Woodland Cemetery: Hurricane Damage Persists

Documentation and preservation efforts at Woodland Cemetery in Newark, Essex County, New Jersey remain thwarted by the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, which hit the area six months ago.

The remaining entrance on South 10th Street was accessible when I took this photo seven years ago.

Woodland Cemetery, Newark, Essex County, New Jersey
Entrance at South 10th Street
9 June 2006

Now the entrance is blocked by a tree.

Woodland Cemetery
Entrance at South 10th Street
16 April 2013

Old entrance at Rose Street by corner of Rose Terrace/Chadwick Avenue,
right off Bergen Street.
9 June 2006

Current condition of Rose Street entrance.

Most of the fencing around the cemetery is destroyed, so you can simply walk right in,
even though the entrances are blocked.
The gravestones are shifting onto the sidewalk, where not everyone is interested in preserving them.

This was beautiful once.

Me at Woodland in 2012.
Photo by J Wertz.

This is sad that a cemetery has been allowed to decay over the years.  This is not an isolated story.

Google Maps for Genealogy

Google Maps provides you with the ability to create your own maps.  I am finding this function useful for genealogy.

Google Maps
Morris County, New Jersey

In the map above, I marked burial places for various families in Morris County, New Jersey.  This helps me visualize their geographical proximity.  I can add locations of residences and places of worship to establish a clearer picture of the close interactions among these people.  Some of the sites are not public cemeteries and finding them is difficult.  I shared this map with other researchers to enable them to find the private burial grounds.

The map could also be used to help you plan a trip to a distant location.  You could include cemeteries, churches, homesteads, as well as local repositories.