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CAMDEN — In 2018, a grieving mother reached out to the Courier-Post, anguished at the condition of Evergreen Cemetery in Camden, where her son is buried. A community-led effort to clean the parcel at Mount Ephraim and Ferry avenues followed.
In 2021, Vic Carstarphen, then newly selected to complete the mayoral term vacated by Frank Moran, put out a more formal call to city agencies, residents, corporations and even people whose families had once called Camden home to clean up Evergreen, New Camden and Dempsey Butler cemeteries.
Hundreds turned out, donning gloves and picking up rakes, shovels and lawn bags to clean the three historic cemeteries.
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By 2023, the movement to turn these once-neglected resting places from neighborhood blights filled with overgrown vegetation, trash and drug paraphernalia into historical and cultural assets took another step forward.
Carstarphen, a former basketball coach-turned-city mayor, grabbed a bullhorn on a warm May morning the week before Memorial Day and cheered a small army of volunteers who turned out to clean the cemeteries. But his administration has more than just twice-yearly volunteer efforts in mind for the cemeteries.
What’s next for Camden’s historic cemeteries?
Dempsey Butler Cemetery was founded in the wake of the Civil War by a veteran and Virginia native who wanted a resting place for Black vets, who were often segregated from white society in life and from white cemeteries in death.
Butler came to Camden in 1840 and accumulated wealth, becoming one of the most prominent Black philanthropists of his day. The cemetery that bears his name — and contains the remains of him and his wife, as well as about 18 other people — is tucked into a small wooded plot off Mount Ephraim Avenue, where last year a group of veterans, Black and white, added a new memorial plaque.
A fence, along with trees and shrubs, now separate Dempsey Butler from Evergreen. City spokesman Vince Basara said plans are in the works to clear most of the growth and get rid of the fence, so the two cemeteries are no longer separated.
“There’s a lot more back there to be cleared than we originally thought,” he acknowledged as he trudged through Evergreen holding shovels and rakes, dressed in shorts and a “Camden Strong” T-shirt for the cleanup. “I think we can get it done by the fall cleanup, though.”
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Evergreen itself, which fell into disrepair largely due to its owners’ bankruptcy, is reemerging from blight: A chain-link fence along Mount Ephraim Avenue has been removed, opening the cemetery and more importantly, ridding it of an unsightly border that did little except trap papers, plastic and other debris. A tree service teamed with Camden Department of Public Works to clear dead and dying trees, saw off precarious limbs and scrub other growth all over the sprawling 85 acres.
Basara expressed hope that new burials might even take place at Evergreen, bringing some much-needed revenue that can then be used for further maintenance.
Cemeteries as historical assets
“We want to turn these spaces into assets,” said Carstarphen.
“It’s more than just stabilizing them; people can appreciate these cemeteries as part of Camden’s history and if we can make them more welcoming not just to residents but also to people outside the city who have loved ones here, that helps change the overall perception of Camden.”
Three years’ of cleanup campaigns have shown that people care, he added. Corporations like Wawa, Holtec, Subaru, Rondo-Pak (located across Ferry Avenue from Evergreen), Covanta, American Water, EMR, Cooper University Health and Virtua Health, among others, have invested employees’ sweat equity and contributed to preservation efforts.
“Once you get that buy-in from volunteers, it starts to snowball. And that’s the energy we want to create,” Carstarphen continued.
Honoring veterans and the fallen for Memorial Day
Tory Irvin has been working with historians, residents and city agencies to preserve the cemeteries. He’s part of the Mayor’s Office of Constituent Services and has been integral in coordinating cleanups.
“We’re also working to honor the many veterans who are buried there,” he explained. “We’ve identified hundreds of them between Evergreen and New Camden and throughout the city. We want to make sure these spaces are well-maintained and respected.”
Floyd White works with Camden County’s Veterans Affairs and has led preservation efforts at Dempsey Butler. He welcomes the collaboration and connection with Evergreen.
“This is the start of something better,” said White, who was planning a Memorial Day ceremony at the small cemetery, as well as flag placements at veterans’ graves at other resting places. He’s been researching those buried at Dempsey Butler, and plans to share what he’s learned as part of the Memorial Day program.
“Five years ago, this looked like a dump,” the Army and Air Force veteran said, watching volunteers prepare to clean Evergreen. “Look at it now. And it’s getting better — coordination is good, collaboration is good, and especially when it’s in honor of the military personnel who gave their lives to serve our country.”
Phaedra Trethan has been a reporter and editor in South Jersey since 2007 and has called the region home since 1971. Contact her at ptrethan@gannettnj.com, on Twitter @wordsbyPhaedra, or by phone at 856.486-2417.
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