Cemetery awaits spot on national register Renewed interest appears likely to secure safe future for Old Scots

Staff Writer

By theresa A. boschen

Cemetery awaits spot on national register
Renewed interest
appears likely to
secure safe future
for Old Scots


JERRY WOLKOWITZ A sign marks the entrance to the Old Scots Graveyard, Gordons Corner Road, Marlboro, which is being considered for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places.JERRY WOLKOWITZ A sign marks the entrance to the Old Scots Graveyard, Gordons Corner Road, Marlboro, which is being considered for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places.

Acts of vandalism that took place in 1994 at the Old Scots Graveyard on Gordons Corner Road, Marl-boro regenerated widespread community interest in researching, documenting, restoring, preserving and giving recognition to a burial ground rich in Presbyterian history.

Now, seven years later, Charles Vastbinder, secretary and treasurer for the Old Tennent Cemetery Board of Trustees, says he is "pretty confident" the National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, Washington, D.C., soon will add the site to the National Register of Historic Places.

The Old Scots Meeting House, built in the Wickatunk section of Marlboro around 1705 on the grounds of the Old Scots Graveyard, is the original location where the congregation of the Old Tennent Presbyterian Church once met. The congregation eventually moved to a site in Manalapan.

The Old Tennent Cemetery, Manalapan, owns the Old Scots cemetery.

The national office is expected to determine in the near future whether it will include the Old Scots cemetery as part of its national register, according to Alexis Abernathy, historian for the National Register of Historic Places. The cemetery, which is the burial ground of the original congregation of what is now the Old Tennent Presbyterian Church, was entered onto the New Jersey Register of Historic Places on June 19.

Local church, township and state officials claim the recognition will help to preserve the tradition and historical significance within the Monmouth County area, as well as protect the cemetery grounds, measuring approximately 1 acre, from any potential publicly funded construction in the future.

Honorary recognition is "an important element" of the inclusion on the state and national registers, said Terry Karschner, supervising historic preservation specialist for the Historic Preservation Office of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, division of Parks and Forestry. However, the placement on the state register would necessitate protective authorization from the state should any publicly funded agency attempt to affect or change the property in any way, Karschner pointed out.

He also said being named to the state register would make the site eligible for state historic grant funding for preservation or restoration.

Karschner said the state process is a fairly complex one which included a preliminary application, the preparation of a nomination, and a presentation by graduate student Gerard Scharferberger of Middletown before the state review board for historic sites. The board is a group of architectural, archaeological and historical experts whose role is in making a recommendation to the state historic preservation officer.

In preparing the application to the state, a doctoral dissertation written by Scharferberger, a student at the City University of New York, was used, incorporating historical research and survey information so that the state could make its determination. It was Scharferberger’s idea, along with the efforts of the Old Tennent Cemetery board of trustees, to submit the application to the state for the recognition. Once approved by the board, the application was then signed by the state historic preservation officer, an act which then included the site onto the register and later recommended the applicant to the national historic preservation office.

"It gives us the opportunity to have the Old Scots burial ground kept as a historical grounds. It also gives some historic value to the township of Marlboro," said Bob McLean, a member of the Old Tennent Cemetery committee.

The naming of the Old Scots Graveyard to the state, and possibly the national, registers "assures the continuation of protection and care of that property," said Vastbinder. "It ensures the property will stay as it is and (remain) an example of our roots. It’s important for future generations to recognize their roots."

The roots of the Old Scots cemetery date back to the early 1700s, when the Old Scots Meeting House was built after the Scottish Presbyterians began to initially settle in Matawan. The cemetery is at what is now Gordons Corner Road and the intersection of Wyncrest Road in Marlboro. The remains of the church there is the cemetery that is referred to as the "Old Scots Burying Ground," a place where the Rev. John Boyd, the first pastor of that church, was the first to be buried.

According to Marlboro Township – A Rich History, A Bright Future, a book published by the Marlboro Historic Commission in 1999, Boyd was the first Presbyterian minister to "qualify" in the American colonies. "All ministers and churches who were not followers of the Church of England had to ‘qualify’ to enable them to function or preach in the colonies," according to the history.

Vastbinder said the property’s association with historically significant people, such as Boyd, and John and William Tennent, is one of three categories in which it was decided by the state review board that the property should be part of the state register.

John Tennent, who is also buried in the Old Scots cemetery, was the minister of the congregation from 1730-1731. His brother, William, (the namesake of Manalapan’s Tennent section), became the minister of the congregation when it moved to the Old Tennent Presbyterian Church, Tennent Road, Manalapan, in 1731, according to Vastbinder. William Tennent led the congregation for the next 46 years and was buried in the sanctuary of the newer church, he said.

The remaining reasoning, and other two categories, behind the cemetery’s acceptance into the state register was that "the property is associated with events that contributed to history" and "the property has yielded or is likely to yield important information of pre-history or history," Vastbinder said.

According to the Rev. Hugh A. MacKenzie, pastor, Old Tennent Presbyterian Church, the original church represented the first recorded meeting of the Presbytery of Philadelphia, which he described as a type of diocese or basic unit of church government for the Presbyterian religion. MacKenzie also talked about the site being the spot for the first Presbyterian ordination (religious ceremony) in which licensed candidates could become ministers.

The history of the Old Scots Graveyard and former location of the meeting house is important for Presbyterians and bears protecting.

"We’re very happy, because it can’t be encroached upon now," MacKenzie said. "And it’s certainly important to be designated" as a historically significant site.

Throughout the years, community interest in caring for the cemetery "has been up and down," said Vastbinder. But, more recently, specifically during the last year, the site has been a spot of historic discovery and reparation, and Vastbinder is hoping that interest will continue.

A year ago, surveyor Neal Barton surveyed the lines of the property and this past spring the members of BRAVO (Battlefield Restoration And Volunteer Organization) entered the grounds with earth-penetrating metal detectors and radar equipment which identified 140 unmarked graves, Vastbinder said. (There are 144 marked graves in the cemetery.) The BRAVO workers were accompanied by Ron LaBarca of U.S. Radar Inc., who also volunteered and donated the use of the equipment. As a result of this project the church congregation now has a map of unmarked graves within the grounds, he noted.

Within the next few weeks, Boy Scout Steven Bennet from Troop No. 180, Manalapan, is expected to lead an Eagle Scout project in which the group will insert metal pins in the graves for identification of grave sites, Vastbinder said. With this project, after years go by and gravestone inscriptions are disintegrated from the wear of the weather, the names of those buried will be recorded within the records of the Old Tennent Cemetery, and through the detection of the placed metal pins the gravestones will be identified by number, Vastbinder explained.

About a year ago, Eagle Scouts from Troop No. 180 organized a group to purchase materials and install new steps leading up to the cemetery from a roadside embankment. The scouts also replaced some graveside ornaments and placed a sign recognizing the cemetery as the site of the Old Scots Meeting House, he added.

Since then, this past March, an archaeological excavation uncovered the foundation of the original church building.

"Prior to that we were never sure where it was," Vastbinder said.

The discovery is cause for the installation of a new sign to indicate the exact location of where the building actually was situated, he pointed out.

An application has recently been submitted to the Planning Board proposing the construction of an age-restricted housing development near the cemetery property. Should those plans be approved, Vastbinder said, he is hoping that parking and an access ramp for the handicapped could be an option (at the expense of the township or developer) that would be beneficial for the new historically recognized site. These improvements are especially necessary with the prospect of more traffic along Gordons Corner Road, since the cemetery was put on the state register, Vastbinder indicated.

In October, the cemetery will be the location for the Old Tennent Presbyterian Church to hold its Heritage Sunday Service, a gathering in commemoration of the original congregation. At this event a regular church service with Communion will be held in honor of tradition, and a special lunch will be served, represented by old-time recipes, Vastbinder said.

Nancy Williams, chairwoman of the Marlboro Historic Commission, said she is thrilled the Old Scots cemetery is finally being given the recognition and protection it deserves.

Williams encouraged the owners of historic residences in the area to inquire about applying for their buildings to join the ranks of those already listed on the state and national registers. The Old Brick Reformed Church on Route 520; the Bailey House on Ryan Road owned by Gerald and Debbie Bailey; the Collier estate in Wickatunk; and the building known as the Lafayette-Conover House (owned by the Oliver family) on Pleasant Valley Road are all structures that Williams said she would eventually like to see as part of the state and national registers.

"These are some of the stops we make on our historic sites bus tour in April," she noted.