Originally visited 2/03
Updated/Reshot 4/04
“The Unknown From The Sea”
I read about this grave on a neat lil’ site I found. It has full info on the place, but I’ll do a quick summary anyway:
In 1854, The Powhatan left from France or Germany with 300+ immigrants aboard. The ship sank during a hurricane-like blizzard, and the bodies of the people washed up on various beaches in central/southern NJ. About 140 washed up on Long Beach Island, and they were buried in a mass grave in Manahawkin. This is a very brief writeup of what happened……I strongly suggest reading the site I mentioned before if interested.
The monument was pretty easy to spot; I got to the cemetery and saw a large fenced-in area and knew that had to be it. As I stepped over the lil’ barrier (right under the tree in the picture), the wind picked up and howled. Pretty cool.
Inside the mass grave is one marked grave…..I still haven’t found out who this is yet or what significance they might have to The Powhatan wreck, since they were born nearly a decade after the tragedy. They were also born in Sweden; the Powhatan victims were German.
