John's Blog

Holy Crap, it looks like I'm firmly in my "Hey Kid, Get Off My Lawn" mode today. I'm reading the paper this morning, and I discover a story in the real estate section that gets me angry. I've linked to and recapped the story of Mary Ellis as found on Weird NJ several times in the past, but to bring you up to speed, Mary lived in New Brunswick NJ in the late 1700's. She met a sea captain who she fell in love with who had promised to marry her prior to sailing off to sea. He left her his horse that she would ride daily to the banks of the Raritan river and she would wait for his ship to return. It never did.

Eventually, she purchased the land overlooking the river so she could continue her daily vigil, which she did until she died in 1826. She was buried on the property which eventually became the home of a discount store, and now a movie theater. The pop hit from the 70's "Brandy" by Looking Glass is an attempt to retell the tale.

So today, I see that the grave site is slated to be moved to allow for a developer to build condos. The Times piece puts a positive spin on it (A Sentimental Developer Saves a Grave...sorry, link requires registration) but that's hardy my first reaction. Although I've always considered my opinions on development balanced and pragmatic, my sense of romance has always given the Mary Ellis story a special status. When it was still a flea market, you could still catch a glimpse of the grave, but when they built the theater they re-graded the lot making it less visible, although as you drive by on Route 1, you can catch a glimpse. Perhaps moving the site might be respectful to the legacy, but it seems to me to be a crassly commercial move by a developer who is willing to tear down a bit of local history and color for his own enrichment.

But could I really ever live in a condo that was built on the site of a relocated grave site? I think not. I'm sure there would be many sleepless nights that the memory of Poltergeist would be rolling around in the back of my mind. "All are welcome...all are welcome...."