Harrington Park Historical Society

P.O. Box 105, Harrington Park, N.J. 07640

201 768-2615

www.harringtonparkhistoricalsociety.com

501(c)3 Corporation

Recipient of the Bergen County 2011 Historic Preservation Commendation Award for the Old Burying Ground

Photo of Old Burying Ground

by Dr. Davis Ross

Upcoming Lectures & Events

All Lectures Are Held at the Harrington Park Library, 10 Herring Street, Harrington Park, New Jersey 07640

7:30 P.M. - 2nd Floor

All are welcome!

Proud Sponsor

of the

Harrington Park

Arts Council

"The Art of Today - The History of Tomorrow!"

A Legacy Project of the HPHS for the 350th Anniversary of the

State of New Jersey

To increase the interest of our community in the arts, to assist all who wish to make an artistic contribution, and to bring the artist and the community-at-large together in a mutually beneficial relationship. To develop, promote, and coordinate the arts at the community level as an expression of Harrington Park’s talents, needs, resources, and aspirations under the auspices of the Harrington Park Historical Society.

To learn more, please click on the Arts Council Button

or visit the Arts Council on

www.artscouncilofharringtonpark.com

and on Facebook - Arts Council of Harrington Park

GREETINGS !

Welcome to the Harrington Park Historical Society - we are glad you are visiting with us on our website! Please browse around our website to learn more about us and what we do.

We hope you will join us for our ten lecture series on various history subjects that range from local to the far away on interesting historical topics. We meet the first Monday of every month, except July and August, in the Harrington Park Public Library, 2nd floor, at 7:30 P.M.

Typically our meetings include a top notch speaker, question and answer segment, followed by a reception where you can greet our guest and enjoy some refreshment. Our lecture series is open to everyone and we do not charge a fee to attend.

In addition to our lectures the Society maintains and preserves two historic cemeteries in Harrington Park, namely; the Perry Cemetery, and the Old Burying Ground. The Perry Cemetery is a small family burial ground located on what was the farm of David Perry (1809-1871). The Old Burying Ground cemetery is part of the land apportioned to Garret Huybertsen Blauvelt, son of one of the original sixteen grantees of the Tappan Patent approved by the Governor of New York in 1686. Although there are believed to be earlier ones, the first known burial was in 1722 and the last in 1905.

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Meet our Executive Team

Membership Information

Meetings & Events 2024-2025

Arts Council of HP

Arts Council Membership

Old Burying Ground Video

Perry Cemetery Video

Archive Index

Newsletters

Old Burying Ground

Photo by Dr. Davis Ross

November 4, 2024 - 7:30 P.M.

Speaker: Charles Dewey, Historian

Topic: "Terror in the Ramapos: Claudius Smith & the American Revolution"

While there were many Revolutionary-era outlaws, Claudius Smith and the Cowboys of the Ramapos stand apart. Their story has long been exaggerated and romanticized through local legends, but the true account of their actions is far more violent. Smith and his band—comprised of his children, outlaws, deserters, Native Americans, and local Tories—terrorized the Whigs of Orange County in southeastern New York during the Revolution. The gang used beatings, robberies, and murder against combatants and noncombatants alike throughout the middle years of the Revolution, retreating into the dens of the Ramapo Mountains for safety. In committing these acts, the gang executed one of the era’s first and only campaigns of terrorism.

December 2, 2024 - 7:30 P.M.

Speaker: Kevin Woyce, author, photographer, musician, and lecturer

Topic: "Christmas Traditions" - Using original photographs, vintage images, and seasonal music, Kevin Woyce explores the history of our favorite Christmas Traditions, from the First Christmas to "A Christmas Carol," "White Christmas," and the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree. He also explains how historical figures including Saint Nicholas, Martin Luther, Queen Victoria, Charles Dickens, and Thomas Nast helped shape the way we celebrate the Christmas Season.

PLEASE READ AND RENEW YOUR MEMBERSHIP OR JOIN US AS A NEW MEMBER

PLEASE NOTE: We've added an additional method of donating and paying dues with the QR codes shown below! Save time and money!

As part of our mission, we are continuing to maintain and preserve the two historic cemeteries in our care, the Old Burying Ground and the Perry Cemetery. Now, we are reaching out to you, our members and friends to help us continue to keep these cemeteries in pristine condition, and to conserve these historical assets. Whatever you can donate at this time to accomplish this work, we cannot adequately express our sincere gratitude.

We hope you will continue to be as generous as you have been in the past when considering supplementing your annual dues this year. Those dues, which are fully tax deductible, are as follows:

Family $35

Individual $30

Youth (Under 18) $5

In addition to enjoying dual membership in the Arts Council of Harrington Park, HPHS members receive a discount on all Society events and activities (including fund raisers).

On behalf of the Harrington Park Historical Society, I look forward to welcoming you as returning (or brand new) members! Please call me (201-666-0566) or our President, Gerri Gibney (201-768-2615) if you have questions.

Sincerely,

Karen Goddard

Membership Secretary

Mail your check to P.O. Box 105, Harrington Park, New Jersey. Please include your name(s), address, phone, and email. Or, use the membership form noted above. Thanks!

HARRINGTON PARK HISTORICAL SOCIETY

WE NEED YOUR HELP!

SAVE OUR HISTORY!

Recently several historic headstones were desecrated at the Old Burying Ground on Tappan Road in Harrington Park.

Here is a short history of two of the broken headstones; Abraham Quackenbush (1768-1854) and his wife, Elizabeth Myers (1770-1807)) are part of the Abraham Myers family burial plot at the Old Burying Ground. In the middle of the 18th century, Abraham Myers received a royal charter from King George III to build a grist mill on the Hackensack River which his grandson John Bogert later operated and it thereby became known as “Bogert’s Mill.” The Myers family members interred in the plot are Abraham Myers, his wife Cathrena Nederman, daughter Cathrena, daughter Elizabeth and Abraham Quackenbush, son John Myers and wife Rebecca Durie. The markers are red sandstone.

As sole caretakers of this cemetery, the Harrington Park Historical Society will repair these monuments with your generous financial support.

If you would like to help the Society repair these stones, please send your donation to P.O. Box 105, Harrington Park, New Jersey 07640. Please make your check payable to the Harrington Park Historical Society. The Harrington Park Historical Society is a non-profit 501(c)(3) Corporation.

After the stones are restored, the Society will host a Tour of the Old Burying Ground for the donors who made the restoration of the stones possible. The tour will be followed by a reception.

If you have any questions or would like to get involved in this effort, please contact Gerri Gibney at 201 768-2615, visit their website, or on Facebook.

Charles Dewey

Historian, Author

Charles Dewey holds a bachelor’s degree with honors in History with a concentration in military history from the Virginia Military Institute.

He has interned and published articles for the History News Network, and is currently a military intelligence officer in the US Army National Guard and a historical interpreter and educator at Fort Lee Historic Park.

He received the Walter S. Hinman Award for his thesis on the Sterling Ironworks and the creation of the West Point chain.

His research interests include intelligence operations, politics, and social changes in the Hudson Valley and the greater New York City area during the Revolution, as well as the influence of American political thought on the French Revolution.