The Schenck-Covenhoven Cemetery sits about 2,000 feet north of the Route 1/Washington Road traffic circle. Listed as “eligible” for the National Register of Historic Places, it is one of New Jersey’s oldest surviving colonial burial grounds.
It holds West Windsor founders, early colonial settlers, and likely Revolutionary War soldiers. However, it has deteriorated after being abandoned generations ago.
The Historical Society of West Windsor plans to rehabilitate it in the years ahead. But we need your support. This is its history—and our vision.
Current conditions
The cemetery features around 130 gravestones, representing between 80 and 100 burials from the 1730s and 1740s to 1941. Most graves face east to west, whereas the surrounding fieldstone wall parallels Route 1 and Washington Road. Its oldest legible gravestone at the time of this writing displays a date of 1746 (for “M. I.” — individual unknown). With one exception, burials ceased by the 1890s. Families are generally buried together, and several family clusters are scattered throughout.
Although now surrounded by Princeton University’s recently opened (2024) West Windsor Meadows Neighborhood campus, the cemetery is a legally separate “orphaned” plot not owned by any entity. For generations, it served the nearby 18th-century neighborhood of Penns Neck (now centered on Washington Road, east of Route 1).
The gravestones vary in size and material. Many are professionally carved, but some were amateur-made. Some are still legible, but many others are eroded, broken, toppled, tilted or sunken below ground. The perimeter wall also shows signs of aging. Yet, the university periodically manages the weeds, and—most importantly—most graves are identified with specific individuals, thanks to various surveys since the 1880s.
Colonial roots
In 1693, William Penn—Pennsylvania’s founder—purchased over 6,500 acres here, northwest of present-day Penn Lyle Road. He and his sons kept it as an investment property for decades but never lived here. In 1737, they sold it to two Dutchmen from Monmouth County: Garret Schenck and John Van Couwenhoven. That year, the term “Penns Neck” began to appear in writing in reference to this vast territory.
John and Garret divided the land into multiple large estates among their children, who settled here. Over several decades, these colonists established the Penns Neck neighborhood and replaced native forests and meadows with vast farms stretching across the horizon.
They built this family burial ground sometime between 1737 and 1746. The gravestones reveal many surnames: Covenhoven, Cruser, Dye, Hight, Martin, Oppie, Rowland, Schenck, Slayback, Smith, Stout, Van Dyke and Voorhees.
From the early 1800s onward, cemetery ownership passed through the Schenck family, ending in 1849 with Clarissa Schenck. In 1877, a group of neighbors incorporated the Penns Neck Cemetery Association to ensure its upkeep. One of its founding members, Eliza Schenck, had the perimeter fieldstone wall built in 1876. Two years later, Clarissa formally deeded the burial ground to the association.
Abandonment and maintenance
Although the association’s articles of incorporation called for annual elections, all its original trustees died by the 1930s, and there were so few successors that it dissolved around that time. The cemetery was never deeded to anyone else, and it has remained an “orphaned” site with no legal owner or caretaker.
Over several decades, it became overgrown with saplings and weeds, and its stones eroded and broke. The cemetery was physically isolated from—and increasingly forgotten by—the neighborhood that had created it generations earlier.
In the 1940s, Princeton University purchased the farmland surrounding—but not including—the cemetery. While some restoration efforts occurred in the 1960s and 1970s, the burial ground itself remained largely neglected until 1993, when the Princeton Baptist Church of Penns Neck assumed stewardship. Four years later, the cemetery was listed as eligible for the National Register of Historic Places.
The church cared for it more than anyone had in decades, including recently restoring a portion of the wall. However, limited funding has meant that much more work remains.
Very recently, Princeton University opened a new campus on the surrounding land, replacing farmland with athletic facilities, a parking garage, student housing and more. The orphaned cemetery now stands in sharp contrast to its surroundings. Yet it is right at home—as one of New Jersey’s oldest surviving colonial burial grounds, a historic jewel of West Windsor and a site deserving of recognition, preservation and respect.
Our vision
In late 2024, the Historical Society of West Windsor—a small, all-volunteer nonprofit—began discussions about preserving the cemetery. After extensive coordination with attorneys, restoration experts, the university and the Princeton Baptist Church, we assumed stewardship in 2025. We have multiple long-term goals:
Gravestone repair — especially for the many broken, tilting or flaking stones that require professional care.
Wall repair — including mortar replacement and vegetation removal.
Tree care — removing an overhanging dead tree and assessing the health of two others, in partnership with the university.
Landscaping — weeding, leveling and possibly adding lighting.
Programming — including historic markers, archaeology, research, tours and more.
This project will be expensive and labor-intensive. As a small, 100% volunteer-run nonprofit, we are limited by how many donations and volunteers we receive.
So how can you help? By donating or volunteering. It will take a community effort to restore one of our town’s most historic sites for generations to come.
To learn more about this project and how you can help, visit: westwindsorhistory.com/pncem.html)
Thank you for your support.
The Historical Society is an all-volunteer community nonprofit. All of us donate our free time—without pay—to document and promote our town’s rich history. But we need community support to keep this going. If you like what we do, please consider volunteering or donating.
To learn more, visit: westwindsorhistory.com
Paul Ligeti is the president of the Historical Society of West Windsor.