Conversations with the Past:

Directly parallel to the bustling lanes of highspeed traffic on Route 9, lies the tranquil field of Maplewood Cemetery in Freehold. Separated by dense trees are the history, memories, and stories of the past and present. Although impossible to reconcile the infinite divide between life and death, if preserved, the stories of people can outlive a lifetime.

In remembrance of those stories, local historians Kevin Coyne and Mark Sweeney, along with former Freehold mayor, Nolan Higgins, hosted the borough’s first historic cemetery tour on Nov. 6. With a large gathering of community members, the tour revisited how education and newspapers played a significant role in the foundation of the borough. In addition, the pair provided historical context for the names inscribed on the multitude of gravestones.

Higgins, who served as the 13th mayor of Freehold, said the tour mainly centered around the history of the families and individuals who were buried at Maplewood Cemetery.

“The idea is to tell the story of Freehold through its early families, through the people who rest here … This tour is held in conjunction with our Historic Preservation Commission (HPC), which serves a number of roles in Freehold Borough,” Higgins said.

According to the HPC, the commission preserves and protects Freehold’s historic sites while raising support and awareness for restoration and preservation projects.

The inaugural walkaround consisted of specific stops as several backstories were shared at the graves of war veterans, politicians, entertainers, and other notable figures in Maplewood.

Initially known as Freehold Cemetery, the grounds were first established in the 1850s by the Reformed Church. By the 1860s, the cemetery received its current name and in 1930, it merged with Green Lawn cemetery to create modern-day Maplewood cemetery.

The cemetery maintained an extensive paper trail of burial records. However, a devastating fire in 1980 destroyed most of the records which simultaneously erased the personal history of numerous people.

Nonetheless, the tour still highlighted several indi-