Schenck Covenhoven Cemetery

If it wasn’t for the nearby university this would be another historic cemetery in the middle of nowhere. But here it lies, south of the main campus, in the middle of what until recently was farmland, but slowly is being transformed into university grounds. Despite that, the land the cemetery sits on is not owned by the university and is open to the public. The gate was open when I arrived so I let myself in to explore with care and respect.

The cemetery is also known as the Penn's Neck Yard, Covenhoven Yard, and the Old Penn's Neck Cemetery, and dates to the mid 1700s with over two dozen documented burials dating to the 18th century. Do not be fooled by the date in the stone wall that surrounds the cemetery, this burial ground is far older than 1876. Many of the oldest stones are rough cut with simple engravings, some bearing only initials and maybe a date. The first known burial is an individual with initials M.I. from 1746. While 72 burials are documented here, the large number of rough cut stones, many that have degraded over the years, combined with the large apparently open areas in the cemetery, suggest the number may likely be higher, with their names and stones lost to time.

The cemetery sits on the border between John and William Covenhoven’s land from Penns Neck 1737 survey. Despite its large size and conspicuous placement in a farm field, the cemetery does not appear on the 1849 county map, 1875 township map, or any historic maps for that matter. This is likely because by the time the maps were created the cemetery was little used, only 3 burials occurred after 1875. While the stone wall is aligned to Washington Road and Route 1, which do align with original property boundaries, the stones themselves all face west. I cannot say for certain if this applies here, but one old tradition was to bury the individuals facing east, but align their stones to the west so visitors would not stand atop them when reading their stones.

Notable burials include Nicholas Hight and Jonathan R. Schenck veterans from the 1700s, as well as Alexander Lucas Cruser who is said to have been the individual who found the cannon abandoned after the B. of Princeton that is now planted face down near Clio Hall.

To visit the cemetery simply park along the side of Washington Road and walk the roughly quarter mile distance to it. Remember the cemetery is on public land, but do respect the grounds.

Surrounded by Princeton University's new "West Windsor Meadows Neighborhood" campus is a unique landmark. The Schenck Covenhoven Cemetery, dating to the 1730s/40s, holds some of West Windsor Township's founders, early colonial families, and perhaps a few Revolutionary War soldiers. Although seemingly out of place within the new campus, the cemetery predates everything around it and is named after the equally-old "Penns Neck" community about half a mile to the south. Restoration efforts have just started on this long-abandoned cemetery, but community support is encouraged. To learn more, visit the website linked to this Google Maps location.

Some pretty cool old gravestones. Sad to see the place is not very well taken care of.