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| Ed Snyder (Photo by Robert Reinhardt) |
Back in the fall and out of the blue, my friend Bob and I
found ourselves with a few hours open in our schedules. We planned a road trip
into South Jersey for the next Sunday morning (not terribly far as we
both live in Philadelphia). Always in search of the interesting old graveyard, I
suggested we drive across the Commodore Barry Bridge to see what that area had to offer.
The Greater Philadelphia area is replete with cemeteries,
big and small. I’ve traveled quite a bit around the area in the past fifteen
years and have not visited them all! Back in the olden days – like ten years
ago – you had to rely on paper maps and written directions to find the
graveyard you were after. One of the new technologies that makes these
sacred tracts of land easy to locate these days are the GPS map Apps in smart phones.
For example, with the Apple iPhone 6, simply type in the words “cemetery near
Philadelphia” and the map lights up with little red push pins all over
(indicating cemeteries in this region) and a cursor showing your location
(let’s assume you are driving a car). Simply drive toward one of the red pins,
and your cursor on the map will follow!
When you find yourself somewhere in the swamps of Jersey,
you need all the help you can get. Guardian angels notwithstanding, the smart phone map app can be very useful. As we drove south across the Barry Bridge on
Route 322, we didn’t see any cemetery dots for about twelve miles, until we
came to the Swedesboro/Mullica Hill area. We found and tramped through three
cemeteries that day.
Lake Park Cemetery
Our first stop was Lake Park Cemetery, a smallish suburban
cemetery in the town of Woolwich, “situated high on a wooded hill and
overlooking the placid waters of Lake Narriticon,” according to the Swedesboro
cemetery guide brochure, “Alive with History.” This informative text goes on to say that Lake Park “has been considered one of
the most beautiful and enduring cemeteries in the state.” Hmm. Perhaps winter
is not the peak season here. I should probably return when the trees and
flowers are in bloom.
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| Toy cars on a child's grave |
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| Water pump, Lake Park Cemetery |
The place was pretty desolate, although well cared for.
There was a car at the office building and a quaint red water pump nearby. A
few mausoleums stood on the high ground (that's a photo of me in the doorway of one at the beginning of this article), and most of the stonework was covered
with lichens. This damp, shady cemetery would have looked great photographed
with color infrared Ektachrome film, back in the day. With an orange filter,
the lovely green lichens would be red, the stone would be grey, and the leaves
would be, perhaps yellow? I used to shoot this stuff all the time, and although
you can digitally simulate black and white infrared film, simulating color IR
is a bit trickier.
But I digress. Like the lichens, there were many interesting
details if one took the time to look. The leaf-covered cars on a child’s
grave that you see in the photo above was quite a sobering scene. On the lighter side, I asked Bob to make a few photos of me here at Lake
Park (like the one at left) for scale – where else but in New Jersey would you find a
plastic leaf rake as part of the decorative grave installation?
Trinity Episcopal Church Cemetery
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| Trinity Episcopal Church and grave yard |
Our next stop – the nearest red stick pin on my iPhone map
App, was Trinity Episcopal Church Cemetery, about a mile away. The original
“Old Swede’s” church sits across Second Street from the current and much larger
church, its large graveyard alongside it. Colonial Swedes (hence the name
Swedesboro) settled in the area in the late 1600s. According to Wikipedia,
“The congregation was founded as a Swedish Lutheran parish in 1703 after local
residents tired of crossing the river to Delaware or Philadelphia to worship.” Rowing across a river to attend church! Now THAT is religious fervor!
The church’s graveyard has been here since 1703. According to
the informative online brochure Swedesboro NJ – Alive with History,
“Many graves of the early Swedes, Finns, Native Americans and African Americans
are now un-marked but plots are shown on a parchment map dating to the
mid-1800s.” However, headstones dating back to 1721 are still standing. One of
the grave stones no longer standing is that of Eric Mullica, who arrived on
this continent in 1638. His sons founded the nearby town of Mullica Hill. A
commemorative plaque stands in the graveyard in memory of these pioneer
settlers.
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| Mortonson-Schorn Log Cabin, Swedesboro |
We don’t see a lot of ornamentation here in the old Trinity Church grave
yard, just standard headstones. The first thing I noticed was a newer red
marble headstone inscribed, “My Mother’s Grave” near the church, and a small
old log cabin on the far (east) side of the graveyard. Turns out this
cabin is “one of the oldest original log cabins of early Swedish-Finnish architecture
in the United States” (ref.).
Known as the Mortonson-Schorn Log Cabin, it was built in 1654 by “Morton
Mortonson, the grandfather of John Morton, who signed the Declaration of
Independence … Prior to and during the Civil War, the Mortonson-Schorn Cabin
was used as a station for the Underground Railroad.”
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| Ivy, ferns, flowers, and other leafy designs |
Across a small street from the graveyard is the “new” Trinity
Episcopal Church Cemetery, which was created in 1812 when the original one near
the church filled up. We see lot of floral-motifs
on many of the stones here – marble-carved flowers, vines, and leaves. In fact, this
row of four white marble stones above (members of same family, I believe) had
distinctly different flowers, leaves, and vines carved on them!
The “new” cemetery’s most striking detail, I thought, was the
brick-columned entrance way, with rusting iron ornamental lamps atop the
columns. Flags from a previous Memorial Day lay inside the gate, near a rusty
old water faucet.
St. Joseph’s Roman Catholic Church Cemetery
Directly across Church Street from the “new” Trinity
Episcopal Church Cemetery we found St. Joseph’s Roman Catholic Church Cemetery.
Originally I thought it might be yet another extension of Trinity, until I
noticed the congregation on nearby Broad Street letting out, with the Catholic
priest greeting those holier than I, those who chose to worship mass on Sunday.
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| Reverend Antonio Cassese's grave marker, St. Joseph’s Church Cemetery |
In the mid-nineteenth century, Catholics found it
difficult to buy ground for a cemetery here in Woolwich Township due to
anti-Catholic animosity that reached its peak in America at this time. In the
midst of this persecution, the cemetery was established in 1857, and St. Joseph’s
Church was built in 1860. It’s first resident priest, the Reverend Antonio Cassese,
is buried under the stone memorial you see in the photo directly above. Born in Naples, Italy, he served the parish from 1872
to his death in 1886.
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| Passion Flower engraved in granite |
The floral motifs continued in this cemetery, with several
granite examples of the passion flower. My friend Bob indicated that this symbol is quite prevalent on monuments in
Warriston Cemetery in Edinburgh, Scotland. I had to look up it's funerary, mourning art, or religious significance, as I was unfamiliar with this flower. Here's what The Cemetery Club.com's website says:
“Passion flower - The elements of the passion of Christ: the
lacy crown—the crown of thorns; the five stamens—the five wounds; the 10
petals—the 10 faithful Apostles."
Hmm. “Ten” faithful apostles? I thought it was eleven
(twelve minus Judas)? Oh well, you learn something every day. After our cemetery
tours, Bob and I adjourned to a local diner for a late lunch. Jersey diners are
typically worth the trip. Visually, I include them in the garish roadside
attractions for which New Jersey is well known. The food on the other hand, can
be hit or miss. After ordering the breakfast burrito at this place I realized
that I too, could easily prepare a breakfast burrito. What they served was
pretty much what I would have made with basic ingredients found in the fridge –
sausage links, onions, and store-bought salsa. About as basic and
plain as you would expect from the Swiss and Finns, I suppose. But hey, at least they didn't use swiss cheese in the burrito!
References and Further Reading:
We don’t see a lot of ornamentation here in the old Trinity Church grave
yard, just standard headstones. The first thing I noticed was a newer red
marble headstone inscribed, “My Mother’s Grave” near the church, and a small
old log cabin on the far (east) side of the graveyard. Turns out this
cabin is “one of the oldest original log cabins of early Swedish-Finnish architecture
in the United States” (ref.).
Known as the Mortonson-Schorn Log Cabin, it was built in 1654 by “Morton
Mortonson, the grandfather of John Morton, who signed the Declaration of
Independence … Prior to and during the Civil War, the Mortonson-Schorn Cabin
was used as a station for the Underground Railroad.”
