Gatehouse at Colestown Cemetery - Cherry Hill, NJ
N 39° 56.005 W 074° 59.367
18S E 500901 N 4420367
Colestown Cemetery & its locally familiar stone gatehouse, was constructed in 1858, and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975. The gatehouse & cemetery is all that remains of the now vanished hamlet of Colestown.
Waymark Code: WMHY71
Location: New Jersey, United States
Date Posted: 08/26/2013
Views: 2
Historically
One side of the gatehouse was used as a chapel for funeral services, and the other side was the living quarters for the superintendent of the cemetery. Below the chapel is a vault once used as a winter holding room for bodies that could not be buried in the frozen ground.
Anecdote
I have been driving by this for years especially when my father owned the liquor store in the Cherry Hill Mall. I never really took serious notice or understood the historical significance of this gatehouse. I remember getting a kick out of seeing some of those old gravestones as we sped down Church Road.
Today was the first time I actually went inside and visited. There are offices within the gatehouse as well as two historical signs. One sign commemorates Samuel Coles and the other is a NRHP plaque. The gatehouse is in fabulous shape and open 7 days a week.
From the nomination form:
This mid 19th century cemetery gatehouse reflects a
combination o£J*omanesque and—Italiaifte architectural styles.
It is Romanesque in its massiveness and use of round stone
arches. It is Italianate in its low pitched hip roof with
a broad overhanging cornice with wood brackets and its
Paltadian window. This symmetrical fieldstone structure is 2
stories with a larger center mass 25 feet wide and 33 feet deep.
It is flanked on both sides by smaller masses, the total
measuring 56 feet across and 33 feet deep.
This cemetery structure was designed to function as
an entrance gatehouse, cemeta'ry office, chapel, and caretakers
residence. The entrance roadway passes through a large open
stone arch in the central section of the building. There is
a smaller archway on each side of the large arch for pedestrian
walkways. Above on the second floor, which is part of the
caretaker's quarters, is a triple arched modified PaUadian
window. This comprises the center section.
There is a 2 story lower stone wing on each side of the
center archway. On the front facades, each wing has a single
arched window extending through both the first and second floors
One side is the chapel which originally had a 20 foot high
ceiling, now lowered with a false ceiling. The other side is
2 stories with 2 office rooms on the first floor and 2 rooms on
the second floor comprising the other section of the caretaker's
quarters. More recently a one story wood frame kitchen wing
was added to this side.
Though the building is in need of repairs it is very much
intact both on the exterior and interior. The removal of the
cupola is the major exterior alteration. The interior has
many of its original features including shutters, doors,
pews, chapel furniture, etc.
The complete nomination form can be found HERE.
Address
Church Road And Kings Highway
Cherry Hill, NJ 08002
Phone Number: (856) 667-3533