Hudson County Burial Grounds
Encyclopedia
Secaucus, New Jersey
Secaucus is a town in Hudson County, New Jersey. As of the 2010 United States Census, the town population was 16,264. Located within the New Jersey Meadowlands, it is the most suburban of the county's municipalities, though large parts of the town are dedicated to light manufacturing, retail, and...
. The cemetery was cleared of bodies to make room for the Secaucus Transfer Station between 1992-2003. The bodies were to be interred at Hoboken Cemetery, North Bergen
Hoboken Cemetery, North Bergen
The Hoboken Cemetery is located at 5500 Tonnelle Avenue in North Bergen, New Jersey. It is bordered by Flower Hill Cemetery. Originally when the Secaucus Junction was built on land that was the Hudson County Burial Grounds, bodies exhumed were to be re-interred at the Hoboken Cemetery...
, but when pits were dug for the bodies, human remains were found, in what was sold as virgin cemetery space. The site now houses Secaucus Junction
Secaucus Junction
The Frank R. Lautenberg Secaucus Junction Station is a major commuter rail hub in Secaucus, New Jersey...
.
The bodies were reburied at the Maple Grove Park Cemetery
Maple Grove Park Cemetery, Hackensack
Maple Grove Park Cemetery is located in Hackensack, New Jersey. It is operated by the Maple Grove Park Cemetery Association, at 535 Hudson Street in Hackensack. In 2004-2005 it received the remains of bodies removed from the Hudson County Burial Grounds in Secaucus, New Jersey...
in Hackensack, New Jersey
Hackensack, New Jersey
Hackensack is a city in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States and the county seat of Bergen County. Although informally called Hackensack, it was officially named New Barbadoes Township until 1921. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city population was 43,010....
. The last body was removed from the cemetery on October 31, 2003. The remains of 4,572 were transferred. The Register of Burials listed interments between December 31, 1880 and April 12, 1962, but those within the removal area were from between 1920 and 1962. The cemetery served the insane asylum and the poor house.
Snake Hill
The Snake HillSnake Hill
Snake Hill is an igneous rock intrusion jutting some 150 feet up from the floor of the Meadowlands in Secaucus, New Jersey, USA. It was largely obliterated by quarrying in the 1960s that reduced its height by one-quarter and its base area by four fifths...
region of Secaucus, New Jersey
Secaucus, New Jersey
Secaucus is a town in Hudson County, New Jersey. As of the 2010 United States Census, the town population was 16,264. Located within the New Jersey Meadowlands, it is the most suburban of the county's municipalities, though large parts of the town are dedicated to light manufacturing, retail, and...
was the location of the Old Bergen Poor Farm in the late 18th century. In 1840 the southern part of Bergen became Hudson County, which later purchased the land and placed their Insane Asylum and Alms House there.
Archaeology
The Berger Group which performed the removals wrote:
A total of 113,532 artifacts or non-skeletal objects were recovered of which over 50 percent were coffin nails. Other personal effects or "grave goods" included dentures, glass eyes, coins, clay smoking pipes, embalming bottles, whiskey/wine bottles, combs, over 4,500 buttons, over 500 ceramic fragments, clothing remnants, shoes, hats, jewelry, military medals, religious items, and medical devices or prosthetics. ... Using historic maps, original hand-written burial ledgers, osteological examination, background research, and artifact analysis, Berger's team was able to determine possible identities for approximately 900 of the disinterred remains. Of particular note, positive identifications were established for two interments who have living linear descendants. The remains of a woman who died in 1928 and a man who was buried in 1949 were returned to their respective families for private ceremonies and reburial - ending the search for their long-lost grandparents.