Book Release: "Abandoned and Forgotten Cemeteries of Philadelphia and its Environs"

My new book has just been released! Thank you to everyone who pre-ordered Abandoned and Forgotten Cemeteries of Philadelphia and its Environs – you should all have your copies in hand at this point. As always, I welcome feedback on the book. 

I did an in-person book launch presentation on July 24, 2025 at the Athenaeum of Philadelphia, a week after the book was released. Head House Books was in attendance selling copies that I signed. It was great speaking with people about so many aspects of abandoned cemeteries – thank you all for coming! I do have five additional events scheduled throughout the fall in the Philadelphia area, so if you are interested in attending a lecture presentation or would like to chat or get a book signed, I’ve listed these at the end.

Now for a little bit about the book itself – here are the topics I cover:

• Why and how are cemeteries abandoned?

• City versus rural cemeteries and the demise of Lafayette Cemetery

• The Watery Remains of Monument Cemetery

• Genealogical challenges

• The Surprise Below - 

        First Baptist Church and Weccacoe Playground/Burial Ground

• Mount Moriah Cemetery – A Resurrection

• The Cemetery business model, old and new

• Mount Vernon and Har Hasetim Cemeteries - 

        Teetering on the edge of oblivion

• Volunteerism and respect for the past

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Were I to do it all over, I might subtitle my book, The Collapse of Eloquence. It’s a phrase from Kurt Vonnegut’s novel Bluebeard. The actual title of my new book is Abandoned and Forgotten Cemeteries of Philadelphia and its Environs, and it was released into the wild in July, 2025 (America Through Time). The Collapse of Eloquence aptly describes the not uncommon result of people’s efforts to memorialize themselves, their story, only to find that their monuments to immortality did not stand the test of time. Maybe their descendants discovered this, if they even cared. Sometimes our best efforts to preserve a memory ends with the monument disintegrating. Sometimes nature washes it away (as happened in the central Texas flood in July, 2025), and sometimes even our progeny make those memories disappear.

Abandoned community mausoleum, Plains, PA.

Cemetery History

Philadelphia is no different from any other major American city. Its residents die, so we bury them in a churchyard. (Everyone dies, even Ozzy.) The city grows and the churchyard becomes full. The land becomes too valuable for graves as the city expands so the graves are either relocated or built upon. Large rural cemeteries are created. A hundred years later, they are no longer rural – these same cemeteries find themselves now in the middle of the larger city, just as the small church graveyards once found themselves in the way of “progress.” Some cemeteries survive this evolution, others do not. When the cemetery disappears, sometimes the burial records disappear too. Then memories collapse.

ChesLen Preserve Potters Field, Chester County, PA

As I wrote the book, there were many ideas I wanted to get across, topics I wanted to cover, e.g. the history of cemeteries in Philadelphia, why some have disappeared, why cemeteries are abandoned. I was interviewed by Linda Gould of the Cemetery Chronicles podcast in July and she asked me an interesting question – were there any themes or topics that arose while I wrote the book, that I hadn’t planned. And yes, there were. Volunteerism was one, i.e. how historic preservation is so greatly dependent on volunteers! Another was one she put into words quite eloquently - the fragility and relative impermanence of cemeteries. We think of cemeteries as rather staid entities, not very dynamic. We may assume that the most dramatic thing that happens is a few graves get dug each week.

Cemeteries, however, are quite dynamic! It is very possible that the cemetery you drive past each day may be on the verge of bankruptcy. High grass is a sign, for sure, of potential problems, e.g. with Har Jehuda Cemetery in Upper Darby, PA. Or, in the case of Mount Vernon Cemetery at Ridge and Lehigh Avenues in north Philly, the absence of tall weeds and grass may be an indication of quite the opposite. THAT cemetery was purchased in the spring of 2025, by an individual who is in the process of restoring it and turning it into an active “green burial” ground! It had been locked up with its trees and other foliage growing wild for decades.

Gardel Monument, Mount Vernon Cemetery, 2021

In the introduction to the book I wrote that I’d been working on it for twenty years, although I didn’t realize it all that time. I’d been documenting my cemetery travels (which began at the turn of the century - the twenty-first) since 2010 in my blog, The Cemetery Traveler. After photographing, exploring, volunteering in, researching and writing about hundreds of cemeteries across the United States, it occurred to me that the “abandoned” cemetery captivated my interest more than any other “type” of cemetery. When I would lecture about such places, people would invariably ask, how does a cemetery become ABANDONED? For many, this is incomprehensible. Hence, there is a chapter in the book exploring that phenomenon. Examples are given, e.g. Har Hasetim (est. 1890), the formerly abandoned Jewish cemetery in the woods of Gladwyne, PA (a Philadelphia suburb) and Mount Moriah Cemetery (est. 1855), a massive 200-acre property which was easily the nation’s largest abandoned cemetery when it was deserted in 2010. These also happen to be success stories, believe it or not – cemeteries that were saved from oblivion. Many Philadelphia cemeteries were not.

Mount Moriah Cemetery, Philadelphia, circa 2010

In Abandoned and Forgotten Cemeteries of Philadelphia and its Environs, I look at many cemeteries that have disappeared, or in some cases, just seem to have disappeared. Some have just been built over. Some, the bodies have been moved, others they have not. Monument Cemetery, the city’s second Victorian garden cemetery (est. 1837, after Laurel Hill, est. 1836) was destroyed in 1956 when Temple University acquired it to expand student parking. You can read about this travesty in my book, and see color photos of all the gravemarkers that were removed from the cemetery and dumped into the Delaware River under what is now the Betsy Ross Bridge. (The book is photograph-intensive, by the way, with 140 full-color images). Some large cemeteries like Monument and Lafayette Cemetery (which used to occupy the space that is now Capitolo Playground, near the cheese steak emporiums in south Philly) have barely left a trace. And where are the bodies? 47,000 from Lafayette and 28,000 from Monument? These are not pretty stories, but I cover them in the book.

Under the Betsy Ross Bridge

Many large cemeteries disappeared (sounds like someone just waved a magic wand, doesn’t it?), but scores of small ones did too. “Disappearing” could simply mean the graveyard was built over, like the Odd Fellows Cemetery under the playground of the William K. Dick Elementary School. It is fascinating to note that the Philadelphia Archeological Forum (PAF) has mapped out over 200 unmarked burial grounds throughout the city, with the intent that building developers take heed and do the right thing. Really, you cannot dig anywhere in Philadelphia without hitting a coffin, it seems. Temple found this out in March of 2025 when it tried to dig a foundation for a new building on the site of the old Monument Cemetery. Oops, they really DIDN’T move all the graves! And forget that “six feet under” idea. Burials were found eighteen inches under the blacktopped surface at Weccacoe Playground in Queen Village in 2014.

Weccacoe Playground, aka the Mother Bethel Burial Ground

Laws and Statutes

First Baptist Church plot at Mount Moriah Cemetery

Unfortunately, the laws that govern what happens when a backhoe accidentally crushes through buried wooden coffins are not well understood. They exist, but may not even be known to the parties involved. This is what happened at 218 Arch Street in 2017 when the foundation was being dug for a new condo complex. Legally, these thousands of full casket burials from the First Baptist Church of Philadelphia were on private property, so the developer had a certain responsibility. In Philadelphia, if human remains are found on private property, the landowner does not own any of the remains interred in that land. Under Pennsylvania law, such remains are under the control of next of kin/descendants and the courts. In this case, one would expect that the developer would have needed a court order to disturb these burials. He did allow about 500 burials to be excavated (and reburied at Mount Moriah Cemetery) but eventually the building went up - leaving an estimated 2,500 burials under the street. Apparently, this developer never saw the movie, Poltergeist.

Arch Street, where First Baptist remains were found to be not relocated to Mount Moriah

The PAF map was published in 2018, just after the Arch Street excavation, so this resource was not available for the developer to check for unmarked cemeteries before digging. The hope now is that developers WILL check the map first, then do the respectful thing. Or the legal thing. Hopefully both. Legally, in Philadelphia, if you do not “disturb” the human remains, you can build on, around, or over them. If you DO disturb the remains, then the Philadelphia Orphans Court has to get involved (along with the city coroner, police, archeologists, and so on) – but that’s only if the developer lets anyone know that human remains were discovered. 

(PAF) Philadelphia Historical Unmarked Burial Places Map

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

In Abandoned and Forgotten Cemeteries of Philadelphia and its Environs, I have tried to balance some good with the bad. Cemeteries that were saved, versus cemeteries that were destroyed, or just paved over like Bishops’ Burial Ground under Washington Avenue at 8th Street in South Philly. Or the previously unmarked Mother Bethel Burial Ground under the Weccacoe Playground in Queen Village, which is home to about 5,000 very quiet neighbors. After the accidental excavation of graves at Weccacoe in 2015, the Philadelphia Archaeological Forum (PAF) created its map of unmarked burial grounds. This fascinated me. I quickly looked at the area of the proposed Seventy-Sixers basketball arena in Chinatown to see if any unmarked graveyards would be disturbed … and yes there were two! The plan was abandoned though, so the arena is not being built. The burial grounds continue to rest quietly under the streets.

Southwark Community Garden, Queen Village (photo by Paul Wismar)

Back at the beginning of this piece, I said I’d been working on the book for the past twenty years. I didn’t realize it until last year when a publisher contacted me. When I was almost ready to upload the final edited manuscript in the fall of 2024, it occurred to me to look at the places I’d lived in Philadelphia to see if there were cemeteries in those areas. Eureka! The apartment building I used to live in on Queen Street was built over the Sixth Presbyterian Church Burial Ground! (Which could explain why one of the closets rained from time to time.) In addition, the community garden directly behind my apartment complex (shown in the photo above) was ALSO built over a different cemetery, the Ebenezer Church Burial Ground!! No wonder my neighbors’ vegetables are so plump and tasty, the flowers so vibrant. I find it amusing that they refer to their individual garden sections as plots.

That’s just one example of how new information bubbles to the surface and allows me to update the presentations I give from time to time. Here’s a link to that PAF map, if you’d like to see if you’re living on top of an old cemetery (or better yet, find out if a neighbor you dislike is living on top of one!): 

https://www.phillyarchaeology.net/wp-content/gismaps_maps/BurialMapV4/index.html#12/40.0102/-75.1089

I plan to do more speaking engagements this year, with book signings and so on. But these won’t be canned presentations. They will always be updated with current developments. People think cemeteries are fixed entities, unchanging pieces of property that simply get the grass cut every couple weeks. This is, oddly, not the case. Every time I lecture, there is new information, even if I’m discussing the same topic, the same cemetery. Consider the recent development where Temple University rediscovered graves under a parking lot excavation on April 12, 2025.

Temple's April 2025 excavation ends when they hit coffins six feet under.

Monument Cemetery, Gleason's Pictorial 1852

They were digging a foundation for a new building on the old Monument Cemetery site, whose graves were supposedly all moved in 1956. You can read about this “surprise” in the May 28, 2025 Philadelphia Inquirer article, “The discovery of human remains at Temple is a reminder of Philly’s history of careless cemetery removals.” Forget a collapse of eloquence, this is a collapse of respect. The article states, “We’ve long known about the careless, politically corrupt removal of cemeteries across the city from the mid-19th to mid-20th centuries, including Monument Cemetery at the site of the university.” Maybe you didn’t know this. It is my belief that you should, which is one of the major points of my book. Owning up to our mistakes of the past and striving to do better in the future will make us better people. 

On a positive note, Laurel Hill Cemetery recently completed (in May, 2025) a massive year-long restoration project of its 1836 John Notman-designed gatehouse. For all its beauty and elegance, few people realize that Laurel Hill narrowly averted disaster in the 1970s. At that point, it was nearly full, its condition steadily declining since WWII. Its grandiose monuments were covered with graffiti; all the Tiffany stained-glass windows had been stolen from its mausoleums. The savior of the cemetery arrived in 1978 when the Friends of Laurel Hill volunteer organization was formed. Laurel Hill now thrives, its collapse of eloquence halted, its story continuing in grand tradition. Many memory gardens were not so lucky. Some, like Mount Vernon Cemetery (est. 1856) across Ridge Avenue from Laurel Hill, have been hanging on by a thread, locked up and neglected for decades. Since my book went to press, there has been an interesting development with that cemetery, as I mentioned earlier. After famously being advertised for sale on Zillow for a million dollars in 2024, it has been purchased with plans to care for the grounds and make it not only a walkable green space for the neighborhood, but to also make it a green burial site!

Mount Vernon Cemetery, 2013

Impermanence vs. Perpetual Care 

Rest in peace. Perpetual care. What do those phrases even mean in light of all this tumultuous activity? One thing it means is that some people are now demanding legal clauses in their burial contracts that say their remains will NEVER be disturbed. But who’s to say what will happen in a hundred years’ time? As we ponder all this and move toward a better, more respectful future, consider what Ben Franklin said: “Show me your cemeteries and I will tell you what kind of people you have.“ 

So my book, again, captures the fragility, the impermanence of these entities we assumed would last forever. Our cemeteries are part of our history, and whenever we lose one, we lose a chapter in our city's history. Historic sites depend greatly on the efforts of volunteers, so if you are so inclined, please consider volunteering your time to help out at your local cemetery. 

References and Calendar of Events:

Abandoned and Forgotten Cemeteries of Philadelphia and its Environs is available at the online retailers:

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/abandoned-and-forgotten-cemeteries-of-philadelphia-and-its-environs-ed-snyder/1146630922

https://www.amazon.com/Abandoned-Forgotten-Cemeteries-Philadelphia-Environs/dp/1634995236

https://www.booksamillion.com/p/Abandoned-Forgotten-Cemeteries-Philadelphia-Its/Ed-Snyder/9781634995238

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I will have books at several events in the fall, if you would like me to sign one. The first two are public lectures and the last three are events where I will also be selling my books and fine art cemetery photography:

(Lecture presentations below require online registration)

Ludington Library (Lower Merion Library System), 5 South Bryn Mawr Avenue, Bryn Mawr, PA 19010

October 9th, 2025 (7 pm)

https://lmls.libcal.com/event/14489528

Wissahickon Valley Public Library - Ambler Branch

209 Race Street, Ambler PA  19002 Sept. 17, 2025, 6:30 pm.

https://www.wvpl.org/abandoned-and-forgotten-cemeteries-phila-and-its-environs

Market of the Macabre at Laurel Hill Cemetery – Saturday, Sept. 20, 2025

https://laurelhillphl.com/events/annual-events/market-of-the-macabre/

Darksome Art Market at Mount Moriah Cemetery – Saturday, Oct. 4, 2025

https://www.darksomecraftmarket.com/mountmoriah

Chestnut Hill Arts Festival – Sunday, Oct. 12, 2025

https://chestnuthillpa.com/events/fallforthearts-2025/

More Stolen Mausoleum Doors

A friend of mine recently posted on social media that a huge tree fell in the Mount Holly Cemetery (Mount Holly, New Jersey), where her Mom is buried. It hit a mausoleum, and her guess was that the impact knocked the doors off. They were gone. I assume that they were stolen either before or after the tree hit the structure. 

Over the years I’ve written about stolen bronze mausoleum doors (my first post was in 2013, “Stealing from the Dead”). Why does this happen? When the U.S. economy is in a downturn, scrap metal prices generally decrease - but if the cost of living goes up concurrently, people will do whatever they can to put food on the table. So now that the economy is in a Kamikaze nosedive, it is not surprising that these doors are being stolen. 

While each door has an estimated replacement value of $10,000, current scrap value is about $500 for each 200-pound bronze door. According to www.scrapmetalmonster.com, current price (April 14, 2025) for bronze is about $2.35 per pound. I had said in the past that $500 would buy a lot of drugs. Now, with the economy tanking, prices and inflation going through the roof, that same $500 will buy a lot of groceries.

And the Hits Just Keep on Coming...

Now, obviously, it is not easy to steal mausoleum doors. At 200 pounds per door, this is at least a two-person job, with power tools and a truck. You also need a victim cemetery, privacy, and a salvage yard willing to accept such objects (and not call the police). Those are just the things I can think of. Regardless, during the month of February, 2025, there was a rash of mausoleum door thefts in eight Delaware County (borders Philadelphia to the west) cemeteries. Maybe a new theft ring is targeting these items, now that catalytic converters are too hot for thieves and salvage yards to deal with? 

Thieves steal mausoleum doors from cemeteries across Philadelphia, Delaware, Bucks and Montgomery counties - 6abc Philadelphia

Thieves hit seven cemeteries in Philadelphia and surrounding suburbs:

• Saints Peter & Paul Cemetery in Marple Township
• Montefiore Cemetery in Jenkintown
• Forest Hills Cemetery in Huntingdon Valley
• North Cedar Hill Cemetery in Philadelphia
• Mt. Sharon Cemetery in Springfield
• Roosevelt Memorial Park in Trevose
• Oakland Cemetery in Philadelphia

Over the years, I’ve warned cemetery managers about this and suggested they install video cameras aimed at mausoleums that are not in clear view of the public roads. Locked gates and fencing does not deter these thieves. Doors have been stolen from mausoleums in Philadelphia’s Mount Vernon Cemetery and Laurel Hill Cemetery. Both have locked gates and intact fencing. The doors had to be removed, carried across the cemetery grounds, lifted over the fence, and loaded onto a truck.

What some cemeteries have done is cover mausoleum doors with plywood or wall up the opening with cinder blocks. This takes away from the aesthetic, of course, and obstructs your view of the stained glass windows, which can usually be seen through a door with decorative openings. But maybe that’s a good thing. Thieves steal the windows too - there is a black market for those, especially Tiffany windows. 

In the case of thieves involved in the 2014 thefts from Holy Cross Cemetery in Yeadon, PA (suburb of Philadelphia) noted below, they were caught selling the bronze bars that protect the stained glass windows, in addition to the mausoleum doors.

In that particular situation reported by the Delco Times, police obtained video surveillance recordings from a scrap yard showing the thieves with the bronze doors and bars. Scrap dealers can also get into trouble with the law for buying such objects. The thieves in this case were actually employees of Holy Cross Cemetery! They had stolen doors from three of its mausoleums - an inside job.

After thefts, some cemeteries board up the mausoleum entrance and windows, but some even do this to PROTECT the doors and windows to PREVENT theft. It looks like Atlantic City Cemetery installed new replacement doors on many of its mausoleums (I don’t understand the red Mylar or Plexiglas cover, which has been installed on many mausoleums in the cemetery). And who pays for this - either the preventive work or the repair/replacement? Probably the family owning the mausoleum. I cannot imagine the cemetery itself would foot the bill – unless they have some sort of insurance. Plus, how do you replace antique doors and windows? Guess what? You can’t. When doors are cut up for scrap, that’s the end of that. Toast can’t ever be bread again.

If you’re a descendant of a wealthy family that owns a mausoleum, can you buy mausoleum owner’s insurance, like homeowners’ insurance? Turns out you CAN, as you see here from Trusted Choice Insurance company. But my guess is that if people living in a flood plain rarely buy flood insurance, then not many people own mausoleum insurance.

Though the U.S. economy is currently in a wild downturn, metal theft in cemeteries is not a recent phenomenon. About ten years ago, workers at Laurel Hill Cemetery had to do some restoration work on a mausoleum whose doorway was cemented closed with cinder blocks. Once the workers broke through the cinder block wall, they were surprised to find that the bronze doors were INSIDE, leaning against a wall! My guess is that someone did this decades ago for safekeeping. These mausolea may have stood the test of time, but now they seem vulnerable to crime. They've existed, impervious, like small castles for a hundred years, but now we find ourselves on the wrong side of their history. 

Older Victorian-era cemeteries barely have enough money to cut the grass, let alone hire a 24/7 security force. I wish there were a silver lining here, a simple solution, or an upbeat way to end this piece. It will have to stand as a cautionary tale, unfortunately. If the situation pisses you off, I second that emotion. Hopefully, someone will develop the successful long game.

References:

https://thecemeterytraveler.blogspot.com/2013/12/stealing-from-dead.html

https://scrapmetalmonster.com/scrap-metal-prices#:~:text=In%20the%20United%20States%2C%20ferrous%20scrap%20prices%20vary,heavy%20melting%20scrap%20is%20approximately%20%24350%20per%20ton.

https://6abc.com/post/thieves-steal-mausoleum-doors-cemeteries-philadelphia-delaware-bucks-montgomery-counties/15977616/

https://www.delcotimes.com/2014/06/11/second-guilty-plea-in-cemetery-thefts/

https://www.trustedchoice.com/homeowners-insurance/home-coverage-types/grave-memorial-coverage/

More Graves Unearthed on Temple's Campus

On April 11, 2025, the news announced that coffins and human remains were found during excavation for a new building on the Temple University campus in Philadelphia. Temple supposedly expected this. And they should have, since this former parking lot at Broad and Berks Streets had been home to 28,000 graves. Its kind of odd how NBC reports that the bodies were relocated in the 1950s to Lawnview Cemetery in Rockledge, a northeast Philly suburb. Well, obviously not all the bodies. The gravestones were not relocated there – they were dumped into the Delaware River.

Gravemarkers along the Delaware River, under Betsy Ross Bridge

Like so many other sites in Philadelphia formerly occupied by burial grounds, buildings that require deep foundations are seldom constructed. Guess why. Typically, a playground, ball park, or a parking lot is built on the land. Temple shelved plans for building a new football stadium where their Geasey Field is, most likely, because they were afraid to unearth graves. That complicates things. The current excavation has stopped. Temple was prepared, says the news, and immediately brought in the police, Philadelphia Coroner’s Office, a medical examiner, and an archeologist. 

Slogging around in the mud at the site I really had a sense that I had trodden on sacred ground. When we bury our people, we are bequeathing their remains to the earth. Handing it down, so to speak, in a reverent manner. This is not like throwing out the trash. When a cemetery is vacated, repurposed, not everything can be removed. It is just not possible. Remnants, no matter how small, remain. Bone fragments, coffins. 

When I reached into the mud to pick up a few pieces of the stone that had been broken away from the old cemetery wall, there was mud all over my hands. I got a jarring feeling as it covered my fingers – this is the same soil that held 28,000 bodies in 1956. 

Its like what Mark Twain said when he visited the Holy Land in 1867: you don’t need to be a Christian to realize and respect that something significant happened here. 

Current construction showing cemetery wall that borders North Broad Street

Why has Philadelphia abandoned and moved so many cemeteries throughout its history? We put forth great effort to memorialize ourselves, only to find that our monuments to immortality have not stood the test of time. As the city grew, cemeteries were unceremoniously destroyed. People actually now make stipulations in their burial contracts that their remains shall never be disturbed. There are, however, some recent and ongoing success stories in and around Philadelphia, where faltering cemeteries have been stabilized and restored by volunteers. Is it because we now care more than we used to?

Barnes and Noble link to preorder 

I cover many of these topics in my new book, Abandoned and Forgotten Cemeteries of Philadelphia and its Environs (Fonthill, 2025). In fact, what happened to Monument Cemetery is covered in great detail, with many photos of the gravestones under the Betsy Ross Bridge. One of them graces the cover of the book. (You can preorder the book from Amazon here - publication June 30, 2025.) In addition to the removal of cemeteries, the book – and upcoming public presentations –  will focus on recent discoveries, the frequent accidental unearthing of human remains, genealogical challenges, and the 200 unmarked burial grounds that silently sleep under Philadelphia’s streets, parking lots, and playgrounds. Ben Franklin said, “Show me your cemeteries and I will tell you what kind of people you have.”  

It will be interesting to see how this situation at Temple plays out. The coffins and bones were found about six feet below the surface of the original parking lot. As we all know, burials can be stacked. There could be layers of coffins deeper down. I am curious about Temple’s “protocol,” as they call it, for when human remains are found. I am curious about Temple’s “protocol,” as they call it, for when human remains are found. In Philadelphia, if the remains are found on private property, the landowner (in this case Temple University) does not own any human remains interred in that land. Under Pennsylvania law, such remains are under the control of next of kin/descendants and the courts. In this case, one would expect that Temple would have needed a court order to disturb these burials.

Original cemetery gatehouse on Broad Street

The plot of land where the discovery was made is to be the future home of Temple’s Klein College of Media and Communication, with planned completion in 2027. I wonder if the cemetery wall will remain, which still borders Broad Street? (You can see the wall in the gatehouse lithograph at left.) Current Temple students being interviewed find this all rather spooky. One student states that it's a weird history for a building where students will have to take classes. They will know that the building was constructed over a cemetery, and they did not remove all the bodies. Obviously the developer never saw the movie, Poltergeist.

As Temple’s online newsletter states, “This is a developing story, check back for updates.” (Click here for CBS News video.)

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Please visit my previous posts on The Cemetery Traveler to read the history of Monument Cemetery, including its destruction and aftermath:

The Watery Remains of Monument Cemetery (April 30, 2011)

https://thecemeterytraveler.blogspot.com/2011/04/watery-remains-of-monument-cemetery.html

How Monument Cemetery was Destroyed (May 6, 2011)

https://thecemeterytraveler.blogspot.com/2011/05/how-monument-cemetery-was-destroyed.html

Beachcombing in Hell – The Gravestones of Monument Cemetery (March 16, 2012)

https://thecemeterytraveler.blogspot.com/2012/03/beachcombing-in-hell-gravestones-of.html 

References for the current blog post: 

https://temple-news.com/bone-fragments-caskets-discovered-at-klein-cpca-construction-site/

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/bone-fragments-caskets-found-at-temple-university-construction-site-students-quick-to-react-its-creepy/ar-AA1COfI6?ocid=BingNewsSerp 

https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/temple-university-construction-philadelphia-remains-monument-cemetery/4159068/

The Potters' Field in Mt. Laurel, New Jersey

This is my Easter blog post. The photo doesn’t look very festive, does it? Bear with me and you’ll see the connection. 

One of my coworkers asked me last week if I’d ever seen the Potter’s Field near Mount Laurel, New Jersey, where he lives. He stopped to take photos and showed them to me. No, as a matter of fact, I had no idea this existed. My network of cemetery-tolerant friends has expanded over the years, so I do appreciate when they go to the trouble of visiting and snapping photos of cemeteries when on vacation, or just see something they think might interest me. How else would I have seen writer Douglas Adams’ grave in London’s Highgate Cemetery, or the magnificent cemeteries of San Juan and Barcelona? With the help of my friend, Charlie, my reach has extended to Mount Laurel, New Jersey.

The photos you see are mine, which I made when I visited the site a week later. Strangely, it does not show up on Google Maps or on the Find a Grave app. Search for cemetery, graveyard, or Potters Field, and it does not appear. But there it is, on the west side of the road, clear as day. An acre of sandy high ground, bordered by trees. A bit of scrappy foliage behind it, separating the graveyard ghosts from the homes nearby. The edges of the property are marked with two four-foot-tall white wooden posts with the words “Potters Field” engraved on them. The small, engraved monument you see here sits in the center of the one-acre plot.

This Potter’s Field is on Union Mill Road in Evesboro, about a half mile north of Church Road. Its location coordinates are 39° 55.182′ N, 74° 55.428′ W, according to one of the only mentions I could find on the internet, the Historical Marker Data Base. I walked around the plot of ground, Schumann's haunting Cello Concerto in A Minor playing in my head. 

The inscription on the monument states:

In 1743, John Penn deeded to Evesham Twp. this one acre of land for "strangers deceased, therein, Negro slaves, and poor...for evermore." 

I have no idea when this was installed, or what its predecessor may have looked like (if there was one). I assume the townspeople got together and had the monument made (since it looks like it was probably made sometime within the past few decades), with perhaps the original words inscribed on it. What little I could find on the internet is that an elderly resident of Mount Laurel volunteers to cut the grass on the plot. I assume John Penn was a descendant of William Penn. Oddly, there appears to be nothing about this Potter’s Field that I can find on the internet, other than the citation I mentioned above. When might the last burial have occurred? And did anyone know the person's identity?

So, what is a “potter’s field, anyway?” (We're getting close to the Easter connection here....) Potters’ Fields are so named for the Bible story in which Judas, after betraying Jesus, hung himself. The priests who had paid him to betray Jesus used the money to buy a plot of ground for his burial in a field where potters extracted red clay to make ceramic pottery. Judas would not have been allowed burial in any established ground. This potter’s field was to be used for criminals, strangers, and the poor who could not afford burial elsewhere. Hence the connection to Easter. Judas betrayed Jesus, Jesus was put to death on Good Friday. Here we are with Easter just around the corner. 

And so the tradition of the Potters’ Field continues through the years. People who were not allowed to be buried in sanctified, consecrated ground, people who couldn’t afford to be buried elsewhere, were, and still are - buried in potters fields. While I am fascinated by abandoned cemeteries, Potters’ Fields intrigue me, perhaps because they are often the final resting place of abandoned people.

In my book, Abandoned and Forgotten Cemeteries of Philadelphia and its Environs (publication date June 30, 2025), I mention that in many areas of the country, if you died a pauper, a warehoused resident of an insane asylum, or simply died when you were passing through town, you were likely buried in a Potters’ Field. Sometimes records are kept of Potters’ Field burials, e.g. is done by the Delaware State Hospital, in its Potters' Field in New Castle, Delaware. Philadelphia has no burial records for its most famous Potters’ Field, Washington Square Park. The Potters’ Field at ChesLen Preserve in West Chester, PA, while having a lovely flower garden and signage, has no record of its burials.

Washington Square Park (Seventh and Walnut Streets) in Philadelphia's historic district was originally used as a mass grave for thousands of British and American soldiers during the American Revolution, but it continued to be a strangers’ burial ground, a home for the poor and unclaimed dead, up until 1815. Established as a Potters Field by William Penn in 1706, it is unlikely that any of its thousands of burials were recorded. I doubt any records exist for those buried here in Mount Laurel. I wonder how many are interred?

So as we near Easter, lets remember all these unremembered people. They may have had terrible lives, and deaths, but least they’re at peace now. Someone remembered them and dropped an old bible in front of the stone. There are a few yellow daffodils growing in the plot, trying desperately to remind us of rebirth in this rather plain, almost desolate field -  new life blooming in the springtime. Two deer watched me cautiously from the woods, thinking deer thoughts, as I roamed the site. Happy Easter everyone.

To pre-order a copy of Abandoned and Forgotten Cemeteries of Philadelphia and its Environs (publication date June 30, 2025), please visit any one of these sites:

https://www.amazon.com/Abandoned-Forgotten-Cemeteries-Philadelphia-Environs/dp/1634995236

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/abandoned-and-forgotten-cemeteries-of-philadelphia-and-its-environs-ed-snyder/1146630922

https://www.booksamillion.com/p/Abandoned-Forgotten-Cemeteries-Philadelphia-Its/Ed-Snyder/9781634995238

"Buried Philadelphia: The Cemeteries and Burial Grounds of the City of Brotherly Love" - Interview with the Author

My friend Jenn O’Donnell has a new book out, entitled, Buried Philadelphia: The Cemeteries and Burial Grounds of the City of Brotherly Love (Fonthill Media, 2025). After purchasing a copy of the book, I had some questions! Photographing and researching cemeteries in Philadelphia has been one of my passions, so I was surprised by how much I did not know! Jenn graciously agreed to an interview. Here’s a synopsis of her book, followed by my interview. All photos are Jenn's and can be found in her book. Enjoy!

Explores the city's cemeteries, blending history, art, and recreation in forgotten burial grounds transformed into urban green spaces.

Many of Philadelphia’s oldest graveyards have been lost to time in the name of progress and expansion. The cityscape changes, the remains of the dead are moved (or not) to new locations, and new buildings are erected. Modern Philadelphia still contains dozens of burial grounds, from the tiny Colonial-era churchyards of Old City to the sprawling acreage of the once rural cemeteries fashioned after Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Unfortunately, numerous remaining cemeteries in the city are simply running out of space and as lot sales and burials dwindle, so does the money for upkeep and maintenance.

1.        Welcome Jenn! Can you tell us why you wrote this book?

I’ve been interested in photography since high school when I took three years of classes learning to shoot and develop film and make prints in a darkroom. As an adult I developed an interest in cemetery photography after realizing these places are some of the most beautiful and peaceful spots around. When the publisher of the Buried America series approached me asking if I would be interested in doing a book about Philadelphia cemeteries, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity!

2.        People likely think of cemeteries as stagnant, or at least staid, entities. You obviously know differently. Can you share some insight with us into what it takes to keep a cemetery from falling apart …and why it is that we should care.

I describe myself as a taphophile, someone who enjoys and appreciates cemeteries. I don’t consider myself morbid, just fascinated by the human desire to bury our loved ones in graveyards and erect varied monuments in their memory. Cemeteries are full of art and history, and are a reflection of the society in which they exist. That’s why I care, and why I think others should as well.

Mary Adele Hirst monument, Cathedral Cemetery, West Philadelphia

Many people think a cemetery is forever, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. All of them need fairly massive amounts of labor and money to keep their grounds looking nice and the gates open, so when normal revenue streams dry up and the space is filled, the cemetery needs to find alternatives to pay the bills.

Bald Cypress tree in West Oak Lane's Northwood Cemetery

3.        You talk about “recreational opportunities” offered by cemeteries. Does it bother people, in your experience, when cemeteries host concerts, tours, or craft markets?

There is certainly a small, but sometimes very vocal group of people who think any activity in a cemetery that isn’t directly related to a funeral or mourning should be barred from cemeteries and there are plenty of cemeteries that do not allow recreational activities on their grounds. However, Victorian-era rural cemeteries were intended to be places where people could enjoy the grounds and sculpture, have a picnic, or otherwise relax. I find more often than not, people are intrigued by the idea of spending leisure time at their local cemetery—even more so when they realize most modern cemeteries cannot survive without the interest and support of their neighbors.

4.        Your great experience volunteering in cemeteries provides us with many behind-the-scenes glimpses at these properties that most people have never thought about. For instance, you say it is a common misconception that all graves have a marker of some sort, and that Woodlands Cemetery has “grave gardeners.” Can you share with us any other behind-the-scenes cemetery stories not in your book?

In my experience, Jewish cemeteries are the most welcoming to researchers or photographers. Mikveh Israel required picking up gate keys to access the Spruce Street and Federal Street cemeteries, and they seemed excited that I was interested in including their historic properties in my book. Active cemeteries can sometimes be provincial places, but the greater-Philadelphia area’s Jewish cemeteries were so accommodating. I didn’t have time to visit the third Mikveh Israel cemetery on Market Street, but I hope to sometime soon.

5.        “About the Author” says that you’ve photographed over 150,000 headstones for findagrave.com. That is a staggering number! Tell us a bit about that.

Entrance to the 1692 Hood Cemetery, Germantown

I joined findagrave.com in 2008 because I was interested in genealogy and found the website a great way to search for new information. The website is collaborative, and users from all over the world add information and take photos of graves for other people. After having some photo requests fulfilled for my own ancestors, I thought, “I can do this for other people” so I started fulfilling requests at my local cemeteries. That led to me photographing as many graves as possible when visiting a cemetery, something findagrave.com members refer to as “mowing the rows”.

6.        Looking through “Buried Philadelphia,” one sees a great variety of gravemarker styles. Do you have a favorite?

My favorite marker styles are white bronze monuments (referred to as “zinkies”) or tree stump tombstones. Porcelain portraits are a close third. I find each of these styles a unique departure from a basic flat or slant marker that you see by the thousands in most cemeteries. White bronze monuments fascinate me because they are made of metal panels and are hollow. Not only have they stood the test of time, but it’s fun to knock on them and hear the reverb.

7.        Being a cemetery traveler myself, I was fascinated by your photo of the silver-painted cast-iron angel grave marker on page 64. That is quite unique. May I ask where you found her?

Cast iron marker, St. Dominic Cemetery

I came across that cast-iron angel at Saint Dominic Roman Catholic Church Cemetery https://www.findagrave.com/cemetery/1973644/saint-dominic-roman-catholic-cemetery in the Holmesburg section of Northeast Philly.  A lot of the monuments in this cemetery are what I would consider pretty standard looking, but there are some definite gems like this one.

8.        Related to my opening remarks, I am curious what you see as the future state of Philadelphia cemeteries. What do you think these wonderful memory gardens will look like in 20 years?

I think most cemeteries, especially those in Philadelphia, are reaching a point where they are quickly running out of space for new lot sales and interments. Some have pivoted to less space intensive options like columbaria or niches for cremains, but I think all of them will face challenges as income declines. In the next 20 years, I think we will see more cemeteries facing dereliction or abandonment if they don’t come up with new ways to bring in money. Some cemeteries that are planning ahead have looked for new ways to keep their properties relevant that have nothing to do with burials such as events and programming.

Obelisks in Cathedral Cemetery, West Philadelphia

9.        I’m sure there are many fascinating stories you can tell about your cemetery travels, your volunteer work, and so on. Do you have any speaking engagements scheduled, now that your book has been published? I am sure that people would like to ask you questions!

I do not have any speaking engagements scheduled that I can share, but I’m working on scheduling some with local organizations. I’ll be sure to share any confirmed dates on my Instagram account @cems_and_things.

10.   Are there any other books that you are working on?

I’m working on a second book for Fonthill Media/America Through Time’s Buried America series tentatively titled, “Philadelphia’s Mount Moriah Cemetery: The Ruin and Rebirth of the City’s Largest Cemetery”.  I’ve been volunteering at Mount Moriah for well over a decade and as the current board president it’s a subject I’m quite knowledgeable about. This book will hopefully hit stores sometime in 2026.

11.   Would you like to leave us with any parting comments about Philadelphia’s cemeteries?

Many of Philadelphia’s cemeteries have seen better days and there are some that don’t regularly have visitors anymore. My hope is that my book sheds a little light on why these places are important to the fabric of the city and that the photos are intriguing enough that more people will become cemetery explorers.

To purchase a copy of Jenn’s book, Buried Philadelphia: The Cemeteries and Burial Grounds of the City of Brotherly Love, please visit:

https://www.amazon.com/Buried-Philadelphia-Cemeteries-Grounds-Brotherly/dp/1625451504

On behalf of the Cemetery Traveler readership, I would like to thank Jenn O’Donnell for spending some time wish us and with her great success with this and her next book!