Penns Neck Cemetery

Penns Neck cemetery, November 2020. Note the farmland!

Historical Overview

Standing about 1/3 of a mile north of the intersection of Route 1 and Washington Road is a small cemetery with a chest-high stone wall and several trees inside. With about 130 gravestones and perhaps 80 to 95 burials, this is the "Penns Neck Cemetery" - alternatively called the "Schenck-Kovenhoven Cemetery" or the "Old Conover Graveyard." It is one of West Windsor's very oldest and most historically-significant sites, a contributing element to the historic community of Penns Neck, and a member of West Windsor's "100 Club."

In 1737, Garret Schenck and John Kovenhoven purchased over 6,500 acres from the sons of William Penn, famed Quaker and founder of Pennsylvania.[1] Soon afterward, the Schencks, Covenhovens, and other families soon settled the area.and built this graveyard to bury their dead.[2]

The graves generally face directly east-west, likely in symbolic accordance with the rising and setting sun. The very oldest known grave reads "M. I. 1746."[3]  A map and index of all graves can be found by CLICKING HERE. There is also a corresponding slideshow at the bottom of this webpage of all known gravestones. The map and index were created from a 2020-2021 survey of the cemetery by members of the Historical Society of West Windsor. The map and index show common surnames: Schenck, Kovenhoven, Hight, Cruser, Stout, Martin, Dye, and others. Some gravestones were still in good repair at the time of the survey; others had crumbled or flaked away into fragments.

"M. I. 1746" - the oldest known gravestone in the cemetery - and West Windsor.

The cemetery was established along a division line between two Schenck and Kovenhoven farms.[4] It informally straddled these two properties until 1812, when William Kovenhoven deeded his portion of the cemetery to Jacob S. Stout and John C. Schenck, and 1813, when Samuel Worth (of "Worth's Mill" in Princeton) deeded his portion to these same two men. Jacob S. Stout, without any heir, predeceased John C. Schenck, leaving John the sole owner. John then bequeathed the property to his son, George Washington Schenck, who in turn deeded it to his son (George Washington Schenck, Jr.) and daughter (Clarissa Elizabeth Schenck).[5]

George Jr., without any heir, predeceased Clarissa, leaving her the sole owner of the cemetery. In 1878, Clarissa Elizabeth Schenck sold the property to the Penns Neck Cemetery Association.[6] This group had been created the year prior by residents of Penns Neck to ensure collective upkeep of the property. The first meeting of the Association was in the old farmhouse of Thomas Jewell, in whose backyard the cemetery effectively existed.[7] 

​In 1876, with the support of Eliza Tilton Schenck, the burial ground - previously open to its surroundings - was enclosed by a massive stone wall and iron gate.[8] The wall was built parallel to Washington Road and Route 1 (which run southeast-northwest and southwest-northeast, respectively), and as a result is oriented about forty-five degrees relative to almost all of the gravestones.

View from inside the Penns Neck cemetery, December 2022.

By the late 1800s, burials in the cemetery had mostly ceased; Eliza Tilton Schenck's burial in 1895 was the last for over forty-five years. On November 10, 1941, Sarah Eleanor Martin was buried beside her Cruser ancestors, her tombstone having erected many years before. She was the last person to be buried in the Penns Neck Cemetery.[9]

Over the years, ownership of the cemetery has changed hands further. In December of 1948, all of the surrounding land was conveyed by the estate of Sarah M. Jewell to Princeton University.[10] By 1969, the last active trustee of the Penns Neck Cemetery Association had passed away,[11] and responsibility for the cemetery (but not ownership) passed to the Historical Society of Princeton.[12] In 1993, the Princeton Baptist Church assumed caretaking responsibilities.[13] However, as of the time of this writing (2023), the cemetery has not had a legal owner since the Penns Neck Cemetery Association's effective dissolution in 1968.

​Various transcription efforts have been undertaken over the years; the 2020/2021 survey references many of these but is the most complete and correct version to date and provides the first comprehensive map. This survey was finished shortly before Princeton University, in December 2021, broke ground on their large "Lake Campus" which surrounds - but does not legally include - the burial ground.[14]

The Penns Neck Cemetery is still a legal orphan - a relic from the very earliest origins of historic Penns Neck, but geographically isolated from the rest of that community. Regardless, and despite a college campus replacing the centuries-old farmland around it, the burial ground remains one of West Windsor's most important historical sites.

Penns Neck Cemetery entrance, May 2020.

Return to Penns Neck Homepage

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Bibliography

1. Schenck, Garret, John Covenhoven, Thomas Penn, Richard Penn, and John Penn. Indenture. New Jersey State Archives, 1737. Deed of 6,500 acres from heirs (sons) of William Penn to Garret Schenck and John Covenhoven. Located in New Jersey State Archives F-2 (EJ): Folio 380 (SSTSE023)
2. “Penns Neck Cemetery.” West Windsor, NJ 08540: Princeton University’s “Lake Campus,” Penns Neck, n.d. Contains gravestones of West Windsor residents from 1746 to 1941.
3. Ibid.
4. Updike, Frank M. The Schenck-Covenhoven Cemetery. West Windsor, New Jersey, 1993. Booklet compiling information about the Schenck-Covenhoven Cemetery.
5. Penns Neck Cemetery Association, Schenck, Clarissa Elizabeth. “Indenture.” West Windsor, 1878. Located in the Mercer County Clerk's Office, Mercer County Deed Book 118 Page 508.
6. Ibid.
7. Ibid.
8. “Penns Neck Cemetery.” West Windsor, NJ 08540: Princeton University’s “Lake Campus,” Penns Neck, n.d. Contains gravestones of West Windsor residents from 1746 to 1941.
9. Ibid.
10. “Mercer County Gravestones: Schenck-Covenhoven Burial Ground.” Genealogical Magazine of New Jersey 57, no. 1 (Whole Number 205), January 1982. Published by the Genealogical Society of New Jersey.
11. French, Bruce H. Letter to Mrs. Robert Lee Logan, January 23, 1969. Letter concerning ownership of the Penns Neck Cemetery.
12. Ibid.
13. Updike, Frank M. The Schenck-Covenhoven Cemetery. West Windsor, New Jersey, 1993. Booklet compiling information about the Schenck-Covenhoven Cemetery.
14. Sanservino, Bill. “Princeton University Breaks Ground on Massive Lake Campus Project in West Windsor.” West Windsor and Plainsboro Community News, January 1, 2022.