You can learn a lot of history by looking at a cemetery!
NOTE:
A quick reminder: Warren was part of Bernards Township until the 19th century, while Far Hills and Bernardsville were still part of Bernards Township up until the early 20th century. Cemeteries remain one of the best sources for historical research and MLH leverages many burials in cemeteries to validate early settlers.
The Evergreen Cemetery in Basking Ridge, New Jersey was established in 1853 on the northern side of Oak Street a few hundred yards from the owner, the Bishop Janes Methodist Church. It was New Jersey’s first non-profit, non-sectarian cemetery. This Evergreen Cemetery is one of the earliest and most intact examples of the Rural Cemetery movement which began in the 1830s and reflected a shift in how people viewed death.
Instead of dark, dreary burial grounds, cemeteries were to be places to celebrate life and beauty. The idea of building burial grounds on the outskirts of near residential areas would provide an environment for peaceful reflection. The movement started in 1831 with the foundation of Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts by a man named Ernest Meyer. Meyer designed the cemetery to reflect the Victorian view of death established by Queen Victoria. The Victorians viewed death as a natural part of life and a manifestation of God’s will. They believed that the moment of death was a moment of divine judgment and that the dying had to choose between heaven and hell.
The Evergreen Cemetery, Basking Ridge, New Jersey
The Mr. Local History Project met up with Charles Walker, local resident and volunteer caretaker of the Evergreen Cemetery, owned by the Basking Ridge United Methodist Church. Charles has been the caretaker since 2007.
History
Although the Methodist church was established in 1853, Evergreen Cemetery did not come under the Methodist Church until 1859. Early records indicate that the Evergreen Cemetery in Basking Ridge started out 3.3 acres from Charles and Agnes Hill and another 4.13 acres that was purchased by Reverend George F. Dickinson in 1858 as both were passed to the Trustees of Methodist Episcopal Church (MEC). Ferdinand Van Dorn, Esq, drew the original plans and they were finally approved by Bishop Edward Janes. In 1904, a total of 15 3/4 acres made the cemetery along the railroad tracks.
As you can see, there’s color-coding signifying the status of each plot in the yard. When plots are sold, there is an option to provide ongoing care for the site and those are marked “green.” The Red” plots are those actually with owner “self-care.” The “blue” plots” are currently available for purchase. Plots colored “brown” are currently undeveloped but may be available in the future. Finally, “white” areas are those sold by the church back in 1985 and 2013 that were later developed.
The initial cemetery began at today’s Oak Street main entrance to the yard, the only gravel street named appropriately as Central Avenue. Grassy streets cross they yard parallel with Oak Street are named after trees including Pine, Cedar and Oak Street throughout the property. Streets parallel to Washington Street include the names Lawn, Fairview, Terrace, and Vale. The original cemetery section was graves that are now numbered 28 – 87, but they were numbered 1-60 in the original cemetery.
There were actually a few graves on the property before the cemetery site was formally recognized. Early notes indicated that Phebe Conkling was buried in plot 54 on September 1, 1785. The Conklings were a local family with a house near the train depot who owned and operated the Bernardsville lumber yard (65 Morristown Road) which later became the Conkling Miller fuel company. There is also a nearby street, Conkling Street named in their honor as they were one of the earliest settlers in Bernards Township. The Conklings have 14 additional burials in the yard. It was also noted that some of the first burial plots, including #302, 303,and 304, were donated to the Basking Ridge Presbyterian Church.
Church Oversight
The Methodist Episcopal Church (MEC) was the oldest and largest Methodist denomination in the United States from 1784 until 1939 and was organized in Baltimore, Maryland in 1784. Thomas Coke and Francis Asbury were the superintendents, later called bishops. Bishop Janes represented the Basking Ridge MEC church. The United Methodist Church is one of the country’s largest Protestant denominations. Methodists represent the second largest Protestant family, accounting for more than one-in-ten of all Protestants. While the yard was originally reserved for members of the church, there has been a multi-denominational flavor to the churchyard today including presbyterians, muslims, and others that are buried in the churchyard.
A few readers wrote in and stated that the cemetery was sold. Around 2000 to 2007 the church hired two different trial managers to determine if they might be candidates to purchase the cemetery. Neither of them worked out. The Trustees decided at that time to have the church continue to manage the cemetery operations. So the church has always maintained ownership of the property.
Typically when someone wants a burial site, they purchase a plot in the yard. The plot sizes vary in size throughout the cemetery. Back in the early days of the cemetary you could purchase an entire plot for about $50. We learned that the typical plot size is 30′ x 39′ and would contain up to 32 graves for spouses, children and relatives. Headstones throughout the yard are designed by the plot owners. Today plot sizes vary and can provide roughly twelve burials.
Cemetery Selloff
In the early 1980s the Methodist Church made the decision to sell off a number of plot areas at the northwestern end of the cemetery. After discussions and variances were approved by the township, the church sold off six plot areas that were later developed where 6 homes sit today. It was noted that proceeds from the sale were put to a fund to support the cemetery’s maintenance.
“Interesting fact….Whenever we have the cemetery grass cut, it costs us about $675. That’s just part of the management of this cemetery that I’ve been overseeing for the last 17 years.”
Charles Walker, volunteer cemetery superintendent
Veterans
While there are no known Revolutionary war soldiers in the yard, there are a number of Civil War, WWI, WWII, Korean War veteran buried in the cemetery. Each year the local Boy Scouts troop places flags to mark their service to America. We will try to work with various organizations to try to create a list of veterans that we can share sometime in the future.
Families in the Yard
Our favorite goes out to Ferdinand Van Dorn who helped found the cemetery and still has a presence in town with the former Van Dorn mill across the street from the Old Mill Inn in the Franklin Corners section of Bernards Township.
There are a few others that we thought to recognize. William Pennington, a historian in town in the early 20th century, documented that Betsy Ross was buried in the Basking Ridge Presbyterian Church. There was also William Scheuerman who was one of the earliest Postmasters in Basking Ridge who orchestrated the first air mail coming to town. Nettie Allen, a devoted presbyterian, historian, school teacher and member of the Basking Ridge Presbyterian Church was buried at Evergreen after the BRPC yard was declared “full.” William Childs, owner of the the Child’s Restaurant chain, the Old Mill Inn and Franklin Corners area of Bernards Township is also in the yard. The Brushes from Basking Ridge’s Brush’s Deli is also resting at Evergreen Cemetery. And finally, we honor Reverend George F. Dickinson, the person who purchased the original grounds of the Evergreen Cemetery. May they all rest in peace on these beautiful grounds.
Cemetery by the Numbers
Dayton, Allen, Dayton, Conkling, Brockhoven, MaCallum, are just a few of the families buried in the Evergreen Cemetery. Based on our analysis, the Allen family takes top honors for family members buried in the Evergreen yard. One caveat is that we didn’t have maiden names to adjust the totals. so we had to use surnames only.
Surnames and Street Names
Always fun to search out families that have street names in the area. There were 43 street names that we found with 40 being from Bernards Township and 3 from Bernardsville.
NOTE: we compared our street name table to surnames buried in the cemetery. We are not actually sure if that person is tied to the actual street name but there is a correlation.
ACKEN, ALLEN, BALDWIN, BROWNLEE, CARSWELL, CHILDS, CLARK, COLLYER, COMPTON, CONKLING, COOPER, COURTER, CROSS DAYTON DECKER DICKINSON ELLIS GOLTRA HALE HAMILTON HUDSON IRVING LANDAU LEE LEWIS LONG LYONS MEEKER OWENS PENNINGTON RICKEY RUNYON SCHINDLER THOMPSON TURNER VOORHEES WHITENACK WOLF WOODMAN WOODWARD
Ballentine (BV), Bunn (BV),Quimby (BV)
The Name “Evergreen” and other American Cemeteries
The name Evergreen was created during the Victorian rural cemetery movement. The name was given to cemeteries that were large, beautifully landscaped properties. Here are some information on other Evergreen cemeteries we found during our research gathering:
- Cemetery of the Evergreens – Founded in 1849, this cemetery is located on Bushwick Avenue on the Brooklyn-Queens border.
- Evergreen Cemetery – Established in 1854, this is Portland’s largest cemetery.It was designed as a Victorian rural cemetery and modeled after Mt. Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
- Evergreen Cemetery – Established shortly after the town was founded in 1871, this cemetery was deeded to the City of Colorado Springs in 1875.
- Evergreen Washelli Memorial Park – Originated in 1885, this is the largest cemetery in Seattle.
- While there are a few websites that state Basking Ridge’s Evergreen cemetery is listed on the New Jersey and National Registers of Historic Places, we have yet to see any documentation to the Basking Ridge site. The Evergreen Cemetery in Hillside, New Jersey IS on the State and National historic registries.
Sidebar Story:
Ghoulish Tidbits
Does anyone remember when the Basking Ridge Fire Company No. 1 used to run a halloween fright night fundraiser in the Evergreen Cemetery? Children were invited to don their halloween costumes and join the firefighters and rescue workers for an evening of fun at the firehouse on Washington Avenue, including a haunted hayride through a cemetery, complete with ghosts and goblins. I had the pleasure of living up the street and bringing my young children on the hayride thru the yard. If you participated or took the tour, share your thoughts below.
Related MLH Researched Stories
I heard from a historian that in the wooded area on the east side of the cemetery lie many unmarked graves of civil war soldiers. I would like to find out more about this. Have you ever heard about this?