Autumn Years Spring 2024

shade trees. Prominent is a multistory Art Deco tower. And there are five large monumental structures throughout the cemetery. When established, the cem etery was for whites only, a policy that existed until 1958, when the cemetery lost in court. There are no headstones; instead, mostly metal plaques lie flat to the ground. The cemetery also contains graves from Ridgewood’s True Dutch Reformed Church Cemetery, which were reinterred when Somerville School was constructed. Among the over 35,000 graves are some notables. There are Elston How ard, the first African American to play for the New York Yankees, and Medal of Honor recipients Jedh Barker and Nich olas Oresko. Three of the Isley Broth ers are here, as are Clyde McPhatter (of The Platters) and Luther Vandross. Also buried here is mobster Thomas “Tommy Ryan” Eboli, one-time boss of the Geno vese crime family. The county’s newest cemetery is Christ the King Cemetery in Franklin Lakes, established in 1968. It has grave markers flat to the ground and a large gazebo in the center. Aside from a few statues, the cemetery presents the look of a large park. Final thoughts As we close this look at Bergen County’s cemeteries, let us remember the words of Ernest Hemingway: “Every man has two deaths, when he is buried in the ground and the last time someone says his name. In some ways men can be immortal.” Take the time to visit some of the county’s cemeteries, read the names aloud—and make those there immortal. a

County “potter’s field” in 1964 (Paramus).

Potter’s fields In the Judeo-Christian culture, a cem etery for the unknown, the poor and those with no other place to be buried are laid to rest in what is called a “pot ter’s field.” In Bergen County, there have been two. To meet the need for the homeless in 1851, the Bergen County Poorhouse was established in Paramus (at the intersection of Ridgewood Av enue and Pascack Road). Behind the building, a potter’s field was created. Simple four-inch-square markers note the graves of over 1,300 people. This potter’s field ceased being used in 1976, when the Bergen County Funeral Di rectors Association volunteered to bury those who have no one to mourn them. Across the road from the county’s primary potter’s field, the former Ber gen Pines Hospital (currently Bergen

buried there, and the unclaimed re mains of 4,569 individuals were rebur ied at the Maple Grove Park Cemetery in Hackensack. Modern By the 1930s, newer cemeteries and me morial parks began to show the inspira tion of modernism in the general pen chant for monuments that were stripped of excessive decoration. In fact, two of the county’s modern cemeteries have grounds that look like parks, since there are no headstones; rather, grave mark ers are flush to the ground. This not only adds to the sprawling-park look, but dra matically reduces maintenance costs. In Paramus, the 98-acre nonsectar ian George Washington Memorial Park Cemetery was established in 1939. It has an expansive park-like look with mature

New Bridge Medical Center) established a potter’s field for those who died at the hospi tal without means or loved ones. It was in use from 1916 to 1920. When the New Jersey Turnpike Authority created a roadway for the rail transfer station in Secaucus in 2003, the Hudson County pot ter’s field, in use from 1880 to 1962, was in the way. Ar cheologists disinterred those

George Washington Memorial Park Cemetery (Paramus).

SPRING 2024 I AUTUMN YEARS 45