Cars buzz by, but nobody seems to notice.
A graveyard is behind the trees, hidden in the tall grass. It is unseen, part of a larger cemetery across the highway and a neglected piece of South Jersey's past.
This sodden chunk of decaying memories is squeezed into a triangle that includes a scrap metal yard, railroad tracks and a busy highway. Known as Mount Moriah African Methodist Cemetery, it is near the intersection of Marne Highway and the Mount Holly Bypass.
Somewhere under the weight of six feet of New Jersey sod and over a hundred years of time lie the remains of former New Jerseyans, in some cases ex-slaves and Civil War veterans.
Such old and nearly forgotten cemeteries dot the Burlington County landscape. Over the years, genealogists say, preservationists and those interested in studying their family roots have drawn increased attention to the sites.
Elizabeth Perinchief is one such interested party - so interested, in fact, that a decade ago she wrote a book about cemeteries in the county - both
obscure and famous. The book is entitled History of Cemeteries in Burlington County 1687 to 1975.
The county has 141 cemeteries, said Perinchief, a genealogist who has studied cemeteries in the county for the last two decades. "About 25 of them could be described as old and all but forgotten," she said.
Some, like Mount Moriah, are in overgrown and hidden locations. Others, like the potter's field in Medford, are better cared for but are removed from the beaten path.
Among the ones that are no longer in use, according to Perinchief, are Copany in lower Springfield near Jacksonville, the Darnell family plot in Mount Laurel, Lumberton Methodist Church Cemetery in Lumberton, Old Scott No. 1 in Burlington Township and No. 2 in Springfield Township, Bethel African Methodist in Cookstown near Bordentown, Marlton Methodist and Old Marlton Baptist in Marlton, Bethel AME in Burlington Township, and the Hayes Rainear plot in Florence.
It is the increasing interest in such grave sites that has kept Perinchief interested in graves and led the gentle 74-year-old grandmother to compose her guide to county cemeteries, which today is kept in the reference section of the Burlington County Library.
"It took 20 years to assemble the information for the book (published in 1975)."
