Hidden Cemetery near Atsion

Teegate

Teegate

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Sep 17, 2002
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All,

I have been meaning to post this for a while, but have been holding off to find some info on this cemetery, but have no been able to, so I will put it out to all of you. Near Atsion and closer to Parkdale on the road to Waterford Works from 206 which is Chew Road, there is a cemetery back off of the road that I have wanted to visit for years. The only problem is there is a sign at the road mentioning that trespassers will be prosecuted immediately, so I have not gone back to it. It is a fairly large cemetery with what appears to be some decent size stones. There is a house nearby with one across the street, and all of the property around there has no trespassing signs. Does anyone know anything about this place, and has anyone taken risks and visited it? I am not condoning that, just asking.

Here is the topo location on Terraserver. If you then switch to the aerial photo, you can see it's location in the middle of the field surrounded by trees in the shape of the letter "C." You then can zoom in more and actually see some of the stones.

http://terraserver-usa.org/image.aspx?t=2&s=11&x=1298&y=10987&z=18&w=1

There appears to be too many stones to be a family plot, so this place may have some sort of historical significance.

Guy
 
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bach2yoga

Guest
That's very curious, Guy, I'd like to visit it myself. I wonder if anyone at the house across the street knows anything?
What township is that considered?
I found a cemetery like that in Cumberland County and a call to the tax accessors office led me in the right direction in finding out who the cemetery belonged to, sort of...it had no owner, but was being maintained by the national methodist church.

I'll call and/or visit the tax accessor if you know
what township it is and let you know what I come up with.

Renee
 
Teegate

Teegate

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It is just about 100 yards across the Burlington County border in Camden County Waterford Township. If you zoom out on the topo map you can see the border and the little square where there is a border marker. I would assume the house on the same side of the street is the owner or caretaker of the property. The house is designated as the black dot in the topo map. I would recommend nobody going there without permission because the sign out front has always kept me from even trying to go there. In the past I had thought about knocking on the door, but I decided to wait to see if there was anyone outside when I passed by and then ask. I don't travel that road much so I have not had the chance to see anyone out. It looks like an extremely interesting place, and the trees are really tall around it leading me to believe it is quite an old cemetery.

Guy
 
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BarryC

Guest
Funny you should mention this cemetery. This past Spring I drove there after seeing it on the USGS topo map. I found the "no trespassing" signs all over the place and noticed that it is in the middle of what appears to be a firewood business. I'm not into knocking on doors of strangers' houses so I have not done so. A couple months ago I e-mailed Al (manumuskin) about this cemetery, telling him that it was on private property. I told him that I thought he might want to check it out someday. I thought he might actually want to knock on doors and ask about it.
You can actually see the tombstones from the road.
Barry
TeeGate said:
All,

I have been meaning to post this for a while, but have been holding off to find some info on this cemetery, but have no been able to, so I will put it out to all of you. Near Atsion and closer to Parkdale on the road to Waterford Works from 206 which is Chew Road, there is a cemetery back off of the road that I have wanted to visit for years. The only problem is there is a sign at the road mentioning that trespassers will be prosecuted immediately, so I have not gone back to it. It is a fairly large cemetery with what appears to be some decent size stones. There is a house nearby with one across the street, and all of the property around there has no trespassing signs. Does anyone know anything about this place, and has anyone taken risks and visited it? I am not condoning that, just asking.

Here is the topo location on Terraserver. If you then switch to the aerial photo, you can see it's location in the middle of the field surrounded by trees in the shape of the letter "C." You then can zoom in more and actually see some of the stones.

http://terraserver-usa.org/image.aspx?t=2&s=11&x=1298&y=10987&z=18&w=1

There appears to be too many stones to be a family plot, so this place may have some sort of historical significance.

Guy
Click to expand...
 
Teegate

Teegate

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I have wanted to visit it for years, but it is apparent that the powers that be don't want us there, and that is their right. So I look from afar.

Guy
 
manumuskin

manumuskin

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Jul 20, 2003
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OK,
I"ll do it.he next time I get to the barrens,probably next weekend I"ll knock and ask.The most they can tell me is you git yer #@&*%$ butt off my property and don"t come back.Well i have been turned down before when asking for access to caves but never that violently.I usually just sneak in if thats feasible but I"ve terrasurfed this graveyard after barry sent me the link and it don"t look sneakable except maybe after dark.Remind me not to wear my woods camo and not to hum duelin banjos while I"m talkin to the owner:)
Al
 
Teegate

Teegate

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I don't think so. That is closer to the White Horse Pike. It is late so I can't confirm that I am correct.

Guy
 
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bach2yoga

Guest
I got an email this morning from someone on another geneology list whose grandmother was buried in "Chew's Cemetery" off 206. She said it was a methodist cemetery, that she does not know where the church was, and that when she visited it in 1999 there were no signs posted at that time.
Renee
 
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bach2yoga

Guest
I think that the post with the link earlier is a different cemetery than the Chew's Cemetery that someone else wrote me about.
Here is Pestleton, I think; there appear to be 2 old cemeteries on this road within a range of about 2 miles.
Renee

Route 30 east aka White Horse Pike towards Atlantic City. After milemarker 23, you will come to a traffic light at Pumpbranch Road. The next street on your left, is Route 536 east aka Pennington Ave. Turn left, follow down to stop street. It crosses over The Old White Horse Pike. Pennington now changes into Chew Road. (still 536). Go down about 2 miles. First street you can turn right on, is Pestleton Road. It's alittle ways down Pestleton. There will be a sign.

http://terraserver-usa.org/image.aspx?t=2&s=12&x=642&y=5496&z=18&w=2
 
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bach2yoga

Guest
Hmm...then again, I just found a post that lists that cemetery as Waterford ME Cemetery and noticed a nearby road "Church Avenue" on the topo.
Wish I had More Forgotten Towns right now, someone is borrowing it.
Renee
 
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bach2yoga

Guest
St Anthony's Pestleton Cemetery
Waterford ME Cemetery
Chew's Cemetery (as it was listed in an obituary of an Elizabeth Vanaman Scudder)

Sound right?

Renee
 
B

bach2yoga

Guest
bach2yoga said:
St Anthony's Pestleton Cemetery
Waterford ME Cemetery
Chew's Cemetery (as it was listed in an obituary of an Elizabeth Vanaman Scudder)

Sound right?

Renee
Click to expand...

OK, here's the scoop.

I went to the Waterford Tax accessor's office this morning.

I visited the Waterford Methodist Cemetery. Most of the tombstones date from 1850s and 1860s, with Civil war veterans. Cemetery is NOT where it is placed on the topo. This cemetery is maintained (according to the tax accessor) by Waterford Memorial Park, which is why the cemetery mistakenly got placed where the park itself is. The cemetery is not visible from the road. I will post pictures later. Coming route 30, turn onto Pennington Road, 536 east (later becomes Chews Rd). At the blinking light and stop sign, turn RIGHT onto an unmarked road that says it is closed. That is Old White Horse Pike, some people are now calling it Spring Garden Road. You won't go very far, maybe a tenth of a mile, and there will be a yellow and brick house on your right, and a red and concrete garage on your right. After the garage is a beige dryvit mansion that is almost finished. Before the red house and garage is a little trail that leads back to the Waterford Methodist Cemetery. Markers are mostly to your left, but there is one to your right almost up against the garage.

From there I visited St. Anthony's cemetery (block 278 lot 6)on Pesteltown Road, off of Rt 536. It is off the road a bit on the right, and has stones in there from the late 1700s and early to mid 1800s, with some newer stones and a sign near the road that indicates that plots are still for sale. I continued on to look for Penseltown Cemetery (block 278 lot 18), as the tax accessor's office showed 2 cemeteries on this road. I thought the other would be Beck's but I was disappointed. I could find no other cemetery; the road has new development. At the end of the road is the state forest and I searched a bit to no avail. I stopped at a house that looked as if it had been part of the neighborhood a while, thinking that perhaps someone who had been a part of the neighborhood might know more than someone in one of the newer houses. I picked well, and the gentlemen with whom I spoke was a land surveyor who had a keen interest in cemeteries and is an avid researcher of local history. He told me that it is unlikely that such other cemetery ever really existed; if so, there has been no proof of such. At a curve in the road there is a house which used to be a migrant workers house. Back in the 70's a man wanted to buy it from the township who owned it at that time, perhaps from a tax lien, but the property had a reputation for having been a cemetery, both an Indian cemetery and a 1700s or 1800s cemetery. What is curious to me is how the township would have aquired a tax lien from a property that was believed to have been a cemetery, thereby making it exempt. However, there were no headstones, and no proof anywhere on the property of there ever having been a cemetery. The man hired a group of professionals who researched the property and found nothing. The man bought the property, but the tax maps still reflect it as a cemetery. It was this gentleman's opinion that the real Penseltown Cemetery is actually St. Anthony's as the time frame fits. The St. Anthony's church that is a couple of miles down the road was not built until 1920s, over 120 years after the cemetery was established. Incidentally, the Pensel family was believed to be the family of the area though I saw no mention of the name, and the only other known family related are believed to be in Blue Anchor. I will post these photos as well.

And finally, the cemetery with the no tresspassing signs. Block 306 lot 4. It is a Civil War cemetery. According to the tax accessor's office the ownership is listed as "Cemetery." With an address. No name, no organization listed as owning it. She told me that the cemetery was very old, civil war, and that the township had no ownership records of that property. I asked about the signs and was told that local families probably maintained this grave and posted the signs to discourage vandalism, but that without known ownership, tresspassing cannot really be enforced. Not taking that to be enough verification, I also stopped at the house next to the cemetery. She was an older lady, very kind. The Chew family settled this area. Originally Chew Road was an old stage coach road called "Long Time A-Comin'". The land on either side of the cemetery is owned and farmed. She claims that two families who no longer live in the area are of the original families buried there, and own the land, coming down periodically to maintain it. She also assured me that it is fine to drive the road back to the cemetery, stopping at the barricade and visit the cemetery, which I did. I will post those pictures as well.

There was one other cemetery I wanted to visit nearby, which is supposed to consist of 3 stones in the woods, not visible from the street, but I ran out of time, so that is something for another day.

Hope that helps.

Renee
 
Teegate

Teegate

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Sep 17, 2002
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Well, that proves that the sign was just there to discourage vandalism as I thought. I will stop in there next weekend. Thanks for searching this out.

Guy
 
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