A Passaic County Cemetery and Its Lady in White
295 Totowa Rd, Totowa, NJ 07512
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Free to visit during public hours.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Paved roads throughout; some uneven ground near older sections
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1872 · Victorian Era Cemetery · Passaic County History
The Hinchcliffe family founded Laurel Grove in March 1872 on approximately 145 acres in Totowa, Passaic County, New Jersey. The family managed the cemetery continuously for 127 years. In the 1920s, they acquired 55 additional acres from an adjacent dairy farm to expand capacity. Today the property covers approximately 200 acres.
The cemetery's setting along the Passaic River, with the Totowa Road running along its eastern edge, made it a distinctive presence in the landscape almost immediately after its founding. The Van Dyck mausoleum and other prominent family monuments reflect the Victorian-era burial practices common to large private cemeteries of the late 19th century.
Laurel Grove remains an active cemetery. Office hours are Monday through Friday, 8am to 4:30pm, and Saturday 9am to 2pm. Grounds visiting hours are daily from 8am to 5pm.
Sources
The most consistently reported sighting at Laurel Grove involves a woman in white robes seen near the main entrance gates after the cemetery closes. Witnesses describe the figure as peaceful, neither threatening nor communicative — she appears, stands, and is gone. The sightings have drawn enough attention over the years to be discussed on New York radio station WOR, and dozens of people have reported observing the figure through the main gates from Totowa Road after dusk.
The adjacent roadway carries a second, separate legend. Totowa Road along the eastern edge of the cemetery runs between the grounds and the Passaic River, with a sharp bend that locals call Dead Man's Curve. The Annie legend holds that a teenage girl was walking home from prom in the 1960s when she was struck by a vehicle on this curve. Her ghost has been reported walking the road, and a tradition holds that her father returns to the guardrail on the anniversary of her death to repaint it red.
The Annie legend has multiple versions in circulation. Some accounts place her burial in the Van Dyck mausoleum inside Laurel Grove itself. No newspaper documentation of the specific accident has been publicly identified, though the Weird NJ archives and America's Haunted Roadtrip have collected extensive witness accounts of both the road and gate sightings.
The white-robed woman at the gates and Annie on the road are treated by locals as distinct phenomena — the cemetery ghost is calm and interior-facing, while Annie is associated with the road itself.
Notable Entities
Walk the grounds of this 200-acre cemetery with over 100,000 interments. The white-robed figure is reported near the main entrance gates, visible from the street after closing time. The cemetery closes at 5pm daily; reported sightings occur at dusk and after, viewed through the gates from Totowa Road.
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