New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...
. It was established in the 1660s as the original village in what was then within
Piscataway Township
Piscataway () is a township in Middlesex County, New Jersey, United States. It is a suburb of the New York metropolitan area, in the Raritan Valley. At the 2010 United States Census, the population was 56,044, an increase of 5,562 (+11.0%) f ...
. Piscatawaytown is centered around St. James Church and the Piscatawaytown Common, near the intersection of Plainfield and Woodbridge Avenues. The Piscatawaytown Burial Ground is one of the oldest recorded cemeteries in Middlesex County and maintained by the township.
Lenape and European contact
The Raritan were bands of the Lenape people living around the
Raritan River
Raritan River is a major river of New Jersey. Its watershed drains much of the mountainous area of the central part of the state, emptying into the Raritan Bay on the Atlantic Ocean.
History
Geologists assert that the lower Raritan provided t ...
Edison was settled New Englanders in the 17th century. In 1666, additional settlers from the
Piscataqua River
The Piscataqua River (Abenaki: ''Pskehtekwis'') is a tidal river forming the boundary of the U.S. states of New Hampshire and Maine from its origin at the confluence of the Salmon Falls River and Cochecho River. The drainage basin of the river ...
, the state boundary of
New Hampshire
New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec to the nor ...
and
Maine
Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and ...
Piscataway Piscataway may refer to:
*Piscataway people, a Native American ethnic group native to the southern Mid-Atlantic States
*Piscataway language
*Piscataway, Maryland, an unincorporated community
*Piscataway, New Jersey, a township
*Piscataway Creek, Ma ...
Trenton, New Jersey
Trenton is the capital city of the U.S. state of New Jersey and the county seat of Mercer County. It was the capital of the United States from November 1 to December 24, 1784.
The Proprietors of the Province of East New Jersey granted a tract of land for a burial ground and a town common on March 5, 1695. The village comprised a town hall, militia training ground, stockade, jail, church, burial ground and houses. Saint James Church was established in 1704 and the original structure built in 1724. The existing building is from 1836.
Considerable military activity and battles known as the Forage War took place during the Revolutionary War in the Piscatawaytown area in 1776 and 1777. The Post Road (now Woodbridge Avenue) was a main land artery for British communications and movement of supplies and troops. The British army used St. James Church as a barracks and a hospital from December 1776 to June 1777.
A tornado that occurred in June of 1835 caused damage to many of the gravestones as well as Saint James Church.
Burial ground
There had been burials at the location before the granting of tract, with one readable gravestone dating from 1693.
The oldest readable gravestone is that of the Hoopar brothers, aged 10 and 12, who died of mushroom poisoning.Stochel, W. R. (2004) Piscatawaytown burial ground tour map 2004. Metuchen- Edison Historical Society. The brothers were buried in 1693.
There are many veterans from various wars buried in the grounds.Stochel, Walter R. (2004) Piscatawaytown Burial Ground fact sheet 2004. Metuchen- Edison Historical Society. This includes British soldiers that had died in the Revolutionary War and were buried in a common grave in 1777 . The highest ranking veteran buried in the grounds is Brevet Major General Thomas Swords, a veteran of the Mexican War and Civil War, buried in 1886.Stochel, Walter. (2010, March) General Thomas Swords 1806-1886. Metuchen - Edison Historical Society.
A
ground-penetrating radar
Ground-penetrating radar (GPR) is a Geophysics, geophysical method that uses radar pulses to Geophysical imaging, image the subsurface. It is a non-intrusive method of surveying the sub-surface to investigate underground utilities such as concrete, ...
scan of the burial ground conducted in 2021 identified 98 graves in the southwest corner of the grounds which has been designated as the colored burial ground. Only 11 of those individuals have been identified. In total, there have been 1,815 burials identified as of 2015, with 1,494 of those burials having gravestones.