Mt. Zion United Methodist Church Cemetery - Lawnside, NJ
N 39° 51.840 W 075° 02.210
18S E 496849 N 4412663
Today, this is an unusual place for a cemetery. Industry, commercial buildings and a paved parking lot are just to the rear and a very busy White Horse Pike is in the front. The cemetery view is very different than it was 100 years ago.
Waymark Code: WM726K
Location: New Jersey, United States
Date Posted: 08/22/2009
Views: 3
As evident by the dates on some of the headstones, this graveyard has been in continuous use since the later part of the 19th century. There are many veterans graves here and numerous World War I veterans. There night be a few 1812 veterans in here as well. It was hard to determine as the veteran markers did not designate branch or year of service or wars involved in.
According to the cemetery map there are about 400 graves here, I could only find maybe 75% of that total.. I am sure there are many many more interments lost to time, without their markers. The tract of land for the cemetery is absolutely huge given its location in Lawnside and to Route 30. It is an almost triangular-shaped parcel with room for hundreds and hundreds more burials. The burying ground is southeast of the church. The posted coordinates are for center of the graveyard.
About the Church
This church 104 year old church is located on a very busy highway (White Horse Pike) in an old section of town. Built in 1905, this is the fourth church on this parcel of land since 1828. The first church was log cabin destroyed by fire in 1835.
African Wesleyan Methodist Episcopal Church (Mt. Zion) was organized in 1828. On March 2, 1828 the first Trustees purchased from Mr. Joseph Jenings of the Township of Waterford, more than two acres of land (the current site occupied by the existing church and cemetery) for $40.00. The first church was a quickly built log cabin destroyed by fire in 1835. Four churches have been built on this parcel of land since 1828. The current building, completed in 1905, is the fourth church structure on the site. There is a cemetery to the left of the church. There are a number of interments from the turn of the 20t century with a fair amount of the deceased being born in the early to mid 1800s.
As a member church of the Untied Methodist Church, Mt. Zion United Methodist Church is currently a member of the Greater NJ Annual Conference. The current church building is listed as Historic Site #174 within the United Methodist Church Worldwide Archival Directory. Records show Mt. Zion was incorporated in the State of New Jersey as Mt. Zion Methodist Episcopal Church on January 19, 1982, based on a congregational meeting held on December 14, 1891, "with a plurality of voices" voting in favor. The members continued to meet from house to house, with a financial plan focusing on starting a sinking fund of two cents a week to purchase land and build.
From the original name African Wesleyan Methodist Episcopal Church, of the church that appears on the deed (issued in 1828 to members or persons of color of the Methodist Society of Gloucester County), Mt. Zion has undergone name changes consistent with those of the Methodist church worldwide, shown as follows; Mt. Zion Methodist Church to 1939, Mt. Zion Methodist church 1939 to 1968 and Mt. Zion United Methodist Church from 1968 to present.
SOURCE
Address
134 S. White Horse Pike
Lawnside, NJ 08045