. Upon arrival, we discovered that the place had been considerably cleared since the Summer.

It was much easier to gain access to the stones and we quickly discovered something quite amazing. This tiny place holds the remains of not one but five soldiers of the Revolutionary War.

This was a great surprise to me. Even today the village population is far less than two thousand. At the time of the Revolution, this wasn’t even a settlement, just a collection of scattered farms. And yet, somehow, we have five graves of men who fought in (and survived) the great war for independence.

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We even have a soldier born on the 4th of July.

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Words and images are my own.

 

©2018

Published by AnthonyR

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8 thoughts on “If you sleep always like this”

  2. Love your post. I too am a cemetery fan. My daughter and I call us ‘cemeterians’. Will have to visit this one next time I’m in that area. Thank you for posting about it.

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  3. I love visiting old cemeteries, too. That really is extraordinary that five soldiers of your war of independence should be in this tiny village. I expect it is an example of how important it was to every citizen, that so many fought from a sparsely populated area. Some of the headstones are not contemporary with the deaths of these men. Is there a society that replaces headstones that are beyond repair?

    I’m from Melbourne in Australia. I’m assuming your son is living here?

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    1. The actual headstones are all original but ground stones have been added by the town in more recent times to mark them as men who fought in the revolution.
      The original headstones have become difficult to read and all of these soldiers still had decendents in town up until quite recently. Some still do.
      Yes, my son lives in Melbourne.

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