Scotch Plains Baptist Church
Location town333-347 Park Avenue, Scotch Plains, New Jersey
Location countryUnited States
ClientScotch Plains Baptist Church
Construction start date1870 (for present church)[3]
Completion datec.1740 (for 1st church)[3]
c.1816 (for 2nd church)[3]
1870 (for 3rd and present church)[3]
Demolished date1816 (fire--1st church)[3]
Structural systemMasonry brick with Ohio stone dressing[3]
Architectural styleGingerbread Ruskinian Gothic
Scotch Plains Baptist Church, Parsonage, and Cemetery
LocmapinUSA New Jersey Union County#New Jersey#USA
Coordinates40°39′9″N 74°23′59″W
ArchitectThomas A. Roberts
ArchitectureLate Victorian: Gothic; Colonial: Georgian
AddedJune 14, 2013
Refnum13000386[1]
Designated other1 nameNew Jersey Register of Historic Places
Designated other1 abbrNJRHP
Designated other1 dateMarch 27, 2013
Designated other1 number5041[2]
Designated other1 color
  1. ffc94b

The Scotch Plains Baptist Church is a historic Baptist church located at Park Avenue in Scotch Plains, New Jersey. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places as part of the Scotch Plains Baptist Church, Parsonage, and Cemetery listing on June 14, 2013. The listing includes the nearby Old Baptist Parsonage, previously listed individually in 1973.[4]

History

The present church is located in an American Revolutionary War-era cemetery known as "God’s Little Acre", with Watchung Mountains-quarried brown sandstone grave markers dating back to 1742.[3] The original church dated from the early 18th century. After a fire, it was rebuilt around 1816.[3] The present church was built in 1871 in a Gingerbread Ruskinian Gothic style “made of pressed brick with Ohio stone and white brick trimmings.”[3]

Buried the church's cemetery is Caesar, who died on February 7, 1806, at 104 years of age. He was born in Africa and brought to America as a slave. He was freed from slavery in 1769. During the Revolutionary War Caesar drove a wagon and delivered supplies to the Continental troops at Blue Hills Fort and Camp.

See also

References

  1. ^
  2. ^ "New Jersey and National Registers of Historic Places – Union County". New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection - Historic Preservation Office. September 11, 2023. p. 12.
  3. ^ Bousquet, R & S. Bousquet (1995). Scotch Plains and Fanwood. Images of America. Dover, New Hampshire: Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 0-7385-6318-8.
  4. ^ Zeoli, Vanessa & Leynes, Jennifer B. (April 2012). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination: Scotch Plains Baptist Church, Parsonage and Cemetery". National Park Service With accompanying 36 photos