Topanemus Cemetery
Where our property ends the Topanemus Cemetery begins. When we bought our home in 2013 our realtor informed us of it presence. We had to give it some thought.. but in the end it was far enough from our actual house and the tombstones were barely visible due to the surrounding trees.. so we continued with the purchase. Turns out many of our neighbors realtors had not been so forthcoming.
Over the years the cemetery has become a topic of interest to people visiting our home for the first time. Many like to visit it as well.
Also known as the Topanemus Episcopal Burial Grounds, it was established in 1692 by Scottish settlers and is believed to be the oldest burial ground in Monmouth County. It originally contained approximately 112 to 117 known graves, with the earliest recorded burial dating to 1698 and the last in 1867.
The church associated with the burial grounds has now moved to a neighboring town and while they have relocated many of the tombstones they just didn't have room for all of them. So about a dozen or so still remain.
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At some point the local boys scouts took responsibility of the burial grounds.. the last time they maintained the area was over 60 years ago.
So with the celebration of America's 250 years many historical sites gained attention and this cemetery was one of those places. Our historical society received some money via a grant for the clean up and restoration of the cemetery. Wonderful. Except, the cemetery is owned by a church in one town and the land around the cemetery is owned by my town. And as we discussed a few posts ago.. incompetence is at an all time high.
Early last month we started to hear chainsaws and feel the vibrations of falling trees. M went back to the cemetery to enquire and was told they were doing a little clean up. Okay.. fine by us. But as time passed the trees continued to be cut. Some fell on our property as well..
Some of our more active neighbors started to call the township, call the church and then a text group was created. Often life is so busy that things like this don't always capture M and my attention. Once the text chain was created we went back to revisit the cemetery and were shocked to find that ALL the trees had been cut on the 2 acres of land.
Then things got really crazy.. and then of course the blame game began.
From what I have been told - the historical society contacted both the church and the township about clearing out a pathway and cleaning up the cemetery, removing dead trees, low branches etc. All good. It really was in bad shape and needed a good cleaning.. somewhere along the way.. and here is where the blame game starts someone issued an order saying cut everything.
Town says the arborist did it, who was the arborist? No one knows. The church is appalled, the historic society says it wasn't them, neighbors are angry, we have so much wildlife that is now without a home, town says we will replant the trees.. who's paying for that?
They have also created a gravel road leading to the cemetery. The neighbors whose homes line the new road are not happy either. Would could have been a charming little hike has taken such an ugly turn.
We live at the bottom of a hill so we can't see much till we get to the top.
Those fallen trees mark the end of our property..
The fall colors make it look very pretty.. but trees we had would have added to the beauty. We have already had complaints of teens riding their dirt bikes and once word gets out I don't want to even think of what else will be happening up there..
The townships reply.. just call the cops. The people on our text group want to hire a lawyer.. we really don't want it to get so crazy.. It would be easier if the township just admitted to their mistake and tried to find a solution.. already the tree replanting has been downgraded into a throw down some seed and let grass grow..
So disappointing.
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