Cleanup Planned For Freehold’s African-American Veteran Cemetery

FREEHOLD, NJ - A local borough-based church is seeking volunteers to join the cleanup effort at Squirreltown Historical Cemetery, a plot that serves as the final resting place for many Black Civil War veterans.

Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church will be hosting the cleanup effort from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on June 26 at the historical site. The location is also the site of the former Beth AME Church, which was established over 100 years ago in the former Squirreltown.

“We are in need of community volunteers who are willing to come out to help us rejuvenate and beautify this site where African-American Civil War veterans were laid to rest,” reads a flyer for the event circulated by Freehold Borough.

In fact, the cemetery is believed to be the final resting place for Black Civil War veterans and their families who hailed directly from the Freehold area, according to the church’s website. The plot is located on the side of a small hill near the St. Rose of Lima Cemetery with many of the headstones bearing the rank of the soldiers and the letters USCT for United States Colored Troops. Most of the ranks on the gravestones were those of Private.

For more details, contact (732) 462-0826 or (732) 616-9601.