July 17, 2013 THE VILLADOM TIMES IV • Page 5 Mahwah Volunteers from several local groups recently joined forces to continue a centuries-old tradition of maintaining Moffatt Road Cemetery benefits from volunteer TLC Mahwah’s historic Moffatt Road Cemetery. Members of MEVO, the Mahwah Environmental Volunteers Organiza- tion, teamed up with volunteers from the Mahwah Museum Society and the Mahwah Historic Preservation Commission to cut back invasive weeds and clean up debris left by recent storms. This group is the latest link in a chain of volunteers who have helped preserve the cemetery for almost 300 years. The Moffatt Road Lutheran Cemetery is Mahwah’s oldest, and the second oldest Lutheran cemetery in Bergen County. On April 8, 1713, a group of emigrants from the Palatine district of Germany came to this area to settle. They sought religious freedom, and escape from economic distress and from the frequent wars of their homeland, the area west of the Rhine River. One of their first group acts was to establish a Lutheran congregation, later called the Ramapo Evangelical Lutheran Church. The original log church and a larger replacement stood about a quarter of a mile southeast of this site on Island Road, where Bennett Brothers is now. It is possible that this hill was first used as the congregation’s graveyard as early as 1720, although there are no records to prove it. The first dated stone comes from 1745 and the last stone date is 1868. L-R: Keith Nagle, Nancy Bristow, Marc Nagle, Gail Doscher, Historic Preservation Chair Barbara Shanley, Brianna Sheehan (in front), David Choi, Tom DeWan, and Kyle Van Dyke. Not pictured: Maja Britton, Nick Labruna, Tom Grissom. (Photo courtesy of Maja Britton.)