By Jennifer Ortiz
Staff Writer
ALLENTOWN – An old burial ground on Lakeview Drive contains the history of Allentown’s 18th century roots. From the earliest settlers of the village to the town’s first meeting house, the site is a link to Allentown’s past.
Efforts are underway to restore the burial ground so it can appear as it did in the early 1700s. The venture is a joint project between The Allentown Village Initiative (TAVI) and the borough. The work is being funded through a combination of fundraising efforts seeded with a gift from the Allentown-Upper Freehold Historical Society before it disbanded.
A portion of the society’s remaining funds were transferred to TAVI for cemetery restoration, said historian and genealogist John Fabiano, the vice chair of the Historic Preservation Review Commission.
TAVI Treasurer Nancy Tindall, who chairs the Allentown Environmental Commission, is the coordinator of the project.
Fabiano said the site was most likely the first community space in early Allentown.
TAVI Vice President Ann Garrison described the meeting house as a place of worship that was also used by the municipal government.
“Although (the area was) originally settled by Quakers, we know the meeting house was shared with Presbyterians, Episcopalians and perhaps others,” Fabiano said.
Fabiano said that as a historian and a genealogist, he is keenly aware of the importance religion had on people’s daily lives.
“Many of the sources I access are from church records, since they represent our earliest form of record-keeping,” he said.
Fabiano said the most important reason to restore the burial ground is that it remains hallowed ground and should be cared for by the community in perpetuity.
Garrison said Department of Public Works employees removed a concrete retaining wall, but left the footing to prevent erosion. Historic Preservation Review Commission member Carla Lebentritt donated her time to create a landscaping plan for the cemetery. The borough’s historian, Alice Wikoff, worked on a design for a fence, and the environmental commission, volunteers and some Borough Council members worked to clear brush and undergrowth from the site.
“There is a lot of coordination because it is an old graveyard and you have to coordinate with the town, with the history, with the location of graves … Where are the boundary lines? Who owns it? That is a lot of title search work,” Garrison said. “Right now they are trying to figure out exactly what the extent of (the burial ground) is because the old graveyard may actually extend beyond where that old retaining wall was.”
Garrison said the restoration of the burial ground has been a dream of Wikoff’s for many years.
“For a lot of the people who are buried there, Alice has their whole family history. You just can’t believe the material she has on the people who are buried there. She knows all the families,” Garrison said.
Martha Ploshay, who chairs TAVI, said part of the project is a memorial for two late residents who made significant contributions to Allentown, Mary Clarke and Betsy Poinsett.
“Incorporated into this cemetery, two trees were planted for them. They were lifelong, very involved residents in the community,” Ploshay said.
For more information about volunteering with the project or to make a donation, contact Ploshay at 609-529-4524.
