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 Boro Hall, 85 Harriot Ave., Harrington Park, NJ 07640
7:30 P.M. - Handicap Accessible
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 third Thursday of the month, except July and August, in the Harrington Park Boro Hall, 85 Harriot Avenue at 7:30 P.M. The Boro Hall is handicap accessible.
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.
Old Burying Ground
Photo by Dr. Davis Ross
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PLEASE READ AND RENEW YOUR MEMBERSHIP OR JOIN US AS A NEW MEMBER
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 $35Individual $30Youth (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.
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.
Carol Simon Levin
Storyteller and Independent Historian
Carol Simon Levin is a professional storyteller and independent historian who specializes in telling the stories of “fascinating women history forgot” through first person portrayals. Whether she is impersonating the woman who helped to build the Brooklyn Bridge, telling the stories of early women in women’s rights and aviation, engaging families in a rousing Halloween Hootenany of songs and stories, expanding on the mathematical and artistic possibilities of a simple square, or sharing the story of a dolphin who learned to swim with an artificial tail (along with activities to help children understand what it is like to live with a disability), she always strives to create exciting programs that engage audiences of all ages and expand their horizons.
“My second career as a storyteller/historical impersonator came about after a chance encounter at Curves (the exercise place). Talking with the woman using the equipment next to me, I learned she was a professor teaching K-12 teachers how to introduce STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Math) topics into their curriculum. She mentioned that she’d like to use Emily Roebling, who is considered by many to be the first female civil engineer, and asked if I had heard of her? I said that I had, since I had recently returned from a trip to the Hudson Valley in NY State and had stayed at a little inn said to be haunted by (cue the Twilight Zone music) Emily Roebling. She mentioned she hadn’t been able to find a picture book on Emily and I said I was a children’s librarian and would look into it. To make a long story short, there wasn’t a book at the time, I became fascinated by Emily’s story, wrote a manuscript and ended up doing programs about her for local libraries, seniors, and historical associations. Venues where I performed “Bridge Builder in Petticoats” asked if I could come back as someone else, and so I’ve added another woman each year to my Telling Her Stories repertoire (my husband teasingly calls me “Sybil” – multiple personalities without the mental illness – I hope!)”
Carol is the founder of Telling Her Stories and was a 2020 NJ Council for the Humanities Public Scholar presenting “Reclaiming Our Voice: NJ’s Role in the Fight for Woman Suffrage” which she also published as an article in March 2020 online issue of Garden State Legacy. She is the author of the book Remembering the Ladies: From Patriots in Petticoats to Presidential Candidates (which profiles 69 women – well-known and unknown – who worked tirelessly for women’s rights in America) and co-author (with Joy Tsuzuki) of Joy’s memoir A Child of Two Cultures: Growing Up in the U.S. & Japan amidst WWII. Carol holds a BA focusing on women’s history and history of technology from Cornell University and a Masters in Library Services from the University of Arizona.
She brings her presentations to libraries, senior centers, historical societies, schools, clubs, camps and other venues.
Carol Simon Levin is a New Jersey Council for the Humanities Public Scholar, a member of the New Jersey Storytelling Network, the National Women’s History Alliance, and the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators.
DUES TIME - PLEASE SEE BELOW!
Please note we have moved from the Harrington Park Library to the Harrington Park Boro Hall for our meetings, and we will meet generally on the fourth Thursday of the month. However, be sure and check the dates we are meeting since we must schedule our meetings around the Boro’s usage of the building. Please join us for our inaugural meeting in our new home on September 25th!
September 25, 2025 - General Meeting
Topic: "Catharine "Caty" Greene: Eyewitness to the American Revolution"
Speaker: Carol Simon Levin
October 23, 2025 – General Meeting
Speaker: Kevin Woyce, author, photographer, musician, and lecturer specializing in regional American history
Topic: “Halloween: A Haunted History”
November 20, 2025 – General Meeting
Speaker: Mario Medici, licensed New York City tour guide, lecturer, a passionate history enthusiast
Topic: “Panama Canal”
December 4, 2025 - Holiday Outing
Tour of DeWint House, Tappan, NY
Our Tour Guide: Harold Jones, Superintendent DeWint House
Hors d'oeuvres & Sweets, Cash Bar
Gulios’s Restaurant, Tappan, NY
Reservation Only – Fee
January Break
Happy 250th America!
