Upper Saddle River “Slave Cemetery, Upper Saddle River, NJ

A small field in Upper Saddle River, Bergen County, New Jersey, holds a few reminders of the mostly forgotten lives and times of these enslaved Americans:  a scattering of right-hewn stones jutting from the ground above some of their graves.  Next to the wrought-iron fence surrounding the cemetery is a historical marker that begins:  Slave Cemetery. Known by this name for generations, it once was part of the Hopper family farm.  

This little-known cemetery could hold dozens of graves of slaves and freed slaves.  The Upper Saddle River Cemetery Historical Society estimates that as many as 37 gravestones were found on the grounds in 1949.  Most are gone now, lost to vandals and the passing years.  But the few left offer a reminder that slavery didnt stop at the Mason-Dixon line.  

In a history of the borough, one of the markers in the cemetery was said to bear the name of John Thompson, who died July 22, 1851.  The marker has since disappeared.  Also listed among the dead are someone with the initials S.F.T. who died June 20, 1821, a man named Sam, whose marker was undated, and someone named Gin, who died in July 1775.  

The site was rumored to have been an Indian burial site, as evidenced by numerous arrowheads collected in the vicinity before it became a slave cemetery.  Blacks attended the Old Stone Church on the road of the same name in the borough.  The balcony seats in the historic church were reserved for slaves and servants by landowners.  And many took the names of the families that they worked for, having no other name.  Church records list members with the names Hopper, Vanryper, Terheun, Ackerman, Demorest, and Post.  The Upper Saddle River site, peaceful and majestically located on a glacial knoll, is not easy to reach.  It’s accessible through an easement on Knights Court, and a branch of the Saddle River must be crossed to get there. 

Even those who can trace their lineage to the former landowners know little about the cemetery.  Maria Hooper of Montvale, whose husband, Leigh, 65, is a descendant of John Hopper, has compiled a genealogy of the Hopper family.  She said the cemetery might have been a part of tract of roughly 400 acres believed to have been owned by John Hopper, who died in 1786.  The land may have been passed to descendants, all of whom had farms in the area.  An inventory of John Hoppers possessions after his death included bedroom furniture, bedding, wearing apparel, two Dutch psalm books, a spinning wheel, and two Negro women (valued at $62.50 each).

SOURCE:  BERGEN RECORDS CO., 2000