Hudson County Historic Cemeteries
WHEN HUDSON COUNTY SEPARATED FROM BERGEN COUNTY AND WAS
INCORPORATED IN 1840, IT ACQUIRED THE BERGEN POOR FARM OF SOME 300 ACRES ON
THIS SITE THAT WAS CALLED SNAKE HILL.
BY 1863, HUDSON COUNTY HAD BUILT AN ALMS HOUSE FOLLOWED BY
THE PENITENTIARY IN 1870 AND A LUNATIC ASYLUM IN 1873. BY 1905 THERE WERE MORE
THAN 50 BUILDINGS THAT MADE UP THE "COUNTY INSTITUTIONS AT SNAKE
HILL" INCLUDING A GENERAL HOSPITAL, A TUBERCULOSIS HOSPITAL, AN ISOLATION
HOSPITAL, CHILDREN'S EYE INFIRMARY, A SMALL POX HOSPITAL, A SPECIAL LABORATORY,
A SCHOOL A LUTHERAN CHURCH, A ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH, AN EPISCOPAL CHURCH AND
CEMETERIES.
THESE WERE ALL NECESSARY SUPPORT FACILITIES TO SUSTAIN THIS
CITY ON THE HILL THAT INCLUDED ITS OWN RESERVOIR ON THE TOP OF THE HILL, AN
ELECTRIC LIGHT PLANT, LAUNDRY AND INCINERATOR BUILDING, AS WELL AS A STATE OF
THE ART SEWER SYSTEM AND FIRE DEPARTMENT.
IN 1929, THE FREEHOLDERS CHANGED THE NAME FROM SNAKE HILL TO
LAUREL HILL BECAUSE IT WAS "THE CROWNING LAUREL OF HUDSON COUNTY." BY
THE 1950S THESE INSTITUTIONS WERE CLOSED AND RELOCATED. A MAJOR QUARRY
OPERATION CHANGED THE LOOK OF LAUREL HILL.
MANY OF THE PEOPLE WHO WERE BURIED IN THE CEMETERIES
THROUGHOUT THE PROPERTY WERE PATIENTS AND INMATES OF SNAKE HILL OR LIVED AND
WORKED THROUGHOUT THE AREA. DURING 2003, THE JERSEY TURNPIKE SECAUCUS
INTERCHANGE
PROJECT REQUIRED A MAJOR RELOCATION OF A LARGE PORTION OF
HUDSON COUNTY
BURIAL GROUNDS TO MAPLE GROVE PARK CEMETERY IN HACKENSACK,
NJ. THIS SITE
SERVES AS A MEMORIAL TO ALL THOSE BURIED IN THESE
CEMETERIES.
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