Old Camden Cemetery

Old Camden Cemetery, originally known simply as the Camden Cemetery, is owned by the City of Camden and has been allowed to deteriorate over the years. “Old Camden Cemetery” is the name now generally used to describe what are actually two separate interment areas. The smallest and oldest, which dates to 1801, is the burial ground of the New Newton Quaker Meeting, a church established the same year. The second, larger, section was opened by the city as Camden Cemetery in 1836 and continued burials into the early 1940s.

The cemetery lies between Haddon and Mt. Ephraim Avenues, south of Mt. Vernon Street and north of Spruce Street.

More damage has been done through deliberate neglect than vandalism over the years, with Public Works employees removing headstones and dumping them in the Delaware River with the full knowledge of those heading the department in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s.

The following description of the cemetery is from the 1886 History of Camden County, New Jersey, by George Reeser Prowell. Most of the physical features he wrote of are long gone, to the City government’s eternal shame.

The Camden Cemetery, was founded in 1836 by the “township of Camden,” and governed by trustees elected annually at its town meetings. When originally laid out it contained only three acres adjoining Newton (Friends,) Cemetery, between and near the junction of Mount Ephraim and Haddon Avenues. It was enlarged in 1864 and again in 1868, and a much greater addition made in 1876. The receiving vault is large and the chapel presents a neat and comfortable appearance. The two fronts have beautiful and substantial fences and gateways and the trees and shrubbery, as well as the avenues, show the great care and attention bestowed upon them. A portion of the ground is laid out into family burial lots, and the remainder is for city purposes — that is, the burial of strangers and the poor. The city ground for the poor is separate and free of charges. There have been nine thousand four hundred and seventy-seven interments made in this cemetery.

The board of trustees for the year 1886–87 are as follows:

William C. Husted, president; Harris Graffen, treasurer; F. W. Armstrong, secretary; Executive Committee, James H. Armington, Christian Wentz, James Ayres; Auditors, K.W. Kerswell, John Blowe, J. P. Varney; Members, James H. Armington, Christian Wentz, James Ayres, William C. Husted, F. W. Armstrong, Harris Graffen, R. W. Kerswell, J. P. Varney, John Blowe; Superintendent of Cemetery, Nathan A. Carter.

The office of the company is at No. 6 South Third Street.

As indicated above, Prowell’s 1886 History of Camden County, N.J. reports that from 1836 to 1886, 9,477 people were buried in (Old) Camden Cemetery. This does not include interments in the adjoining Quaker Burial Ground. According to a 1931 report prepared by the Camden City Engineer’s office, there are 139 graves there.

From 1886 to the 1940s, when (Old) Camden cemetery closed, burials continued. A total of about 11,000 people are now buried there, according to the late Judy Snyder of the Camden County Historical Society, which maintains the complete collection of records from both graveyards.