|
Our History
|
One Congregation – Three Locations
- 1750 - 2007 |
The Reverend Francis Peppard, called in 1773 to
serve as their first Minister, responded to the call
and stayed until 1783. However, by 1780 the
congregation had outgrown the log meeting house
which could only be used from April through October.
After great deliberation a new site was selected on
one of the highest ridges in northwest New Jersey;
where Shaw’s Lane, running east & west, joins The
Kings Highway – a portion of the Stage Road from
Boston to Philadelphia, (now Route 94.)
simple log cabin and a burial ground. Log Gaol, now known as Johnsonburg, was the
County Seat of Sussex County, which at that time
included a very large portion of northwest New
Jersey.
The first church members were settlers from around
Log Gaol, in the upper portion of the Township of
Hardwick, who called themselves The First
Presbyterian Church of Upper Hardwick. Although the
name was not incorporated until 1841, records of
1751 and 1752 in the New Brunswick Presbytery state
that “there were calls for a Minister or a Supply
from the region of Hardwick”.
The log church was located near the Dark Moon Tavern
on Dark Moon Rd. (which is now State Route 519) and
was often referred to as the Dark Moon Church &
Cemetery. It was about one and a half miles
southeast of the present Yellow Frame Presbyterian
Church.
The Yellow Frame congregation
is one of the few pre-revolutionary churches
remaining in Northwest New Jersey. For two and a
half centuries the people of this congregation have
bound together in worship, withstanding the changes
of the region it serves, from a rural community of
farmers and tradesmen tied to agriculture, to a
growing population of employed men and women working
within, and commuting outside, the community.
In 1750 a group of worshippers met in a location
about 1¼ miles northeast of Log Gaol, (pronounced
Jail), forming a new congregation, meeting in homes
occasionally with a Minister or a Supply sent by the
Presbytery. Around 1760 they leased a parcel of land
big enough for a
|
The construction of the new church in Upper Hardwick Township was somewhat
delayed because of young men going off to join Washington’s army in
Morristown in the War for Independence. Eventually, construction got
underway and the frame church, painted yellow, was completed and dedicated
in 1786.... just about when Cornwallis was surrendering down in Yorktown.
For four years a Supply named Daniel Thatcher served the congregation as
preacher, while the new church was under construction.
The log meeting house at Dark Moon was eventually torn down, but the
cemetery and tombstones of those early members still remain. The site of the
church and cemetery at Dark Moon is still accessible by a foot path from
Route 519 and in 1997 the Presbyterian Historical Society of Philadelphia
installed a stone marker where the log meeting house once stood, listing it
as Site # 36 on the Registry of Early Presbyterian Churches. In 2005, the
Yellow Frame Church Society placed an identification plaque at the site
stating “1750-1786 site of Upper Hardwick First Presbyterian Church and
Cemetery, First Congregation of The Yellow Frame Presbyterian Church”1787
was a year of celebration. The First Presbyterian Church of Upper Hardwick
was incorporated on January 5^th , 1787 for the first time, and the Reverend
Ira Condit was called to serve as the first pastor of the new church located
on Shaw’s Lane and The Kings Highway. The Rev. Dr. John Witherspoon, first
President of Princeton Seminary, and only cleric to sign the Declaration of
Independence, arrived at The First Presbyterian Church of Upper Hardwick on
November 1st , 1787, to ordain and install Reverend Ira Condit. Rev. Condit
served for 6 years and later became the first pastor of The First
Presbyterian Church of Newton, an ‘offspring’ of the Yellow Frame Church.
The site of the 1786 church was at an elevation of 889 feet and was in clear
view of all who passed by. The structure was a generous 52 feet by 50 feet
with an interior gallery on three walls. Construction was of sawed lumber,
with ceiling beams and rafters cut of oak. Additions and changes took place
over the 100 years that the building served its members. Mainly, in 1858 the
building was extended by 12 feet , adding a front entrance hall, topped with
a new tower and a bell.
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
