Springfield Monument

Unkown Revolutionary War Soldiers of Burlington County Monument

Location: Located in the Upper Springfield Friends Burial Ground, corner of Springfield-Meeting House Road and Highland St., Springfield Township.

Significance - The result of the efforts of one man, Alfred Stephens of Jobstown, Burlington County has a unique memorial to those Revolutionary War victims who never received marked graves. Stevens, now deceased, was 80 years old in 1987 when the monument was dedicated. The four-foot high granite monument stands in the 280-year-old Quaker graveyard. The inscription reads: "1776-1783 Erected to the memory of Revolutionary War militiamen who gave their lives in local skirmishes with the British and Hessian forces and were placed in unmarked graves each known only to God." Stephens chose the year of the Bicentennial of the U.S. Constitution (1987) to implement his dream project.

The Upper Springfield Friends Burial Ground was placed on the National and New Jersey historical register in 1979. There is no longer an active Quaker Meeting House at the location. All that remains is a small portion of the earlier Meeting House, now used as the residence of the cemetery caretaker. There was a Quaker presence at this location as early as 1727.

Directions: Access to Meeting House Road is either from Monmouth Road (Rt. 537) or Route 68 which connects Route 206 to Fort Dix. Accessing Monmouth Road at the Esquire Diner on Route 206, travel several miles and watch for Meeting House Road on your right. Take Meeting house Road for about 2 miles, where it crosses Route 68. Continue up the hill until it dead-ends at Highland Road. On the left you will see a truncated Meeting House -- now a private dwelling. Turn left onto Highland to behind the house where you will see an Historic Marker and a cemetery. The monument is just inside the gate.