Old and Forgotten Cemeteries of New Jersey

There are so many cemeteries and family burial grounds all over New Jersey, many of them have been around since the 1700's and 1800's when the state was full of farmland and woods. Land owners would use a spot on their farm to bury their family members, others may have been buried by a church that was functioning at the time, but may now be long gone. The farmland is also disappearing rapidly, giving way to new homes and roads. So what happens to the cemeteries or family burial grounds? Some of them are in plain site on the side of the road, while others are off the beaten path hidden from view. The visible ones are usually fairly well maintained by a church or a person who volunteers their own time to look after them, but the hidden ones are not as lucky. Many of them have simply been forgotten, lost in time. They are overgrown with brush, poison ivy and trees. Most of the tombstone names and writings have eroded away with time and have been damaged by falling tree limbs, wind, or vandalism over the years. These sacred places are in danger of being lost forever, some are already gone.