August 2023: North Hardyston Cemetery

The North Hardyston Cemetery may be found along Route 94. This is located on the top of the hill that is just beyond where Rt 94 meets Route 623. This Rt 623 is also known as North Church Road. 
 
Townships used to be much bigger, and the first Presbyterian Church was established just after the Revolutionary War, located in Sparta. This was some distance in those days from this place and even though there was a meeting house at the Cory farm, the worshippers wanted to have a church, a northern church, built there. Thus, the area around where these roads meet had a church built and used during the 1800s. The locale has been called North Church since, even though today that church is long gone. The old cemetery is on this hilltop and today is much expanded. The area has a Jewish cemetery alongside and another cemetery expansion across Rt 94. 
 
In the old cemetery lies many of the people who have lived here since the Revolutionary War. To walk it and observe the names one can record many of the long-standing family names. Among these are Samuel Fowler, a doctor and landowner who made inroads on the chemical nature and industrial production of the local minerals. Daniel Haines, a two-time New Jersey governor, is found here as well under an impressive monument. Several prominent families have sons buried here who were killed in the Civil War, now long past and barely remembered. 
 
Visiting the graves of those who came before us can be a thought-provoking experience on a warm sunny summer day.