October is the perfect time to tour the historic graveyard at Morristown's Presbyterian Church located on the Green. Fall foliage, crisp air, and tombstones ranging from the 1730s to 1850s all add to the experience, creating the impression of an open-air museum. It exhibits history, art, and even a bit of poetry in the form of epitaphs.
Many prominent figures in local and New Jersey state history are interred there. Jacob Ford Jr., a militia colonel who died in 1777, is buried in a family plot that includes his wife Theodosia and father Jacob Sr. Theodosia Ford allowed General Washington to use her home as his headquarters during the Hard Winter of 1779-80. Silas Condict, who served in the Continental Congress and helped draft New Jersey's first constitution, was also laid to rest in the cemetery. Other noted people buried there include: Jacob Arnold, a tavern keeper, John Jacob Faesch, an ironmaster, Timothy Johnes Jr., a doctor, and John Doughty, a general who briefly commanded the United States Army after the Revolutionary War.
The gravestones at the Presbyterian Cemetery feature a variety of popular period motifs such as Death's Heads, Angels, and Weeping Willow Trees. Other decorative motifs include: an hourglass signifying the brevity of life on earth, three flowers to represent the Trinity, and a shell, a metaphor for "The Resurrection of Life Everlasting." The 1742 gravestone of Abigail Goble depicts the arm of God reaching down from a cloud holding an ax, which is used to chop down the Tree of Life.
For a real challenge, see if you can find the carver's name at the bottom of the gravestone. Most gravestones were not signed, but the Presbyterian Cemetery has stones carved by David Jeffries of Woodbridge, Jonathan Hand Osborne of Scotch Plains, and Amos Wilcox of New Providence.
If you're a fan of poetry, the epitaphs can provide a stark lesson on mortality:
Stranger stop and cast an eye,
As you are now, so once was I,
My glass is run, and yours is running,
Remember Death and Judgment coming.
Have a great autumn and Happy Halloween!