Vandegrift Cemetery - Cornwells Heights (Bensalem), PA
N 40° 04.606 W 074° 57.154
18T E 504044 N 4436278
This cemetery was established about 1775, about 20 years before this Indian trail was turned into the Kings Highway which eventually became Frankford Avenue. The stones are old and worn but the cemetery is well tended.
Waymark Code: WMAD5M
Location: Pennsylvania, United States
Date Posted: 12/29/2010
Views: 8
I am sure back in the late 1700s, it made sense to put a cemetery here next to the newly completed Kings Highway (circa 1792). Back then this was all undeveloped Indian land and this cemetery was in the perfect. Today, it is most unusual, off to the side of a major road with no seeming affiliation with any church. Its interments are from a church yet there is no church nearby.
There are 296 interments. The cemetery has a dedication tablet to the left of the arched gate on Cornwell Avenue. The tablet reads In Memory of C.S. Vandergrift and Wife 1909. One Hundred Three of the folks buried here are Vandergrifts. Another nine are VanSants. Although there are only a few Vansants buried at the Vandegrift Cemetery compared to tis namesake, there were many marriages between the two families dating back to the early 1700's around the time when both families migrated from New Utrecht in New Netherland to Bucks County and points farther south. Therefore, a large number of Vandegrifts buried in this cemetery may carry Vansant blood.
I found this reference to the cemetery on the internet:
Also located in Cornwells is the historic Vandegrift Cemetery. This small area remains as a reminder of Bensalem's early settlers. The beautiful stone archway looks a bit out of place now, among the modern businesses along Bristol Pike. Early burial records have been lost, but you can still read names of old families on some of the grave stones placed there so long ago. Old timers remember the wonderful Memorial Day parades to the Vandegrift Cemetery and the carnivals put on by the Cornwells Fire Co. #1 at its old building next to the cemetery. SOURCE
A terrific website for the history of this former town can be found HERE
A list of the burials can be found HERE. Some other relevant information can be found HERE too.
The cemetery is located in Cornwells Heights, Bucks County on Rt 13 (Bristol Pike) about 0.6 mi north of Rt 63.