Joelle Zabotka, Ph.D., LCSW, LCADC, assistant professor in the School of Social Work, will present an online lecture, “Cedar View Cemetery: How Community Partnership Revealed an Historic Lincroft Burial Ground,” on Aug. 16 at 7 p.m.
The event, which is hosted by the Middletown Township Historical Society, is free but advanced registration is required.
The land for Cedar View Cemetery, located in the Lincroft section of Middletown, was sold to 14 African-American men in the year 1850 “to be used as a burying ground.” The wooded cemetery is now the final resting place for a number of locals, including Civil War veterans.
Long neglected primarily because of confusion over ownership, and thick with weeds, briars, and fallen trees, the African-American burial ground is on property adjoining St. Leo the Great’s Roman Catholic Church and school.
Zabotka will discuss the history of this cemetery, and how the community came together to restore it within the last decade.
The presentation is made possible in part by the Monmouth County Historical Commission through funding from the New Jersey Historical Commission.