The remaining entrance on South 10th Street was accessible when I took this photo seven years ago.
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| Woodland Cemetery, Newark, Essex County, New Jersey Entrance at South 10th Street 9 June 2006 |
Now the entrance is blocked by a tree.
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| Woodland Cemetery Entrance at South 10th Street 16 April 2013 |
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| Old entrance at Rose Street by corner of Rose Terrace/Chadwick Avenue, right off Bergen Street. 9 June 2006 |
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| Current condition of Rose Street entrance. |
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| Most of the fencing around the cemetery is destroyed, so you can simply walk right in, even though the entrances are blocked. The gravestones are shifting onto the sidewalk, where not everyone is interested in preserving them. |
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| This was beautiful once. |
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| Me at Woodland in 2012. Photo by J Wertz. |
This is sad that a cemetery has been allowed to decay over the years. This is not an isolated story.
Unfortunately Jody, it's not an isolated story. We have a family member, you may know him, Glen Pierce who is currently at Hillside Cemetery trying to get it into a decent shape again after many years of neglect. If a LOT of people could spend 2 hours a week at the cemetery doing something, anything, it can be saved. Such a shame that our ancestors not only died, but we're losing what remains of them and the stories they tell. :(
ReplyDeleteOMG. How sad!
ReplyDeleteI saw something like this about ten years ago at Glenside Cemetery in New York Mills. My son and I were looking for the grave of my grandmother, and it took us hours because grass and weeds had overgrown around the gravestones. It was such a dishonor to those buried there. Then, two years ago I visited the same cemetery and it was beautiful. The township had taken it over, and the grass was mowed meticulously. I was able to find my grandmother right away as well as many other ancestors.
I hope the community can pitch in and return Woodland Cemetery to its former beauty.