Category Archives: Exploring Franklin Lakes, NJ

Sturr Family Cemetery 375 Pulis Avenue Franklin Lakes, NJ 07417

Sturr Family Cemetery

375 Pulis Avenue

Franklin Lakes, NJ 07417

https://www.findagrave.com/cemetery/2227047/sturr-family-cemetery

https://www.wikitree.com/genealogy/STURR

My review on TripAdvisor:

The Sturr Family Cemetery sits on a bend of the driveway of the Chabad Jewish Center of Northwest Bergen County and is a small cemetery that once sat on the edge of the J.H, Sturr farm.

The Sturr Family Cemetery

The farmhouse of the Sturr Family sits on the lot across the street from the cemetery property. This is located on a small buff on what was the edge of the farm.

The Sturr Family cemetery tombstones

The tombstones of the Courter and Carlouch family members

The grave of William Courter

The only visible tombstones that are left in the cemetery are an Ackerman family member, Anny Ackerman and members of the Courter and the Carlouch family’s (who must have married into the family).

The Ackerman family tombstones (the one to the right was unreadable)

The other tombstones are broken and no one is sure who is buried where in the cemetery.

The History of the Cemetery:

(From Find a Grave website)

The cemetery is located in Franklin Township, Bergen County, New Jersey, on what was once the family farm of J.H. Sturr. As of October 1991 only 6 markers were still remaining.

The Sturr Family Cemetery in full view

History of the House:

(From the Franklin Lakes Municipal Website)

H. Sturr House or Blue Meadow Farm
Built 1860
378 Pulis Avenue, Block 1510, Lot 8
Franklin Lakes, New Jersey 07417 

The Sturr House – also known as Blue Meadow Farm -is a handsome and little altered example of mid 19th century vernacular architecture which incorporates several stylistic elements such as gable returns and frieze area of the early 19th century Greek Revival style. The Borough of Franklin Lakes lists the erection year of the house as 1860. 

The façade of this 2 ½ story house consists of clapboard. The front porch has five bays with square posts and a rectangular entrance door with rectangular sidelights. Two tall 1st story windows are on one side of the porch. A single hitching post with iron rings sits in front of the porch stairs. The building has a frieze area with linear design. Semi-circular headed louvered vents are in all gable ends. The rear of the house has a one story wing.  There is a detached garage to the west side of the house as well as a round frame well. Further west of the house is a stable which has been extensively remodeled and converted into a residence in recent times. The house combined with associated structures is a significant remnant of the large farmsteads which ones dotted the Borough’s landscape prior to the recent suburban housing boom.

History of the Family:

(From the Franklin Lakes Municipal website)

This Sturr house and the nearby more altered house at 402 Pulis Avenue were duplicate structures and were probably built around the same time by members of the Sturr family. The 19th century Sturr family was descended from Conraedt Sturr who purchased 190 acres of land in this area with John Coeter from Robert Livingston in 1793.

The non-extant homestead and mill was located at present-day 930 Old Mill Road. It is known that Henry Sturr, the son of Conraedt, had a fanning mill at this location in 1850. In a will dated 1852 he bequeathed his property and mill to his grandsons John, Henry, and Daniel (Maria Braun – 1976 page 26 & 27).

The property along Pulis Avenue upon which these houses are situated was probably included in this will since the homes were built around the mid-19th century. Future deed research is recommended to identify the original builder and the construction date of the house (1861: H. Sturr, 1876 Estate of H.M. Sturr). Presently the house is privately owned and occupied.

Crooked Pond Cemetery 1115 Franklin Lakes Road Franklin Lakes, NJ 07417

Crooked Pond Cemetery

1115 Franklin Lakes Road

Franklin Lakes, NJ 07417

https://www.franklinlakes.org/crookedpondcemetery

https://www.findagrave.com/cemetery/1769184/crooked-pond-cemetery

https://www.namesinstone.com/ViewMap.aspx?cemeteryId=399006

My review on TripAdvisor:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Profile/R4960NKjustinw/mediabatch/13620090?m=19905

This mysterious little cemetery sits on a bluff overlooking Crooked Pond in Franklin Lakes, NJ. Unless you are looking for it, it is difficult to find as there are no markers or historical signs to guide you to the path.

You have to park the car across the street, walk across a dangerous road and you come across this small set of stairs that leads to the cemetery. In the pictures online it always looks so well maintained but the afternoon I was there, it had been over grown.

This set of stairs is hidden by the trees and bushes. This leads to the cemetery

This is another example of a small family cemetery

The History of the Cemetery:

(From the Borough of Franklin Lakes, NJ website-Written by Colin Knight)

Generations of Ackerman, Van Winkle, Romaine and other Dutch families are interred on top of the steep hill overlooking the serene body of water originally known as Hopper’s Pond. Owing to the geography, the local Dutch Reformed congregation assumed the name Ponds Reformed Church and established themselves in the Ramapo Valley in 1710. The early history of the Church recalls several changes in location and according to oral tradition services were held in a log cabin on the north side of the pond not far from the burial ground. 

The other end of this small plot

The resting spot sits on a bluff overlooking Crooks pond

The view of the cemetery to the pond below

Among the tombstones are the graves of many members of troops that served in the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812.

We owe a lot to these Veterans who put their lives on the line for us in the War years. These men and their families helped shape not just the foundation of Bergen County but of the Country as well. These tombstones are of some of the men who fought in the Revolutionary War.

The grave of Gerrit Van Cleve

The grave of Joseph Van Cleve

The grave of Veteran Simeon Van Winkle

These brave soldiers fought in the Revolutionary War with some of their tombstones marker as veterans as others are not.

The graves face Crooks Pond

The tombstone of Veteran Samuel Romine

Samuel Romine’s original tombstone

The Veterans of the Crooked Pond Cemetery:

(From the Borough of Franklin Lakes website-Written by Colin Knight)

The Daughters of the American Revolution stepped up and have been working to restore the cemetery to it’s rightful state. 20 headstones have been restored, and recently, the Veteran’s Administration installed two new headstones for Revolutionary War veteran Samuel Romine and another for War of 1812 veteran Ralph Benjamin Romaine. Crooked Pond Cemetery has fourteen Veterans interred within its bounds, ten from the Revolutionary War, two from the War of 1812, and two who served in the Civil War.

An incomplete list of veterans buried here are John Ackerman; John Folley and Elias Folley; Samuel Romine, Benjamin Romine, and Ralph Romaine; Gerrit Van Cleve and Joseph Van Cleve; Corniess Van Houten, Hendrick Van Houten, and Roeloff Van Houten; and Simeon Van Winkle and Epson Van Winkel.