Timbucto, NJ Site of Underground Railroad, Civil War Vet Gravesites

WESTAMPTON -- When residents here talk about their community's rich history, it is usual for them to bring up this section of the township known as Timbuctoo. (also known as Bucto), the small area along the Rancocas Creek was founded in 1825 and is believed to have been a stop on the Underground Railroad that conducted slaves to freedom.

Part of Timbuctoo's significant history remains visible in the form of a small graveyard of Black Civil War Veterans Township residents will not forget this graveyard. "After all these years that cemetery is finally getting some recognition," said Samuel Hayes , past commander of the Westampton American Legion Post 509. The Westampton Historical Society will dedicate the cemetery today with a bronze plaque officially recognizing it as "Timbuctoo Civil War Memorial Cemetery" and honoring "the brave African-American men from this community who joined the Union Army in the fight against slavery during the Civil War.


The ceremony is scheduled to take place at 10 am in conjunction with Black History Month, the. the ceremony is expected to draw a crowd of residents, elected local officials, members of the historical society and the American Legion. Timbuctoo often raises eyebrows outside the municipality, although is well known in Westampton, but Hayes said the name, even though it can be found on New Jersey maps.

The area, which encompasses Church Street, Blue Jay Hill Road and Rancocas Road, "was founded by non-slaves and freed blacks in 1825" and "was prosperous as a community and boasted one of the first public schools in the township, as well as the AME Zion Church," according to information about the township's history posted on the municipal Web site. Burlington County 's Web site list The Timbuctoo Cemetery as a historic site, a community of freed slaves and a haven for fugitive on.

The Web site also highlights the "Battle of Pine Swamp" in 1860, which involved armed residents of Timbuctoo preventing the capture of Perry Simmons, a fugitive slave living in the community, by a southern slave catcher aided by sympathetic local whites. Meanwhile, the graveyard of a dozen Black Civil War Veterans remains tucked away in Timbuctoo. Westampton Post 509 American Legion has made sure that those who interned there will never forget. "We've kept an eye on the cemetery throughout the years," he said.

The American Legion post509 has placed American flags on the graves each Memorial Day and has researched the history of the cemetery, Hayes said. There are dozen soldiers interred in the cemetery including Louis B. Armstrong , Charles Love , Edward Chapman , who served in the Army's 22 Regiment and William W. Sullivan who served in the 29th Regiment. To help honor the soldiers, Hayes said, some local Boy Scouts recently erected a wooden sign at the graveyard, helped clean up the property and added some landscaping.

Township Clerk Donna Ryan said will be maintained by the public works department now that the municipality has taken over ownership of land surrounding the cemetery there is better access to the site, which. She said officials are pleased with the renewed interest in the historic graveyard. "We're happy to see people interested in that part of Westampton's history," she said. Gary Jacques, president of the Westampton Historical Society, the bronze marker set on a stone that measures about 2 feet by 2 feet, donated by the historical society. "With the support of the community we thought it was the appropriate time to do it," he said.

This all-Black settlement bears the name of the famous West African city that is today located in the Republic of Mali, a city that flourished as a commercial (trans-Saharan trade) and intellectual center (Sankore University) between the fourteenth and sixteenth centuries as part of the great medieval empires of Mali and Songhay. It is possibly the only all-Black settlement in the nation carrying the name of an African community; there is uncertainty as to how it came to be called Timbuctoo Located along the Rancocas Creek about one mile from Mount Holly.

"Bucto" or "Buck town," as it is commonly called, was a community of freed slaves and a haven for fugitive slaves. In connection with the latter, there occurred in 1860 an incident called the "Battle of Pine Swamp" that was reported in the New Jersey Mirror, a local newspaper. This incident involved armed residents of Timbuctoo preventing the capture of Perry Simmons a fugitive slave living in Timbuctoo, by a southern slave catcher aided by sympathetic local whites.

The section of Westampton Township known as Timbuctoo was founded in the late eighteenth century, with the support of local Quakers like John Woolman and Samuel Aaron . At its peak of prosperity in the mid-to-late nineteenth century (it appears on an 1849 map of Burlington County ), it had more than 125 residents, a school, and an AME Zion church........Full Story Here