Dead and buried in Central Jersey

Well, here’s a fun day trip that you’ve probably never taken before unless you’re a big fan of “Weird New Jersey.”

Below is a guide to who is dead and buried in Central Jersey. Hunterdon, Middlesex, Somerset and Union counties all have a few celebs or important historical figures helping to keep the region’s cultural landscape rich and fertile.

Enjoy, but there's one caveat: if personal property, don’t trespass! Get permission to visit. And feel free to add more locations to the comments of the online version of this guide at MyCentralJersey.com.

Hunterdon County

Delaware Township

Reading Burial Ground, 75 Raven Rock Road

Glenway Wescott (April 11, 1901-Feb. 22, 1987), writer prominent within American expatriate literary community in 1920s Paris with Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald and Gertrude Stein. Wescott is buried in a small farmer’s graveyard hidden behind a rock wall and trees next to his longtime companion, Monroe Wheeler, near their Haymeadows home on the Rosemont dairy farm owned by brother Lloyd. 

Lloyd Bruce Wescott (Nov. 21, 1907-Dec. 24, 1990) agriculturalist, civil servant, philanthropist and first president of Hunterdon Medical Center who donated his 147-acre dairy farm in 1966 to become Wescott Preserve, the first Hunterdon County park.

Flemington

St. Magdalen Cemetery, 94 N. Main St.

Danny Federici (Jan. 23, 1950-April 17, 2008), Rock and Roll Hall of Fame keyboardist of Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band buried in his hometown.

Middlesex County

East Brunswick

Anshe Emeth Cemetery, Cranbury and Dunhams Corner roads

Stanley Kamel, South River-raised star of “Days of Our Lives,” “Melrose Place” and “Monk.” 

New Brunswick

AMC Loews New Brunswick 18, 17 Route 1 South

Mary Ellis (1750-1828), New Brunswick spinster buried on the site where, according to legend, she stood on the banks of the Raritan River looking for the ship of a sea captain who had vowed to return to marry. He never did. The grave has been preserved in the wake of several redevelopments of the property, most recently in the late 1990s as the site of an AMC Loews theater, as well as a Famous Dave’s restaurant.

First Reformed Church Cemetery, 9 Bayard St.

Jacob Rutsen Hardenbergh (Feb. 2, 1735-Oct. 30, 1790), first president of Queen's College, now Rutgers University.

North Brunswick

Elmwood Cemetery, 425 Georges Road

Edward Mead Johnson (April 23, 1852-March 20, 1934), co-founder of New Brunswick-headquartered Johnson & Johnson and founder of Mead Johnson & Co.

James Wood Johnson (March 17, 1856-1932), co-founder and second president of Johnson & Johnson.

Robert Wood Johnson I (Feb. 20, 1845-Feb 7, 1910), co-founder and first president of Johnson & Johnson and grandfather of Seward Johnson, founder of Grounds for Sculpture.

Robert Wood Johnson II (April 4, 1893-Jan. 30, 1968), New Brunswick native, who as third president and chairman, oversaw the growth of Johnson & Johnson as a multinational conglomerate from 1932 to 1968. The influential Robert Wood Johnson Foundation founder also is the namesake of Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital and Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School.

Joyce Kilmer (Dec. 6, 1886-July 30, 1918), New Brunswick writer and poet mainly remembered for 1913 poem “Trees.” Kilmer is buried in the Oise-Aisne American Cemetery and Memorial, near where he died in battle in France during World War I. But a cenotaph erected to his memory is on the Kilmer family plot in Elmwood Cemetery. In New Brunswick, the Kilmer House is a museum dedicated to him, his family and their strong connection to the growth of Johnson & Johnson. It's at 17 Joyce Kilmer Ave., which is named for him. 

Van Liew Cemetery, 585 Georges Road

Eleanor Reinhardt Mills (1888-1922), victim in infamous Hall-Mills murder of 1922 in the Somerset section of Franklin. Mills and her lover, New Brunswick-based Episcopal priest Edward Wheeler Hall, were killed Sept. 14 and their bodies were found two days later in a Somerset field. Hall’s wife, Frances, two of her brothers and a cousin were accused of the murder, but there was not enough evidence to convict. The murder and its 1926 trial at the Somerset County Courthouse was considered the nation’s most widely publicized case until the Lindbergh kidnapping a few years later in Hunterdon County.

James E. Mills (1878-1965), husband of Eleanor Mills.

Col. John Neilson (March 11, 1745-March 3, 1833), Piscataway native who was the first to read the Declaration of Independence on July 9, 1776, at the tower of Christ Church in New Brunswick. He also was a delegate to the Continental Congress in 1778, a delegate to the state constitutional convention in 1790 and a member of the state Legislature from 1800-1801. Neilson Street in New Brunswick is named for him. 

Micah Williams (1782-1837), American folk painter based in New Brunswick.

Perth Amboy

Saint Peter’s Churchyard, 188 Rector St.

Thomas Mundy Peterson (Oct. 6 1824-Feb. 4 1904), Perth Amboy resident who was the first African-American to vote in an election on March 31, 1870, under the just-enacted provisions of the 15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. 

Plainsboro

Walker-Gordon housing development, Heron Court off Plainsboro Road

Elsie the Cow, the cartoon face of the Borden Dairy Co. since 1936. However, Elsie the Cow briefly was a real-life bovine star from the 1939 World’s Fair to her untimely 1941 death in the wake of a Rahway traffic accident. She was laid to rest at the Walker Gordon Farm in Plainsboro, which now is a housing development. Nearby Elsie Street is named for her. 

South Amboy

Christ Church Cemetery, 439 S. Pine Ave.

Allie Clark (June 16, 1923-April 2, 2012), South Amboy-raised right fielder who played seven Major League Baseball seasons with the New York Yankees, Cleveland Indians, Philadelphia Athletics and Chicago White Sox.

Woodbridge

Beth Israel Memorial Park, Route 1 North between Woodbridge Center Drive and Garden State Parkway

Leon Hess (March 14, 1914-May 7, 1999), founder of Hess Oil in Perth Amboy and Woodbridge and co-owner of the New York Jets

George David Weiss (April 9, 1921-Aug. 23, 2010), Songwriters Hall of Fame composer of hits for Louis Armstrong (“What a Wonderful World”) and Elvis Presley (“Can’t Help Falling in Love”), as well as “The Lion Sleeps Tonight.”

David T. Wilentz (Dec. 2 1894-July 6, 1988), Perth Amboy-raised state attorney general who prosecuted Bruno Richard Hauptmann in the Lindbergh kidnapping case in 1935, Middlesex County political power broker, founder of a Perth Amboy-originated, Woodbridge-based law firm that will be 99 years old this year, and father-in-law of Leon Hess.

Saint Gertrude Cemetery and Mausoleum, 53 Inman Ave., Colonia section

James Coco (March 21, 1930-Feb. 25, 1987), Emmy-winning, Oscar- and Tony-nominated star of “Man of La Mancha,” “Only When I Laugh” and “The Last of the Red Hot Lovers.”

Scott Muni (May 10, 1930-Sept. 28, 2004), pioneering album-oriented-rock radio DJ on WNEW 102.7-FM.

Somerset County

Bound Brook

Bound Brook Cemetery, 500 Mountain Ave.

Zippy the Pinhead, aka William Henry Johnson (c. 1842-April 9, 1926), freak-show performer famous for his tapered head. Performed with Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey sideshows, as well as at Coney Island. 

Hillsborough

Van Nest (Weston) Burying Ground, Millstone River at Schmidt Street

Frederick Frelinghuysen (April 13, 1753-April 13, 1804), Somerville native U.S. attorney, U.S. senator, framer of the U.S. Constitution, American Revolutionary War general, Continental Congress delegate, son of Old Dutch Parsonage’s John Frelinghuysen, and patriarch of one of America’s greatest political dynasties, whose great-great-great-grandson, Rodney, has served the state’s 11th Congressional District as a U.S. representative since 1995.

Somerville

Somerville Cemetery, 192 S. Bridge St.

Clifford P. Case (April 16, 1904-March 5, 1982), Franklin native and Rahway resident who served the 6th Congressional District as U.S. representative from 1945 to 1953 and U.S. senator from 1955 to 1979.

John Frelinghuysen (1727-Sept. 5, 1754), resident, pastor and teacher of the Old Dutch Parsonage in Somerville whose work in education laid the groundwork for the establishment of Rutgers University in 1766 and New Brunswick Theological Seminary in 1784.

Union County

Elizabeth

First Presbyterian Churchyard, 42 Broad St.

Elias Dayton (May 1, 1737-Oct. 22, 1807), American Revolutionary War brigadier general who also served in the French-Indian War and as a state assemblyman and mayor of his native Elizabethtown (now Elizabeth). Also the father of Jonathan Dayton.

St. John’s Episcopal Church, 61 Broad St.

Jonathan Dayton (Oct. 16, 1760-Oct. 9, 1824), Elizabeth native who is the youngest person to sign the U.S. Constitution and namesake of Jonathan Dayton High School in Springfield. Dayton was the nation’s third speaker of the house and then a U.S. senator, but his political career ended when he was arrested in 1807 for treason in connection to Aaron Burr. He never was tried. Dayton was classmates with Alexander Hamilton, who was killed by Burr in an 1804 duel. Dayton is buried beneath the refurbished church, which is historically exquisite in its own right and staffed with history lovers who know much about him. 

Rahway

Rahway Cemetery, 1670 St. Georges Ave.

Abraham Clark (Feb. 15, 1726-Sept. 15, 1794), Elizabeth native and Rahway resident who signed of the Declaration of Independence and served in the U.S. House of Representatives. Clark Township and Abraham Clark High School in Roselle are named for him.

Scotch Plains

Hillside Cemetery, 1401 Woodland Ave.

Joe Black (Feb. 6, 1924-May 17, 2002), Plainfield native and high school star pitcher who played in the Negro Leagues and then for the Brooklyn Dodgers, with whom in 1952 he became the first African American pitcher to win a World Series game.

Mary Eleanor Wilkins Freeman (Oct. 31, 1852-March 13, 1930), prominent 19th-century author from Metuchen.

Eddie Hazel (April 10, 1950-Dec. 23, 1992), Rock and Roll Hall of Fame guitarist from Plainfield whose “Maggot Brain” guitar instrumental adds to Parliament-Funkadelic’s vast musical influence. 

Dudley Moore (April 19, 1935-March 27, 2002), British comic star of “Arthur,” “10” and “Foul Play.” From 1999 until his 2002 death, Moore suffered from the degenerative brain disorder supranuclear palsy and was cared for in the Plainfield home of Brian Dallow and Rena Fruchter, founders of the Music for All Seasons music therapy program that he greatly supported.

Westfield

Fairview Cemetery, 1100 E. Broad St.

Virginia Apgar (June 7, 1909-Aug. 7, 1974), pioneering obstetrical anesthesiologist who invented the Apgar score, an immediate assessment of a newborn’s health. She is buried in her hometown.

Bobbi Kristina Brown  (March 4, 1993-July 26, 2015), Jersey-raised media personality and reality TV star who died just three years after her famous mother, Whitney Houston, next to whom she is buried.

List Family (Frederick, Helen and Patricia), wife and children murdered in 1971 by John List, who was captured in 1989 after eluding justice for 18 years, after his crime was broadcast on FOX-TV’s “America’s Most Wanted.”

Whitney Houston (Aug. 9, 1963-Feb. 11, 2012), Newark native who is one of the most successful recording acts of all time with more than 200 million records sold worldwide. 

READ: Central Jersey's 20 most famous celebrities

READ: The Smithereens pay tribute to Pat DiNizio at the Basie

READ: 'Ghost Hunters' heads to Cape May mansion 

Staff Writer Bob Makin: 732-565-7319; bmakin@gannett.com