Poor Mary Ellis! In 1790 she arrived in central New Jersey, and before long she was enraptured by a ship’s Captain, who told her he would return to marry her. The Captain left Mary his horse, and departed from a dock in the Raritan River to go back work on the Atlantic Ocean. He was never seen again. She never gave up hope that he would return, however. Each day she would ride his horse to a spot on the banks above the river in hopes of seeing him sailing back to her. She valued the spot so greatly, that she purchased the surrounding land in 1813. She kept going to the same place day after day until she died in 1828, aged 78. She asked to be buried on the spot where she kept her vigil for all of those years. Subsequently, several of her relatives, including her sister, Margaret Ellis, who lived on Livingston Avenue in New Brunswick, were also interred on the wooded plot, inside an ornate wrought iron fence.

That’s where the romantic story ends, and it gets New Jersey Route One ugly in 130 years, or so. Mary’s Ellis relatives eventually sold the 23 acres of farmland, which was developed in the 1960s into the 175,000 square foot Great Eastern Discount Department Store, which went out of business fairly quickly. The building was repurposed into the US1 Flea Market, and for 20 years it went to wreck and ruin. The old store was demolished and a movie theater was built in its place in 1996. All this time, Mary’s grave remained as a tiny, lonely green oasis in an asphalt desert, about 200 yards from Route 1.

Okay, it gets a little romantic again at the end of the story. “Brandy” was a one-hit wonder for the group, Looking Glass in 1972, which was formed nearby at Rutgers University. open.spotify.com/track/4DInJrXX3oQWvhaTmdE1ge?autoplay=true The song is written from the perspective of the sea captain who falls in love with a waitress, Brandy, but he feels the call of the ocean and reluctantly leaves her behind. Members of Looking Glass, however, disavow any connection between Brandy and Mary Ellis. It all seems hard to believe… and very surreal.