Almost none of the participants at this year’s Earth Day celebration on April 26 at the Historic Harsimus Cemetery noticed the baby goat slip through the gap in the goat pen until the other slightly older goats flocked to that side of the pen.
Eileen Markenstein picked up the small cat-sized animal and it bleated with a sound much like a baby’s cry, and then calmed down.
Although the cemetery had goats last summer, they were mostly adults. This new batch brought to Jersey City this year were all infants or very young, and delighted the kids who had come with parents to partake in the number of Earth Day events transpiring that day.
“We just want to make sure the weather remains warm enough for them.” — Eileen Markenstein
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This was a one day visit, Markenstein said, but the goats are scheduled to return on May 10 and remain through the summer and early fall.
“We just want to make sure the weather remains warm enough for them,” Markenstein said.
The goats, supplied by green-goats.com – a farm located in Rhinebeck NY – were an innovation applied last year to help deal with the overwhelming preponderance of weeds.
Possibly the oldest non-church-related grave yard in the state, Harsimus is home to the graves dating back to before the Revolutionary War. The site was abandoned in 2008 at which point Markenstein and other volunteers took over, trying to restore the site.
Markenstein said she got involved partly because some of her ancestors were buried here.
“I have four generations here,” she said.
There was no roof on the garage. In fact, a tree was growing out of the middle of it. Weather destroyed the equipment stored in it.
One of the biggest obstacles was the overgrowth of invasive weeds. The volunteers performed a study for various methods for invasive plant species management, and tried them all to no avail. They’ve used lawn mowers, machetes, and wet paper mulch, they’ve covered them in plastic to smother them. They even tried digging them out by the roots, only to have little seeds disperse and grow even more weeds. They chose not to use chemicals because of all the natural wildlife that inhabits the 6-acre site, so every few weeks, teams of up to 50 people would cut the weeds down, and two weeks later, they would be back again.
Goat herder Larry Cihanek, who led a successful weed eradication project last summer at Fort Hancock Coast Guard base in Sandy Hook, sent six adult goats to Jersey City. The goats have made a huge difference in helping the all-volunteer force to clear the hills.
But almost as important as their landscaping ability, the goats became an attraction that brought people into the cemetery, generating donations that allowed the volunteers to fix the roof of the gate house and do other necessary repairs.
A real attraction
While the baby goats were the main attraction – especially for the kids – the festival had a lot more to offer, including historic tours, exhibits, live music, art and food.
The Historic Jersey City & Harsimus Cemetery & Memorial Park is located at 435 Newark Ave.
If you would like to help, Donations may be made online via their website at www.jerseycitycemetery.org. Individual and group or corporate volunteer teams are always welcomed. For more information please call (201) 707-0738 or (973) 204-9888.
Al Sullivan may be reached at asullivan@hudsonreporter.com.