Slave Cemetery Could be Recognized With New Sign

The Bedminster Historic Commission and the county are recommending a sign be placed at the slave cemetery on Hillside Avenue to recognize its existence.

Township Administrator Judy Sullivan said the matter was discussed at the most recent Township committee meeting, and discussions will continue with residents and county officials.

Tom Buckingham of the Somerset County Historic Society has already spoken to the Bedminster Historic Commission concerning the recommended sign. If a sign is placed, it will be paid for by the county.

“Residents from the neighborhood are also taking part in the discussion,” Sullivan said.

The historical society is asking to place a historic marker on the site of the cemetery, which is on the northern part of the property that once housed the municipal building for six decades, at 130 Hillside Avenue. The slave cemetery, which dates to 1801, occupies the northern corner of the 1-acre property near Hillside Avenue, which the township still owns.

The old municipal building, built in 1936 after the township received a $6,000 grant from the Depression-era Public Works Administration, was demolished in 2011. The building, which at one time also housed fire and public works equipment, had been empty for about seven years after municipal offices moved to Miller Lane.

A sub-committee led by Committeewoman Staci Santucci is planning to bring its own recommendation to the township in July, and Buckingham will probably be attending as well.