Officials Concerned About Historic Church Cemetery

To Pastor Miguel Ortiz, the Dutch Reformed Church is literally a godsend, a permanent home for a congregation that first met in Ortiz’s living room and moved to various rented storefronts before settling in the towering brownstone structure on Rutgers Street.

“The Lord kept guiding us,” said Ortiz. “And after seven years He guided us to Belleville.”  

To others in the township, however, the site -- which dates to the 1700s -- is a priceless historical landmark, a remnant of America’s Colonial past that’s even more remarkable for being relatively well preserved.

“It might be one of the nation’s first military cemeteries,” said Councilman Steve Rovell, referring to the small cemetery located behind the church building.

This past weekend, the preservationists and the pastor came into conflict after workers were seen operating a backhoe in the cemetery, dislodging pillars that marked the grave site of a Revolutionary War hero named Kidney, said Michael Perrone. Perrone, a member of the township’s historical society who has voluntarily maintained the cemetery for a number of years, said he was shocked when he saw what was happening at the site Saturday morning.

Perrone and a township employee “went down there and asked the pastor to either call myself or the building department before they do any more digging in the cemetery.” Perrone is now worried that the congregation, in rehabilitating the site, will damage headstones and other structures that have stood for centuries. The issue was also briefly discussed at Tuesday’s meeting of the Belleville Township Council.

What to do with the site had long been an open question. Past efforts by both the former Dutch Reformed congregation and local officials to get historic-preservation funding were unsuccessful.  Several years ago, the Dutch Reformed congregation, which was dwindling and elderly, decided they could no longer maintain the property and opted to sell. The site includes the church, which was rebuilt in the 19th century, and the cemetery, the final resting place for 66 veterans of the Revolutionary War.

The Dutch Reformed congregation first offered the property to the township at a price of $750,000 to $800,000, according to Ortiz and others, but the township declined. Finding no other buyers at the original asking price, two years ago the Dutch Reformed congregation sold the property to Iglasenda Antigua, Ortiz’s 65-member church, for just $250,000.

That price was just right for the small congregation, which is rebuilding the once-deteriorating church with the help of volunteers and donations. Ortiz met a reporter yesterday afternoon as he worked in the main worship space, where he was laying down laminate floor boards. A ramp for handicapped access is being installed. The congregation has already repaired the roof, which was once peppered with holes. “You could look up at night and see stars,” said Ortiz, a maintenance supervisor for several Dunkin’ Donuts stores who comes to the church daily after work to oversee and help with the renovations.  

Ortiz said he too wishes to preserve graves, but also said that necessary repairs and maintenance in and near the cemetery are a challenge because the centuries-old stonework is in such a delicate state. A number of headstones are worn and flaking, and many are unstable, tilting in the soft earth. Ortiz pointed to what appeared to be a gopher hole that had undermined another headstone. Ortiz has saved all the stonework that has inadvertently been knocked loose, he said, pointing to a small pile of pillars and headstones in the middle of the cemetery.

He also said he has refused to exploit the site commercially, even though he has had offers from treasure-seekers wishing to dig for gold or uniform buttons. Other requests have been even more unusual.

“Someone wanted to set up cameras here to film a ghost,” Ortiz said. “There’s supposed to be a girl who walks here.”  

Ortiz added that he would gladly accept help maintaining the cemetery. And for their part, Perrone and local officials said yesterday they plan on offering it.

Perrone said he would like the historical society to acquire the cemetery, although not the church itself. “We’re reaching out to start some discussions on that subject. As far as they’re concerned, the cemetery’s a white elephant. We can take if off their hands. We’ve been taking care of it since 2003 anyway,” he said.

Another member of the township council, Vincent Cozarelli, who is also a contractor, noted that preservation work is a specialty that might be beyond the congregation’s means.

“Maybe we’ll go down there and talk to him and see if we can help him out,” Cozzarelli said last night.

Rovell said he would like to call Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-8th) and learn what grant money might be available. He also said he would seek advice from Belleville native Lonnie Bunch, the director of the African-American Museum at the Smithsonian in Washington.