Machpelah Cemetery, North Bergen
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The Machpelah Cemetery, also spelled as "Macpelah Cemetery", or "Macphelah Cemetery", is a cemetery in
Hudson County, New Jersey Hudson County is a county in the U.S. state of New Jersey, its smallest and most densely populated. Lying in the northeast of the state and on the west bank of the Hudson River, the North Jersey county is part of the state's Gateway Region an ...
.


Location

Machpelah Cemetery is located at 5810
Tonnelle Avenue U.S. Route 1/9 (US 1/9 or US 1-9) is the Concurrency (road), concurrency of U.S. Route 1 in New Jersey, US 1 and U.S. Route 9 in New Jersey, US 9 from their junction in Woodbridge Township, New Jersey, Woodbridge in Mi ...
, in
North Bergen, New Jersey North Bergen is a township in the northern part of Hudson County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the township's population was 63,361, an increase of 2,588 (+4.3%) from the 2010 census count of 60,773, ...
. It is one of several burial sites along the western slope of the
Hudson Palisades The Palisades, also called the New Jersey Palisades or the Hudson River Palisades, are a line of steep cliffs along the west side of the lower Hudson River in Northeastern New Jersey and Southeastern New York in the United States. The cliffs s ...
, which rise to the east above
sea-level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardised g ...
, including the adjacent
Hoboken Cemetery The Hoboken Cemetery is located at 5500 Tonnelle Avenue in North Bergen, New Jersey, United States. in the New Durham, North Bergen, New Durham section. It was owned by the Hoboken, New Jersey, City of Hoboken. Although appearing well groomed and ...
, and nearby Grove Church Cemetery, Weehawken Cemetery, and Flower Hill Cemetery, which together constitute a string of green open spaces in North Hudson County. The entrance is just north of the
Tonnelle Avenue U.S. Route 1/9 (US 1/9 or US 1-9) is the Concurrency (road), concurrency of U.S. Route 1 in New Jersey, US 1 and U.S. Route 9 in New Jersey, US 9 from their junction in Woodbridge Township, New Jersey, Woodbridge in Mi ...
terminus of the
Hudson Bergen Light Rail Hudson may refer to: People * Hudson (given name) * Hudson (surname) * Hudson (footballer, born 1986), Hudson Fernando Tobias de Carvalho, Brazilian football right-back * Hudson (footballer, born 1988), Hudson Rodrigues dos Santos, Brazilian ...
.


History


Name

Machpelah is a name given to numerous cemeteries in the United States. The Cave of the Patriarchs or the Cave of Machpelah (
Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...
: מערת המכפלה, ''Me'arat HaMachpela'', Trans. "Doubled Cave") is a cave-within-a-cave located in
Hebron Hebron (; , or ; , ) is a Palestinian city in the southern West Bank, south of Jerusalem. Hebron is capital of the Hebron Governorate, the largest Governorates of Palestine, governorate in the West Bank. With a population of 201,063 in ...
that Biblical tradition ascribes the status of the burial tomb for
Abraham Abraham (originally Abram) is the common Hebrews, Hebrew Patriarchs (Bible), patriarch of the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In Judaism, he is the founding father who began the Covenant (biblical), covenanta ...
,
Isaac Isaac ( ; ; ; ; ; ) is one of the three patriarchs (Bible), patriarchs of the Israelites and an important figure in the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and the Baháʼí Faith. Isaac first appears in the Torah, in wh ...
,
Jacob Jacob, later known as Israel, is a Hebrew patriarch of the Abrahamic religions. He first appears in the Torah, where he is described in the Book of Genesis as a son of Isaac and Rebecca. Accordingly, alongside his older fraternal twin brother E ...
, and their wives.


Before the cemetery

Machpelah is contained within Lot No. 18 in then Maisland, which contained a celebrated and exotic garden, locally called the "Frenchman's Garden", since the well-known botanist
André Michaux André Michaux (' → ahn- mee-; sometimes Anglicisation, anglicised as Andrew Michaud; 8 March 174611 October 1802) was a French botanist and explorer. He is most noted for his study of North American flora. In addition Michaux collected specime ...
was commissioned by the King of France,
Louis XVI Louis XVI (Louis-Auguste; ; 23 August 1754 – 21 January 1793) was the last king of France before the fall of the monarchy during the French Revolution. The son of Louis, Dauphin of France (1729–1765), Louis, Dauphin of France (son and heir- ...
in 1786 as a
botanist Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...
with the ability to import any plant, tree or vegetable from France that was desired by the United States. It also featured a variety of plants collected from the United States, as well as plants from all over the world.Winfield, p. 323. It was enclosed in a stone wall, roughly and kept by the gardener
Pierre-Paul Saunier Pierre-Paul Saunier (1751–1818) was a gardener who worked first at Montbard in the Burgundy, Bourgogne region in eastern France, and then at the Jardin du Roi in Paris where he was a protégé of head gardener André Thouin (1746–1824). In 178 ...
. The
Lombardy poplar ''Populus nigra'', the black poplar, is a species of cottonwood poplar, the type species of section ''Aigeiros'' of the genus ''Populus'', native to Europe, southwest and central Asia, and northwest Africa.Flora Europaea''Populus nigra''/ref> ...
was originally stocked in the garden, and, introduced into commerce, eventually spread throughout the United States.


Use as a burial site

Located in the Bergenwood section of then New Durham,Leonard, p. 51. land at Machpelah Cemetery was first used for burial purposes in 1850.National Board of Health, p. 202 The cemetery was officially opened in 1853, by the Third Reformed Presbyterian Church Society of New York, and thus, was for many years strictly Protestant Cemetery. This is controversial and disputed by many. Other sources list it strictly as a Jewish burial site and claim the misinformation on Protestant ownership was due to the widespread anti semitism and attempt by the Protestant Church in New York to convert all Jews to Christianity. The Protestant missionary movement in the 1800s to convert "was reported regularly in The New York Times newspaper. In the Twenty Seventh edition of Appleton's Dictionary dated 1905, listed in alphabetical order just above the description of Madison Square Garden, it discusses Machpelah Cemetery being strictly a Jewish Cemetery. It makes no mention of a Protestant cemetery being in use on the same grounds or being shared. Rather Appleton's Dictionary explains it is a Jewish Cemetery in addition to a 2nd Jewish Cemetery of the same name in Queens New York. Overall, the grounds at Machpelah cemetery are approximately . Because of the steep grade of the grounds and the eventual descent into the surrounding marshes in
Secaucus Secaucus ( ) is a town in Hudson County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the town's population was 22,181, an increase of 5,917 (+36.4%) from the 2010 census count of 16,264, which in turn reflected an in ...
, contamination of wells, springs, and water-courses in the surrounding area is very low. A report from 1879 states that 2,500 graves lie in the cemetery, where the price of a grave annually was about $100, and in the next century it was reported to have over 18,000 bodies in it.Leonard, p. 52. In 1900, many who died in the massive fire on the Hoboken piers the , and SS ''Bremen'' on the
North River (Hudson River) North River () is an alternative name for the southernmost portion of the Hudson River in the vicinity of New York City and Gateway Region, northeastern New Jersey in the United States. History Name In the early 17th century, the entire wat ...
were interred at the cemetery and the adjacent Flower Hill in gravesites purchased by the shipping company. In 2022, Hudson County and volunteers embarked on program to restore gravestones of over 300 veterans buried at the cemetery.


See also

* Hudson County Cemeteries * Fairview Cemetery


References


Sources

* * * * * * * * * *


External links


Aerial view of Hoboken, Machpelah, and Flower Hill
at Graveinfo * {{Find a Grave cemetery
Civil War Gravestones at Machpelah
at New Jersey Civil War Gravestones North Bergen, New Jersey
Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elders, known as "presbyters". Though other Reformed churches are structurally similar, the word ''Pr ...
Cemeteries in Hudson County, New Jersey 1850 establishments in New Jersey