Thursday, May 29, 2008
BY REV. ALEXADER SANTORA

It's been sad to see the decline of the Jersey City-Harsimus Cemetery this past year. I pass it often since I grew up around the corner from it. My friends and I used to play there and had a secret entrance from behind the cemetery. Today it is so overgrown that most of those graves, which I remembered from the Civil War, are covered.

Though this is a non-denominational cemetery, most cemeteries in our area have a religious affiliation with historic churches that reveal much about the history of the area. Walk though Bergen Cemetery, owned by Old Bergen Church, the oldest church in New Jersey, and see how so many of the Jersey City streets are named after people buried there: Stephen Garrison; Andrew Boyd; Jacob, Cornelius and Jeremiah Van Winkle; Henry R. Brinckerhoff; Stephen Terhune; Albert and John Zabriskie; Rachel and Jacob Newkirk and many more. This cemetery opened in 1830, according to William Ennis, the co-president of the church's board of elders or consistory, and stopped burying people in 1947 when they ran out of plots. Prior to 1830, they buried parishioners in the Speer Cemetery on Vroom Street, which was owned by the Speer family at the time, and is now run by the Jersey City Historical commission.

The gate on the cemetery, sandwiched between the Provident Bank headquarters and St. Aedan's Church, is locked, and since there are no burials, no one goes into the cemetery on a regular basis. When I walked through it with Ennis and transitional pastor, the Rev. Dr. Martha Robson, it was obvious it needs a lot of work. In fact, it's in the same condition as the Jersey City-Harsimus Cemetery, which is why Robson is happy that this Saturday the Journal Square Special Improvement District will host a volunteer clean-up of Bergen and Speer Cemeteries.

Though historic and endowed, Old Bergen has to develop more income or it will be forced to dip into the principal. Robson is gearing up for the 350th anniversary of the church in 2010 and is bringing in a capital funds consultant soon. Right now, 150 people are listed in the church census - including former Jersey City mayor Bret Schundler. Despite the pastoral challenges, Robson says she loves being at Old Bergen. "I enjoy the urban environment and I love Jersey City with all the ethnic groups," said the native of southern Louisiana.

In northern Hudson County, Grove Reformed Church manages another historic cemetery that dates back 150 years. It is, however, an active one with plots still available for purchase for members of the congregation only. It averages about four burials a month and hires outside firms to manage the office and tend to the nine acres of lands, which are meticulously kept. For this past Memorial Day, American flags dotted many of the graves as you walked along 46th Street in North Bergen. Christian principles guide the consistory or board of elders to care for the dead at Grove Cemetery, and that makes a difference.

SANTORA is the pastor of Our Lady of Grace Church, 400 Willow Ave., Hoboken, 07030; 201-659-0369; fax 201-659-5833; e-mail: padrealex@yahoo.com.