Bethlehem African Methodist Churchyard in Burlington, New Jersey

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Get directions East Pearl Street
Burlington, New Jersey, USA

Coordinates: 40.08148, -74.85572
Cemetery ID:

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About these numbers These percentages indicate the number of Find a Grave memorials that have a grave photo or GPS coordinates. We don't know the total number of burials in a cemetery, so we cannot calculate a percentage of those with memorials, photos or GPS coordinates.

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From "The History of Cemeteries in Burlington County, New Jersey" by Elizabeth Marren Perinchief (1978, Mount Holly) -

"The African-Americans of Burlington worshiped in the white churches but most of then attended the Broad Street Methodist. James Still, an African-American preacher, felt separation would be advantageous for the black group, since there would be no limitations on the privileges of an all African-American congregation. Benny Jackson, a Catholic and the town's first railway porter, released claim to a truck patch he was renting, bought the land and gave it to the Black Methodists. The church was founded in 1830 and the first building was erected in 1836. Adjacent to the church is the cemetery, now much reduced in size from it's original land. When the Burlington Water Works expanded it's plant, it requested the town council to purchase a piece of the property (part of the burial ground) from the African Methodist Church (1878). The original grounds had extended to the water front. There had been burials in this area, but, when the Water Works took over, the graves and the stones were removed. The property was walled and fenced. Within the confines of the little cemetery are several markers without graves, and undoubtedly many graves with no stones. Although the cemetery is no longer in use, the marked graves of African-American soldiers are annually marked with flags. William Stiles, whose marker is close to the entrance walk, served in the Civil War. There are no records. An Indian Burying Ground was discovered after a heavy storm in 1876 had washed away part of the shore along the Delaware. No traces of the location remain today".