Know Before You Go
Entrance is at the southwest corner of the large parking lot attached to the Ho-Ho-Kus train station.
Ho-Ho-Kus, New Jersey
Hopper-Zabriskie Cemetery
This crumbling little graveyard was saved from the undergrowth by concerned veterans.
Like many tiny little family plots, the Hopper-Zabriskie Cemetery in Ho-Ho-Kus, New Jersey was nearly the victim of time and neglect, as stones crumbled and bodies were forgotten, but thanks to some concerned vets, this haunting little cemetery has risen from the grave.
Dating back as far as the 1790s, the plot originally belonged to the Hopper family, with the first (at least the first recorded) headstone belonging to Garret Hopper. Later on a few Zabriskies were added to the plot through marriage. It is not known how many people are buried in the graveyard, since many of the stones have disappeared or crumbled over its two centuries or more in existence, but the last known burial seems to finally have taken place in 1867.
As the little plot continued to age and fall apart, and assumedly the family members were no longer able to care for the graves, the wilderness began to take over, breaking and covering the stones, nearly obliterating the memory of the spot. But in 2005, the local Washington Elm VFW Post 192 veterans group took the cemetery under their wing. Researching the history of the graveyard as much as they could, they also restored and repaired all the stones they could, clearing the obstructing brush and debris.
Today the tiny boneyard is once again treated with some reverence looking all the more haunting for its age. It can be visited just off of 1st Street, just be sure to try and respect the area, unlike nature.
