Burial Obelisk @ Pleasant Mills Cemetery - Batsto, NJ
N 39° 38.415 W 074° 39.622
18S E 529142 N 4387884
At thirty feet, this stone obelisk is the tallest structure around for a few miles, barring any look out towers.
Waymark Code: WMA4D0
Location: New Jersey, United States
Date Posted: 11/14/2010
Views: 3
I noticed this obelisk right away as it cast along shadow over the entire cemetery in the waning sunlight. The obelisk marks the burial site of William E. Farrell, Born March 9th, 1838 and died March 9, 1893. Yes, he died on his birthday. Beneath this inscription is an elaborate circle with his initials incised within. At the lowest part of the base, his name appears again. Mid way up the obelisk , his initials appear again and there is also another seal as well on the obelisk. As far as burials go, this one had to be the most expensive one ever placed here. By 1893 standards, this must have cost a small fortune.
From my previous waymark about this cemetery
The Pleasant Mills Cemetery is a rather old cemetery which dates back to the mid 1700's. The cemetery is located deep within deserted Batsto Village (since restored), now part of Wharton State Forest.
This is a very large cemetery located to the right of this country church. The area is remote and nothing is around for miles. The cemetery is reputed to be haunted and and the South Jersey Ghost Research actually did a case study here and came away with interesting and spooky data. The large cemetery has 572 interments located here as well including a veterans memorial. Besides the parishioners, the cemetery was also used by the local village people to inter their dead.
Resting in the cemetery is Simon Lucas, one of the church’s most colorful trustees, and William and Jesse Richards of the Batsto Iron Family. Also among those buried there are Captain Jack Van Dyke, Revolutionary War privateer, and Master of the brigantine “Gypsy Lane”. The graves here are mainly from the early to mid 1800's and including many family plots. Although there was heavy ground growth covering the cemetery especially pine needles and fallen leaves, many of the graves were well taken cared for and still quite readable. There was a truncated pyramid burial site as well as a 30-foot high obelisk. This is definitely a unique cemetery and quite unique both in the type of memorials it contains and location.