Old Methodist Cemetery, Lumberton, New Jersey

     Back in June, I discovered an ancient cemetery on Church Street in Lumberton, New Jersey. This place is tucked away on a dead end street, along the edge of the Rancocas Creek.  Some lifelong Lumberton residents I consulted didn't know about this burial ground.
     This is known as the Old Methodist Cemetery because the property once included a Methodist Church.  In the late 1600s, Quakers settled in Lumberton.  By the third generation, most Quaker decendants joined other religions, especially Methodism.  A small Methodist church was built on this property around 1789, then a larger church was built in 1812.  Finally a church building was constructed on Main Street in 1868.  A Baptist congregation owns that building today.          

   

If you are traveling south on Main Street/Route 541, turn left on Edward Street then follow the bend to the right.  The road becomes Church Street at the bend.  The cemetery is on the left side, just before the dead end.

The grounds are neatly kept, but decay is evident.  Some grave markers are propped against tree trunks.

This marker has fallen over.

Lots of little tombstones are stacked up next to this much more impressive monument. 

This lonely grave lies among the trees, fairly close to the Rancocas Creek.

This is the grave of Roelof Voorhees (1741-10/16/1799), a Revolutionary War veteran.

Unfortunately, many, maybe even most, of the stones are illegible. 

Most of the standing stones are clustered in one area.  I wonder if the flood waters that swamped Lumberton in 2004 displaced the grave markers that are piled up here and there.

    Though there are online resources, the best records concerning who is buried in this cemetery are located in the Burlington County Library's New Jersey Room.  There are probably around 176 bodies interred here.  Mrs. Robert Fresoln compiled a list in 1965 by walking up and down the rows of stones and copying names and dates engraved on each stone.  The Geneological Society of New Jersey did the same thing in 1976 and found approximately the same number of graves.  Besides names and dates, they recorded other information engraved on the stones such as poetic sentiments dedicated to the deceased.  In 2002, Judith Irwin Williams walked through the grave yard and found only 36 stones from which she was able to decipher some information.  In the twenty-six years that had passed since the N.J. Geological Society survey there was evidently much degradation of the grave markers.