Moorestown Friends Burial Ground - Moorestown, NJ
N 39° 57.989 W 074° 56.610
18S E 504825 N 4424038
This churchyard cemetery is located across the street from two Meeting Houses. Friends attending the Moorestown Meeting, living in this historic town have been using this burial ground since the mid 19th century. It is still used today.
Waymark Code: WM45GT
Location: New Jersey, United States
Date Posted: 07/10/2008
Views: 15
This cemetery is located on East Main Street across from Moorestown Friends School & Meeting House. It is bordered by Chester Avenue & Second Street. It is a fairly large plot of land that to all appearance looks like it is not even being used. Closer inspection will reveal the tell-tale modest burial markers of Quakers. Simplistic even in death, these simple markers can barely be read and some have been wiped clean by the elements. There is a black wrought iron fence with three separate gates encompassing the cemetery on the north, south and east side. The west side is bordered by the Trust building.
This cemetery is the location of the first Friends meeting house built of logs in 1700. It was the earliest building for worship in Moorestown. In 1720, it burned and was replaced with a larger stone building which was demolished in 1802 when the present brick meeting house was built across the Main Street. A granite stone to the south of the cemetery marks the location and records the history of this place with an inscription on the stone. Also there is a historic marker which stands outside the fence on East Main Street.
If you look carefully in some of the photos, you will see the 1897 meeting house in the background, now known as West Building. This was in use at one time when there was a split in philosophy. Off to the left is the 1802 meting house (with a 1914 addition) which is still used today. Friends who use this meeting house are still buried in this cemetery.
It was pretty hard to discern exactly how many graves there are total. Some “markers” appear to be a nub of stone. There were some wind-cleaned stones leaning against a tree. Some markers were covered up completely just barely peeking out of the earth. Some areas, where it is obvious someone is buried, were devoid of markers completely. The folks in the meeting house had no idea as well. I went around and counted graves, and as close as I could figure, the tally stood at about 245 graves.
Here is a decent website you can visit which lists the names of people buried at the cemetery: --> (
visit link) The problem with my count of graves is the site has it at 296, not including the handful of recent burials. Clearly, some markers are missing, and therefore, were unable to be counted.