Maple Grove Park Cemetery in Hackensack, New Jersey, is a historic burial ground originally established around 1850 by the Dutch Reformed Churches of New York City. Formerly known as the New York Cemetery, it is a significant local repository for both 19th-century history and rescued historical remains.
Originally founded to serve members of the True Reformed Dutch Church, the cemetery was previously referred to as the New York Cemetery on Plank Road. As older churches and their surrounding burial grounds in northern New Jersey were decommissioned, their headstones and remains were frequently relocated to Maple Grove
The historic front section of the cemetery in the front of the cemetery
I visited the Maple Grove Park Cemetery one afternoon in search of a Revolutionary War Veteran, Albert Voorhis. I did not find his particular tombstone but I did find his family plot and many of the ‘first families’ of Bergen County. These include families such as the Demarest’s, Haring’s, Voorhis, Ackerman’s, Christie’s, Hopper’s, Van Saun’s and Blauvelt’s.
The Demarest family plot
The front part of the cemetery is nicely landscaped with interesting family plots dotted all over the this part of the cemetery. These were the families that shaped this history of the County and other branches of their extended family are either buried in historic Reformed Church graveyards or are in small cemeteries that were part of the family farm that now sit in subdivisions of McMansions, neglected and forgotten.
The Demarest family plot
I found it interesting to note how big many of these families were and how all of these ‘first families’ married into one another, probably because of family stature or maybe to extend the length of the family farm. These interconnections shaped and developed how Bergen County developed over a three hundred year period.
The Demarest/Hopper family plot
The Westervelt Family plot
The extended Voorhis family plot
The Zabriskie family plot
The extended Terhune family plot
The DeBaun family
The Brinkerhoff family plot
The Van Winkle family plot
The Ackerman family plot
The Blawvelt (Blauvelt) family plot
The Van Saun family plot
Another Terhune family plot
The Vreeland family plot
The Quackenbush family plot
The Hopper family plot
The Hopper-DeWolfe family plot
The extended Christie family plot
The extended Lydecker family plot
The Van Valen family
Another branch of the extended Demarest family
This cemetery is an interesting look at the early history of not just Bergen County or New Jersey but of the United States. These extended families contributed so much not just in military activity but in business, religion and education that helped build this country.
This unique cemetery is more than just a place of rest but a place of history and of respect. These were the extended families who contributed so much to the progress of our country and how it was directed into the future.
Every semester for my Business Marketing, Management and Communications classes, I create one big Team assignment for my students. In a Commuter College, it is a lot tougher for students to get to know one another between their studies and their jobs, so I create these projects to foster learning, creativity and especially Teamwork.
This semester I taught International Marketing. This is a tough course to teach as you always have students of various age groups and various levels of industry experience. The Spring semester was no different. This makes the class more interesting yet more challenging to teach. I still challenge them and test them to see what type of future executives they will become.
I also taught Principles of Management and International Marketing which came with their own challenges. It was the amount of people in each class and what projects would they be working on. I knew the things I wanted to work on, I just had to figure out how to frame them.
In the past, I have created these projects under the Bergecco-Parc Consulting Inc. banner, the main consulting company, the Orion Malls banner, a Mall design company and the Buscomonzefi.com banner, my Tech Division.
Each business concept does its best to be creative, forward thinking and have a thought producing presentations. I also challenge the students to top on another in their presentations and build on what they have seen others do in the past.
The Bergecco-Parc Consulting Inc. concept is an acronym for Bergen Community College Paramus campus where I work. It came to me one night around 3:00am in the morning when I was trying to figure out a project for my students to work on.
Professor Justin Watrel, CEO Bergecco-Parc Consulting Inc.
Our Corporate site (created my one of my former President’s:
This semester I attempted one of the toughest and most extensive Team projects in all the historical projects I have created, taking the listing of the Daughters of the American Revolution created for Bergen County Historical Division for the “Bergen 250”and we took it to another level.
I challenged the students to visit all the cemeteries and graveyards on the listing (using my blog if needed), find the tombstones of the veterans of the Revolutionary War and photograph them. Next they needed to create a biography of each of the veterans.
From there, they needed to create a short video of that gravesite and put it all into a QR code so visitors can find them. It was a big challenge but I knew this class could do it. There was something about the personality of this class that would make it work.
I then planned a series of field trips so that the students could visit particular sites in a more formal tour. I asked a lot of the contacts who I have met over the years to help me out, so the students could see why this project was so important to the 250th Anniversary to both our County and our Country. It took a lot to plan and execute. I gave them six weeks to do the research and create other sections of the project.
A. They had to take the listing of all the veterans and their list of grave sites and play ‘detective’ to find the tombstones and then film and create the QR codes.
B. They had to create a special “250th Medallion’ that would be placed at each veteran’s tombstone to honor them on the “Bergen 250”. These pieces of art were very clever.
C. They had to create a “Farm to Table” fundraiser with three courses and an American selection of wines, one being from New Jersey. They also had to create the menu and the invitation to the event. The Teams created the menu, cost and budget to show how much they would raise for the event.
D. As an extra credit assignment, I had the Teams create a special “Halloween Tour”, with a special concession menu, tour script of the cemetery or graveyard of their choice and create the logo and advertising for it. Three of the four Teams created this.
Then I planned a series of field trips to visit the most important sites in Bergen County, some were tiny stand alone family cemeteries, some were historical sites and some were very important church graveyards with family plots.
I think this is where the students had the most fun. This is where the comradery of the class was created. As I took the Team out to many of the sites on their listings, the Teams got to see the concept of “Dark Tourism”, the desire to visit places were either bad things have happened, the site has an evil past or something to do with death. This has become a popular form of Tourism in the Twenty-First Century. (Think the 9/11 Memorial).
It was also a chance to get out of the classroom and get some fresh air and sunshine. These are some of the places our Team visited.
My Graveyard and Cemetery Team “Out in the Field”:
The first site I took my Team to was the Baylor Massacre site in River Vale, NJ, where the British had ambushed a battalion of soldiers and killed them. The site has a rather dark history from the war.
The irony about the site is that all my students were from Bergen County and none of them had been here before. I had taken my previous ‘Bergen 250’ class here as well as our next stop, the Haring Farm Cemetery just a few blocks away.
The Team picture at the Baylor Massacre site
We next toured the Haring Family Cemetery down the road on Old Haring Farm Road. This was one of the many examples of small family cemeteries that used to be placed at the edge of family farms, who wanted loved ones buried close by or the distance to the family church was too far away at that time.
Touring the Haring Family Cemetery
The Haring family is one of the most important and prominent Colonial families in New Jersey (and are very distantly related to me by marriage), so I felt this site was very important to visit to show the family dynamic of that era.
Our Team at the Haring Farm Cemetery at Old Haring Farm Court
We then went on our Team lunch at Pompilio’s Pizzeria in Downtown Westwood, NJ. I feel on projects like this to build comradary and for the students to start their projects, we need to ‘break bread’ with one another and get to know each other in a relaxed place. Plus the students seem to love free pizza and Coke. This lunch has started many successful projects.
Our Team Divisional at lunch at Pompilio’s Pizzeria:
Our Team lunch at Pompilio’s Pizzeria
We all had such a nice time at lunch and feel this is the best way to get to know one another. The food at Pompilio’s is also excellent. I always host the lunch with large Cheese Pizza and Coke.
My Executive Team at our lunch
Our next Field Trip was the Old Stone Church in Saddle River at 481 East Saddle River Road in Saddle River, NJ. This is one of the oldest churches in Bergen County and in New Jersey.
The Old Stone Church at 481 East Saddle River Road in Saddle River
This church has the most complete set of tombstones of Revolutionary War veterans and the church website has some of the most complete information on their veterans.
Our group picture at the Old Stone Church
Our next trip was to the First Reformed Church of Hackensack, the second oldest church in New Jersey and one of the most important for the Revolutionary War. Their graveyard has the most amount of Revolutionary War veterans in Bergen County.
My students outside the First Reformed Church of Hackensack at 42 Court Street
The historic outside cornerstones of the church with the original family founder names carved in the bricks
The family keystones
John Paulson keystone
Henry Berry keystone
Albert C. Zabrifky keystone
The Historic First Reformed Church pews and stained glass windows.
The first floor of the church and the inside pews
The alter
The view of inside of the church
The Revolutionary War artifacts
My student visit on the second floor of the church. The church’s artifacts are displayed in the cases here.
Tour of the church
The Child’s family windows
Voorhis-Lozier-Moore Windows
The Kraissi family windows
The Van Valen windows
The War years windows
The church is the second oldest church in New Jersey and one of the oldest in the country. We then walked outside to tour the historic graveyard in the back of the church. It had the most amount of Revolutionary War veterans buried in Bergen County, NJ.
Many of the veterans of the American Revolution were buried closest to the church, which was the tradition of the time to be buried as close to the church as possible. Their graves were marked by Revolutionary War medallions and American flags.
The Demarest-Voorhis Revolutionary War graves
General Poor’s grave
Albert Romin grave Revolutionary War veteran
The front part of the church by the Hackensack Green was the resting place of many of these heros
Our Team of Student Consultants picture inside the historic graveyard
It is also the resting place of General Enoch Poor, who died during battle, whose funeral was attended by General George Washington himself. We took this group picture by the General’s grave.
Our Team pictures with General Poor
Our last field trip and one of our most important was to the Old South Presbyterian Church in Bergenfield. This was the place of the Demarest family plot, which is currently under a full renovation.
We worked with Melissa Naylis, who is leading the renovation of the church and master carver, Bob Carpenter, who showed us how he is restoring the graveyard. He had led one of my previous classes when we visited the graveyard for my ‘Bergen 250’ project.
Master Carver Bob Carpenter leading our tour
The South Presbyterian Church and the Demarest family plot
The Demarest family plot
Melissa Naylis starting the tour with us
The students got to learn of the important history of the grave sites and why they are an important piece of the United States founding. The were the men who fought for our freedom and the wives and families that supported the effort.
Melissa leading the tour and introducing Bob Carpenter to us
Melissa Naylis explaining the work that is being done in the graveyard
Bob Carpenter explains his work
Some of the earliest tombstones in the graveyard
Bob Carpenter explaining the renovation
Bob Carpenter talking about the Demarest plot renovation
Pastor Glen from the Old South Presbyterian Church introducing himself to the students and joining us on this part of the tour.
Talking about the care of the tombstones
Talking about care of the tombstones
We then moved to tombstone of the founder of Rutgers University for a marble carving demonstration. Bob Carpenter wanted the students to know the effort into carving into stone and brought the tools of that era and a piece of marble for the students to use. The students got a kick out of this and some really enjoyed it.
Bob explaining the work of a marble carver
Describing the process
My students giving it a try
My student Amy, carving marble
My student, Walid, carving on marble
Demonstrating the process
After the demonstration, we talked about the work of the Demarest family and their contributions within Bergen County.
The founder of Rutgers University, John Henry Goetscheus and a member of the extended Demarest family.
Our Team picture after the tour
Taking a quick tour of the graveyard after the formal tour, the Blauvelt-Kipp family burial ground
I found that being ‘out of the field’ really exposed the students to not just to visiting parts of the county they had never seen but showing them how cemeteries and graveyards are part of our culture of respect and memory. They can be looked at less as religious standpoint but as a historical value of who we are and how it part of all of our pasts.
We also looked about how these sites could play a role of building Bergen County tourism by promoting these sites as a part of the history of our country. Not just during the Revolutionary War but as part of our cultural fabric.
On April 29th, 2026, the students made their formal Presentation of the project and showed off their research of the sites and their fundraising tools to support the restoration of these sites.
This was an amazing project that will benefit so many people from historians to researchers to people who love the Revolutionary War and its history to family members looking for loved ones.
It is my class’s contribution as well as other future and past projects to benefit the “Bergen 250” and the rich history of Bergen County, NJ. Our County has contributed so much to not just the building of the state but of the United States as well. It was one of the best projects I ran as CEO of Bergecco-Parc Consulting Inc.
Our Executive Picture:
The “Cemetery and Graveyards” Team
Our Reception following the Presentation
Our Presentation was followed by a Q & A with many people we had met along the way from our visits “out in the field” who had come to see the final project and this was followed by our Corporate Team picture and then a reception in honor of the Student Consultants who made this important possible and come to life.
In my live classes, I open my consulting company, “Bergecco-Parc Consulting Inc.”, for business and the whole class bands together and we have one big project. In the era of post-COVID and online learning, I was lucky that I was able to teach one of the live classes on the Bergen Community College, Paramus Campus. It was such a pleasure welcoming students back to campus with live lectures and conversing with them.
The Bergecco-Parc Consulting Inc. corporate logo of the six trees
In the past, I have created these projects under the Bergecco-Parc Consulting Inc. banner, the main consulting company, the Orion Malls banner, a Mall design company and the Buscomonzefi.com banner, my Tech Division. Each business does its best to be creative, forward thinking and have a thought producing presentations. I also challenge the students to top on another in their presentations and build on what they have seen others do in the past.
Professor Justin Watrel, CEO & Co-Founder of Bergecco-Parc Consulting Inc.
I had recently been at a series of special events at the Bergen County Historical Society both for Christmas in 2022 and for more recent events as the Harvest Festival and a walking tour of the property in 2023. Although the events were interesting and the Christmas event with the period live music and the Pub set up in the Christie House, the attendance seemed rather low.
When I Googled the Historical Society, their social media and digital marketing were not as prominent as they should be either in describing their events or with a series of current pictures or videos. Their digital footprint needed some work. Also, their events never changed year after year. They had the exact same events with the same theme for each season.
This I could see was a problem as people want to have different experiences when they visit a place. These sites do not have to alter the events but do need to update and ‘freshen up’ their offerings with a different twist to keep people coming. Others wise, it it the same thing year after year. Also, they were not marketing the site for people outside of Bergen County let alone for foreign tourism. This is where the idea for “Tourism for the Bergen County Historical Society” project for Bergecco-Parc Consulting Inc. came into creation.
The Project “Bergecco-Parc Consulting Inc. presents “Tourism at the Bergen County Historical Society”:
As a member of the Bergen County Historical Society for about five years I had to say the Society does have a tendency to run the same events over and over again and the attendance, especially when it came time for the weather, could really damper the attendance since most events were held outdoors. Plus they attracted the same crowd of older patrons and needed a new clientele to attend to give a fresh perspective to these events.
This is where I wanted to challenge both the students to look at the site from the idea of what would bring them to the Bergen County Historical Society and how the Society could look at making updates to bring that younger, family friendly crowd who was interested in the history of Bergen County but still wanted to have a good time and be engaged by the event. That can be a delicate balancing act in the age of social media and cellphone distraction.
It took some convincing from both sides to get this project off the ground. The Society kept thinking we were a real consulting firm and were hesitant to do the project. The none of my students had ever been to the Bergen County Historical Society let alone want to go there. The schools in Bergen County no longer even studied American history the way we did when I was in junior high or high school nor did they take the field trips to Trenton or Washington DC that we did back in the 1970’s. This is when I knew this would be a learning experience for both parties.
The goal was to bring more tourists both domestic and international to the Bergen County Historical Society with a series of new events for both Halloween and Spring/Easter that were both inclusive and family friendly that had a contemporary but historical twist to them. I asked the students to look at the history of both holidays and what the meaning of the Fall festivals and Spring Festivals meant to people through the ages. The third event the students had to create was a fundraiser for the Society that would raise $25,000 to raise money for the new museum on the Society’s property. I saw some shocked looks on the students faces but I knew they could do it.
There were some major challenges logistics wise for the project as well. I had to arrange a visit to the site because the students would never go out on their own to see it, plus the site was not open on a Thursday night so that would take some coordination. Also, being the Fall semester we always worried about the problem with the weather and the night of the tour it threatened to rain (it didn’t Thank God). Lastly, I only had four weeks to put this project together and get it presented to the Historical Society before I had to give the final exam and post grades by the end of the semester. This on top of all the projects and papers I myself had to do for Graduate school gave me many stressful nights. Somehow, we pulled it all off to a huge success.
The week after I presented the project to the students with a few groans, we were off the next Thursday night to a mandatory (and I mean mandatory!) field trip to the Bergen County Historical Society in River Edge, NJ to see all the buildings and learn about the history of the site and the importance of it during the Revolutionary War. The time change after Halloween meant we would be having the tour in the dark with not a lot of light to shine the way.
Parking at the site needed to worked on as well as their parking lot was hard to maneuver if you did not know the area and had some sharp turns to get to when parking your car. Still I got all the students there and basically on time (except one) and we got the tour underway with the former and current Presidents of the Society. I could not believe how well it worked out for everyone.
First I had to make sure that everyone was there the night of the tour which was difficult because people were coming from work and the traffic being what is was at 6:30pm at night but again everyone was ready to go. We started at the Campbell-Christie House, which was used as the pub for the Christmas event I had been at the year earlier. It had also been used as the gathering place for the tree lighting ceremony when COVID hit in Christmas 2020.
Starting our class tour of the Bergen County Historical Society at the Campbell-Christi House
Starting the tour at twilight. It was really dark on the Bergen County Historical Society site.
Entering the Campbell-Christie House for the tour.
The Campbell-Christie House during the day.
We toured the house and talked about its history and how it was moved to this location to save it from demolishment. Also the uses of the house in different programs.
We then moved onto the Demarest House which is the next house over. The home is much smaller but its significance in Bergen County history is the same as the Campbell-Christie. This type of Dutch style architecture is unique to this part the country where the Dutch had to adapt to weather conditions and building materials that could be found.
The Demarest House during the day.
Its ownership to one of the most prominent families gave it even more importance. We were able to see the loft space and how the family lived on a daily basis in the two rooms.
Our class touring the Steuben House toward the end of the tour.
Then it was on to the Steuben House which was the home of the Zabriskie family but given to General Steuben by the patriots for his assistance during the Revolutionary War. This is the main house that most activities take place in including lectures and musical performances. In each of the homes,.
Ex-President of the Society Deborah Powell lead the students on a very engaging tour of the Steuben House. It has an interesting and intriguing past.
The two Presidents of the Society who joined us told me later how impressed they were that the students were so engaged in the conversation and wanted to learn so much about the site. For all of my students this was the first time any of them had been to the Bergen County Historical Society, so it was a treat for them as well. I could see that they all learned so much from ‘being in the field’.
My student consultants from Bergecco-Parc Consulting Inc. with former President Deborah Powell in our group shot at the main room at the Steuben House. It was at the end of the tour.
The Steuben House during the day.
After the tour was over and the questions were answered, our group left for dinner. I can always tell the success of these projects when we all have dinner together. I chose a pizzeria around the corner from the Historical Society that I had never been to before but plan on returning to, Napolimania at 450 Hackensack Avenue in the Home Depot mall. It had the perfect amount of space for our group of 30 students, who were both hungry and cold. Both the pizza and the pizzeria were wonderful and we had such a good time.
The Bergecco-Parc Consulting Inc. student consultants enjoying dinner.
Dinner at Napolimania Pizzeria for dinner after the tour.
Napolimania at 450 Hackensack Avenue in Hackensack, NJ TripAdvisor review:
I think one of the most important aspects about this project is that the Team “breaks bread” with each other (have a business meal). It is one of the biggest parts of Team Building and a way for strangers to get to know one another. I have seen more friendships formed over these meals and a transition of how the students treat this project. Most of them start taking it more seriously and then the work begins. By the way, the pizza was excellent that night and I highly recommend the restaurant for the food and service.
The next week, I started to give more time in the classroom for the students to work on their project as it was crunch time and they only had three weeks to complete it and present it to me. This is when the stress levels of the Teams start because then you see the people who will really work and the ones that put in the minimum and trust me, they make their feelings known. I had my share of headaches before this presentation but for the other 95% of the class, I saw some major transformations in the students, their attitudes towards the project and a lot of creativity.
We had the presentation in the fifth floor conference room at the Lyndhurst campus of Bergen Community College and this is only the second time I have used this room but it is the best one to present the project in.
The Presentation welcome:
CEO Watrel’s welcome
President Beqo welcome:
President Sorak Beqo opening the program for “Bergecco-Parc Consulting Inc. presents “Tourism at the Bergen County Historical Society” on the night of December 7th, 2023.
The Executive welcome and headquarters plan.
Our honored guests that night were the President of the Bergen County Historical Society, the former President of the Society and one of the Board members. I would have hoped we would have had a better turn out from the Society but I understood that it was the holiday season and everyone had so many commitments plus it was later in the evening and down in Lyndhurst. Still, it was nice to have the ladies attend for feedback on the Presentation.
Each group gave their Presentation along with creating two commercials, one promoting their events on the Society grounds and then one promoting the Society for tourism.
Team One Presentation:
Team One presenting their ideas for events and fundraising at the Bergen County Historical Society.
Team One presenting their ideas to raise money for the new museum.
Team One’s Presentation on YouTube.
Team Two Presentation:
Team Two pitching their ideas for the Bergen County Historical Society.
The ideas for fundraising for the new Museum at the Bergen County Historical Society.
The extra credit project that Team Two created was one of the reasons they won the contest.
Team Two Presentation on YouTube.
Team Three Presentation:
Team Three making their pitch for new events at the Bergen County Historical Society. They gave one of the most professional presentations that I had seen in a long time.
Team Three making their pitch on their ideas for fundraising for the new Museum.
Team Three Presentation on YouTube
Closing Remarks on YouTube:
Being only given four weeks to pull this project off, the student consultants did an excellent job on this project. The projects were creative, inventive and showed that they had studied and visited the historical site more than once. They used all the buildings on the property for different events coming up with new ideas on old events and creating new ones.
I liked the ideas of the Easter Egg hunts and Bunny visits as well as how to approach Easter as a secular event taking its Pagan roots and putting a new twist on it. For Halloween, the students incorporated old ideas such as apple bobbing and hayrides around the property with utilizing the historic homes as haunted houses. The winning group even used a haunted maze and a petting zoo to the mix.
For the museum fundraiser, the student consultants had some creative ideas to raise money for the museum. One group used a food truck event, another used a full day event and for their extra credit event was a “Revolutionary Dance” that I thought was really interesting. It always amazes me the way that students give such a fresh perspective to a project. I could tell that the Board members of the Society were blown away by the ideas that the students came up with to bring more people to the site.
After the Q & A for the project, we took our Corporate shot for Bergecco-Parc Consulting Inc. headquarters. I was impressed with what a sharp group we made.
The Bergecco-Parc Consulting Inc. Corporate shot-Lyndhurst “Tourism at Bergen County Historical Society” Team December 2023.
All three Teams were given the task by one of the founding members of Bergecco-Parc Consulting Inc. to create ideas for the Corporate Christmas Party. The students were tasked with creating a menu with one appetizer, a main dish and a dessert with a signature drink and then had to create a corporate message in both English and Spanish. It is always fun to see the results on this:
I passed Dim Sum Station many times on my way to work and I noticed it had finally opened. I was in the area on business and stopped for lunch. The food and the service were really nice.
The restaurant has the look of a fast-food restaurant and is served cafeteria style. You order your food at the counter, and you pick it up when the order is ready. All the items are pictured on the menu, so you have an idea of what you are ordering.
You order at the counter of the restaurant and pick up your food
I just picked up a couple of dishes of Dim Sum for a light lunch. I started with the Pork Soup Dumplings ($6.95). They were really…
I have been to Miss T’s Two several times when I needed a quick snack and was in the area. The deli is tucked in a residential neighborhood right near Hackensack High School so I know who their customer is when the school year is in session.
Miss T’s Two is primarily a deli/bodega selling some household items and snack foods to the locals who live in the area but they also have a small hot food area in the back of the store and this is where this unassuming place shines. Their hot food selection may be limited but everything I have tried is delicious and extremely reasonable and is always fresh.
The first two trips I made to the deli was by accident. I had passed the place…
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