Mark your calendar!
Annual Memorial Day Service
Sunday, May 29, 2022
3:00 pm – 4:00 pm
Back by popular demand! Retired Sergeant First Class – Donald Francisco, Fifer from George Washington’s Mt. Vernon estate, will perform and pay homage to Pvt. William Stives and those buried at the Stoutsburg Cemetery.
In case of rain, the event will be held at Second Calvary Baptist Church, 69 Columbia Avenue, Hopewell, NJ 08525.
Steeped in rich history, the Stoutsburg Cemetery Association was officially founded as a burial ground for African American residents and veterans in 1858.
We were recently featured in the Philadelphia Inquirer for our forthcoming book, If These Stones Could Talk, based on decades of research, oral histories, land deeds, church records and preserved plots tracing the legacy of slavery in small town USA, authored by board members, Beverly Mills and Elaine Buck. We are also working in partnership with the Sourland Conservancy, with plans to unveil the only African American museum in central New Jersey.
We hope you’ll explore our site, learn about our events, read through our stories, find out about our burial services, and most of all, take a moment to honor the lives of those buried here, whose contributions and histories date back to before the Revolutionary War.