Neglected Grave Site Needs your Help

There is a burial ground in Franklin Lakes, that has historic significance but has been kept from receiving the care and maintenance it deserves as the final resting ground of 90 important citizens who left a legacy which permitted Franklin Lakes to become the thriving area it has become today. Unfortunately, this burial ground is on what is private property.

The existence of the burial ground is no secret, but the owner of the property on which it resides has taken every step to make this burial ground a secret by letting it become overgrown and unkempt, while discouraging and prohibiting efforts to restore it to a place of repose for the dead buried there.

For those who have passed along Franklin Lakes Road, the Crooked Pond is before the industrial park leading into Oakland. There is a metal retaining wall by the road next to a large white house. This historic burial ground, used from 1772 to 1903, is hidden and overgrown by trees, bushes and poison ivy. You might see equipment for construction preparation or children’s play equipment sitting within only a few feet from a fallen headstone.

Maybe you are related to one of those interred? Some of the family names include: Ackerman, Bartholf, Colwell, Dyckman, Folley, Lichtenberg, Romyn, Romjn, Romaine, Romine, Springer, Van Cleve, Van Houten, and Winters. Fourteen (14) of the people buried in this burial ground served either in the American Revolution, the War of 1812, or the Civil War. There were more than 86 markers in the early 1910's when the burial ground inventory was done…there was mention of numerous field stone markers….field stone markers were commonly used in the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries to mark graves if a family could not afford to have a marker.

Requests to the owner and his lawyer to permit entry pursuant to a deed easement granted the public and from descendants, have gone unanswered and ignored.

The town seems to also ignore the issue by its inaction despite attempts to inform them of the historic importance of those buried there to the town and the history of the area.

The owner has indicated an intent to build yet another addition to his home. The addition would further encroach on the resting place of those buried loved ones. Historical aerial photographs demonstrate property changes since purchase by the current owner in late 2000. Despite a specific deed notation that it was purchased with knowledge that there was to be no destruction or disturbance of the cemetery, the photographs show a diminishment of the grave yard site, including destruction of a wall that was delineating the grave yard from the rest of the property and removal of trees from the cemetery area. Closer photographs show construction debris dumped in the cemetery.

Under NJ State Title 40, a municipality may maintain a cemetery, burying ground if 10 or more revolutionary war soldiers are buried in it.

The town has an obligation under the State Municipal Land laws to promote the conservation and preservation of historic sites.[1] Yet, it has permitted the landowner to remove trees that affect the cemetery, permitted dumping by the owner of construction debris onto the cemetery, and has approved a permit for his expansion of his residence within feet of the cemetery.

In our opinion, the Town has an obligation also to:

1. Stop the owner from taking down more trees that are on the burial ground crushing gravestones;

2. To enforce the easement that is in the Will of Clara Walder and the Atema Deed for the property which granted access to the grave yard and to the pond. Subsequent property transfers incorporated such restrictions and easements up to the map references noted on the current owner’s deed;

3. To require clean up, and enforce the easement for continuing care and maintenance of the grave yard, inclusive of restoration of the headstones.

4. To recognize the site as a historic cemetery[2], historic place and to have it marked as such.

Go to the FaceBook Page, Crooked Pond Cemetery, or email crookedpondgraveyard@gmail.com to learn more about this project being sponsored by the local Daughters of the American Revolution. We need your help to make this project a success.

Please join us at the next Franklin Lakes city council meeting on Tuesday, October the 18th, at 7:30 PM in the Conference Room, located at 480 DeKorte Drive.

[1] N.J.S.A. 40:55d-2(j) and N.J.S.A. 40:55d-2(p).

[2] N.J.S.A. 40:10B-2; N.J.S.A. 40:10B-3; N.J.S.A. 38:17-10