 From 1870 to 1962, New Jersey s infamous Snake Hill institutions were the last stop for thousands of terminally ill patients, indigents, "lunatics" and prisoners. Approximately 10,000 bodies and their belongings were buried two-deep on the grounds. Abandoned and forsaken, they lay in deplorable conditions for decades as millions of unsuspecting motorists passed by on the New Jersey Turnpike every day. When a 2002 Turnpike excavation unearthed human remains at Snake Hill, one man s 22 year search for his grandfather took a dramatic turn. As the only living lineal descendants on record, Patrick Andriani and his father, Gennaro, served as the impetus for a court ordered disinterment/re-interment project that became the largest of its kind in U.S. History and inspired additional descendants to come forward.