Cemetery tour resurrects tales of Trenton’s past
Riverview Cemetery has been a heavenly jewel in the crown of Trenton since its 1858 incorporation by the New Jersey State Legislature. Comprised of some forty acres of beautifully landscaped trees, shrubs and flowers this historic city landmark is now offering guided walking tours and other special events to the public.
Historian Richard A. Sauers acts as cemetery tour guide and is responsible for the research that goes into creating this unique storytelling experience. Sauers’ historical narrative brings Riverview’s funerary architecture to life and his vivid commentary on grave markers transcends into a commemoration of those who lie beneath them. Placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2017, Riverview’s lush grounds still retain a strong Victorian aura and seem practically unscathed by the passages of time.
“Event planning seemed like the next logical project,” says Sauers. “We’re happy to provide those interested with a journey into the past as well as a look into our city’s amazing history.”
Noteworthy individuals immortalized within Riverview Cemetery’s gates include: Margaret Hayes who has the distinction of being the first interment at the cemetery on June 26th, 1858; John Augustus Roebling, civil engineer and builder of the Brooklyn Bridge; Washington Augustus Roebling, who perished on the R.M.S. Titanic; George Brinton McClellan, general-in-chief of President Lincoln’s Union Armies and 24th Governor of New Jersey; Walter Scott Lenox, founder of Lenox, Inc.; Stanley Switlik, founder of Switlik Parachute Company; Harold N. “Bus” Saidt, Baseball Hall of Fame sportswriter; Charles Conrad Abbott, archaeologist and naturalist and John Taylor, founder of the Taylor Provisions Company, makers of the world-famous Taylor Pork Roll.
One point of exceptional interest is the cemetery’s receiving vault. Tucked into a sloping hillside at the back of the graveyard, the structure was designed to temporarily store the bodies of those who died during the winter; a time when the ground is usually too frozen to open permanent graves. The vault was also used to store bodies of those who died suddenly, holding them until more permanent arrangements could be made and/ or paid for.
It’s at this point during the tour that Sauers becomes “crypt keeper” as he descends the vault’s moss-covered steps and fumbles for a key that opens its black iron door. As sunlight floods the crypt and hundreds of insects scurry, Sauers ushers his skeptical guests inside.
Constructed of brownstone and brick, the lightless structure contains four arched ceiling vaults, two on either side of the entrance way, each of which originally had wooden shelving capable of storing three caskets. The cobweb-laced space is dank with the scent of moist mortar and on the lintel above the Victorian iron door one will find “Receiving Vault 1859” in raised lettering. Light up a candelabra and Barnabas Collins would feel quite at home here.
Notable occupants of Riverview’s receiving vault include thirty-three-year old Fannie Parnell, an Irish poet and nationalist who died of a heart attack in 1882 while visiting her mother in Bordentown. Parnell’s remains were housed at Riverview for approximately three months, until they reached her final resting place at Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Seventeen-year-old Catharine “Kitty” Maloney died from tuberculosis while traveling home from Europe aboard the SS New York on May 20, 1900. Daughter of Martin Maloney, a Philadelphia tycoon, Kitty’s remains were housed within Riverview’s receiving vault for nearly two years. She was then moved to her final resting place in the family crypt at St. Catharine’s Church in Spring Lake, New Jersey, a church Maloney built in his daughter’s name.
The receiving vault was used up until the1940s however modern technology has all but eliminated the need for its use today. The vault continues to stand as a monument to a bygone era when graves were dug by the human hand.
If you’re looking for something fun and educational to do in Trenton then a tour of Riverview Cemetery is definitely for you. Riddled with tales of success, conflict, and a few fatal accidents, this graveyard tour literally resurrects parts Trenton’s longforgotten history.
The “Exploring Riverview Cemetery Tour” is held periodically and it’s best to check riverviewcemetery.blogspot. com for updated schedule information and pricing. You can also find the cemetery on Facebook at: Riverview Cemetery in Trenton, N.J.
Riverview’s next event “Photographers Night at Riverview Cemetery” is from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., Friday, September 14th. This is a rare opportunity for photographers to follow an illuminated path and take twilight and evening photos of the graveyard’s monuments and sculptures.
Sign-in is from 5 to 6:30 p.m., and the cemetery gates will close behind the group promptly at 7. Cost is $15 per person. Reservations are requested but not required. Contact the cemetery office at (609) 396-9540.