Gravestones - bog iron markers

17th & 18th centuries

Bog iron grave markers are more interesting historically than aesthetically, and may deserve to be categorized on this web site as “crafts” rather than “sculpture.” Since our other pages on gravestones are listed under “sculpture,” however, we’ve included them here.

Approximately forty bog iron markers can still be found in southern New Jersey. They are located in the Batsto-Pleasant Mills Cemetery; Weymouth Methodist Cemetery; Mt. Pleasant Cemetery, Millville; Cumberland Methodist Cemetery, Millville; Springfield Meeting House cemetery; and a cemetery in Hammonton now covered by a farmer’s field. There is a single bog iron marker in Palermo. The largest number (over twenty) can be found in Cumberland Methodist Cemetery in Millville.

Bog iron markers were a byproduct of the bog iron industry that flourished in the Pine Barrens in the late 1700s and early 1800s. They were manufactured at Cumberland, Weymouth, and either Atsion and/or Batsto Furnaces, probably using left-over bog iron at the end of the day. Many of the existing markers do not have inscriptions, making the examples shown below among the most interesting. (KNO)

Information courtesy Renee Scagnelli, NJPinelandsandDownJersey.com (see links below).

Additional references:

Richard Veit, "Iron Gravemarkers in the Pine Barrens: Unusual Products of a Forgotten Industry," Bulletin of the Archaeological Society of New Jersey, no.48 (1993).

Charles Boyer, Early Forges and Furnaces in New Jersey (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1931).

Bog iron grave marker of Rosana Ireland Barington

Bog iron grave marker of Rosana Ireland Barington, 1825, Weymouth Methodist Cemetery (Atlantic County). Photograph by Renee Scagnelli, courtesy NJPinelandsandDownJersey.com (see link below).

Bog iron grave marker of Reverend Abijah Davis, 1817, Mt. Pleasant Cemetery, Millville (Cumberland County). Photograph by Renee Scagnelli, courtesy NJPinelandsandDownJersey.com (see link below).

Cherubim style bog iron grave marker, n.d., Cumberland Methodist Cemetery, Millville (Cumberland County). Photograph by Renee Scagnelli, courtesy NJPinelandsandDownJersey.com (see link below).

The first two grave markers above are unusual in having a great deal of text. Most bog iron markers have simple shapes with little or no inscription. The “cherubim” style marker above is one of several shapes found in South Jersey, although more common shapes include simple arched tops and scroll-style tops with three arches. The Rosana Barington and Reverend Davis markers above represent a common shape although their lengthy inscriptions are unusal. Inscriptions like these would have been created in reverse in the mold into which the molten iron was poured.

(KNO, Spring 2006)