Tag Archives: Aart and Eileen Markenstein

Preserving Jersey City’s Past – Historic Harsimus Cemetery Honors Town Fathers and Fallen Heroes

By Sally Deering

If you blink, you miss it: the black iron gate on Newark Avenue that leads to the oldest cemetery in New Jersey: the Jersey City Harsimus Cemetery and Memorial Park. Run by volunteer president Eileen Markenstein, who has several family members buried there, and her husband Aart Markenstein, the couple – along with many volunteers – have been preserving the cemetery since they found it abandoned in 2007. Since then, the volunteers have raised more than $100,000 in funds to pay for clean-up and restoration and now, they are reaching out to the community to raise money to repair damages from Hurricane Sandy. Continue reading Preserving Jersey City’s Past – Historic Harsimus Cemetery Honors Town Fathers and Fallen Heroes