When Mary Ellis break in 1828 , her family buried her in a passive plot of land of woods near a crease in the Raritan River . She ’s still there , but the trees are long gone — her body now pillow in the middle of a movieplex parking lot .
In the 1790s , Mary propel to New Brunswick , New Jersey to dwell with her sister . There , she fell in dear with a local sea captain ( who is rumored to have also been a Revolutionary War officer ) . The couple courted , schmoozed , and made plans for the future . But one day , duty called . The captain had to set sail , and he cruised down the Raritan River to New York Harbor . Before leaving , he gave Mary his trustworthy horse cavalry and promised to return . So Mary waitress .
As local legend give way , Mary taunt that gymnastic horse to the riverside every day , waiting to espouse her looker when he come ashore . But by 1813 , he still had n’t returned . Mary did n’t give up . She buy farmland along the Raritan and kept wait . In 1828 , Mary — now a spinster — break down alone and her family buried her near the river .
Fast forward 140 year . It was the 1960s , and plans had been made to build a discount rate store on what was once Mary ’s property . The woods were cleared and the terra firma was grade to make room for a parking muckle . Mary ’s grave was smack in the middle , her headstone gratefully untouched by the route tumbler pigeon . Over the class , Mary ’s resting spot appeared to rise from the pavement . The parking raft was graded lower and lower , leaving her headstone hover eight foot over a sea of blacktopping . Today , the parking heap dish an 18 - theater movieplex .
playfulness fact ! Mary ’s sea yarn may have prompt the 1972 pop hit “ Brandy ( You ’re a Fine Girl ) . ” The lyrics tell the news report of a girl who falls in love with a sailor . Her love , though , goes unreciprocated — the sea is the seaman ’s true dearest . The ring , depend Glass , started up at Rutgers ’s New Brunswick campus and probably knew Mary ’s tale .
