A Visit to Gethsemane on Juneteenth

The entrance to Gethsemane Cemetery

Gethsemane is usually associated with the sacred site at the foot of the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem. Christians believe that Jesus Christ prayed there, undergoing the "Agony in the Garden" prior to his crucifixion.

But Gethsemane also exists close to home in Bergen County, on an acre of land on a hill off Route 46 in Little Ferry. It's a county historic site with the graves of over 500 souls, stipulated in the 1800s for use as a "cemetery for the colored population of the Village of Hackensack."

On this Juneteenth, the Bergen County Parks Department opened the site to visitors, thanks to the efforts of the county's Division of Cultural & Historic Affairs, whose representatives handed out detailed guides and provided links to even more online resources about the historic final resting place for the area's Black community.

The handout, a PDF guide, is available online here. And a YouTube video tour is available here. 

Following are a half dozen photos of gravesites, along with information provided by the county.

Left: "In Memory of Sarah, wife of John Layton, who died on October 26, 1838. Aged 17 Years, 9 Months and 11 Days." Right: The headstones of wife and husband, Elizabeth (1818-1899) and Edward (1836-1909) Jackson.

Left: Richard R. Mattison, Died November 27, 2892, Aged 23 Years, 10 Months and 29 Days. Richard was a railroad porter who died of the effects of diabetes. Right: Henry White, Died May 25, 1911, Aged 25 Years. His granite tombstone had been buried in the ground, face up, for more than 30 years, until it was reset on its base in 2007.

Left: In Memory of Harry Jones, Died April 24, 1888, Aged 87 Years... a headstone that, according to county's guide, "was vandalized and broken after the original cemetery restoration in the 1980s. It was repaired and resent on a new base in spring 2007." Right: "Cora Oblenus, who died of acute bronchitis just before her 15th birthday." Her stone is "carved in the shape of a tree stump, symbolizing a young life that was cut short."